Skip to content

abis-mapping v9.0.1   incidental_occurrence_delete v1.0.0

INCIDENTAL OCCURRENCE DELETE TEMPLATE INSTRUCTIONS

Intended Usage

This Incidental Occurrence Delete template should be used to delete occurrence data.

Data Validation Requirements:

For data validation, you will need your data file to:

  • be the correct file format,
  • have fields that match the template downloaded (do not remove, or change the order of fields),
  • have extant values in mandatory fields (see Table 1),

FILE FORMAT

  • The incidental occurrence data template is a UTF-8 encoded csv (not Microsoft Excel Spreadsheets). Be sure to save this file with your data as a .csv (UTF-8) as follows, otherwise it will not pass the csv validation step upon upload.
    [MS Excel: Save As > More options > Tools > Web options > Save this document as > Unicode (UTF-8)]
  • Do not include empty rows.

FILE NAME

When making a manual submission to the Biodiversity Data Repository, the file name must include the version number of this biodiversity data template (v1.0.0). The following format is an example of a valid file name:

data_descripion-v1.0.0-additional_description.csv

where:

  • data_description: A short description of the data (e.g. incidental_occ, test_data).
  • v1.0.0: The version number of this template.
  • additional_description: (Optional) Additional description of the data, if needed (e.g. test_data).
  • .csv: Ensure the file name ends with .csv.

For example, incidental_occ_delete-v1.0.0-test_data.csv or test_data-v1.0.0.csv

FILE SIZE

MS Excel imposes a limit of 1,048,576 rows on a spreadsheet, limiting a CSV file to the header row followed by 1,048,575 occurrences. Furthermore, MS Excel has a 32,767 character limit on individual cells in a spreadsheet. These limits may be overcome by using or editing CSV files with other software.

Larger datasets may be more readily ingested using the API interface. Please contact bdr-support@dcceew.gov.au to make us aware of your data needs.

TEMPLATE FIELDS

The template contains the field names in the top row. Table 1 will assist you in transferring your data to the template indicating:

  • Field name in the template;
  • Description of the field;
  • Required i.e. whether the field is mandatory, conditionally mandatory, or optional;
  • Format (datatype) required for the data values for example text (string), number (integer, float), or date;
  • Example of an entry or entries for that field;

Table 1: Incidental occurrence delete template fields with descriptions, conditions, datatype format, and examples.

Field # Name Description Mandatory / Optional Datatype Format Examples
1 providerRecordID Unique (within provider) identifier for the record. Mandatory String 8022FSJMJ079c5cf
2 providerRecordIDSource Person or Organisation that generated the providerRecordID. Mandatory String Western Australian Biodiversity Information Office

APPENDICES

APPENDIX-I: UTF-8

UTF-8 encoding is considered a best practice for handling character encoding, especially in the context of web development, data exchange, and modern software systems. UTF-8 (Unicode Transformation Format, 8-bit) is a variable-width character encoding capable of encoding all possible characters (code points) in Unicode.
Here are some reasons why UTF-8 is recommended:

  • Universal Character Support: UTF-8 can represent almost all characters from all writing systems in use today. This includes characters from various languages, mathematical symbols, and other special characters.
  • Backward Compatibility: UTF-8 is backward compatible with ASCII (American Standard Code for Information Interchange). The first 128 characters in UTF-8 are identical to ASCII, making it easy to work with systems that use ASCII.
  • Efficiency: UTF-8 is space-efficient for Latin-script characters (common in English and many other languages). It uses one byte for ASCII characters and up to four bytes for other characters. This variable-length encoding minimises storage and bandwidth requirements.
  • Web Standards: UTF-8 is the dominant character encoding for web content. It is widely supported by browsers, servers, and web-related technologies.
  • Globalisation: As software applications become more globalised, supporting a wide range of languages and scripts becomes crucial. UTF-8 is well-suited for internationalisation and multilingual support.
  • Compatibility with Modern Systems: UTF-8 is the default encoding for many programming languages, databases, and operating systems. Choosing UTF-8 helps ensure compatibility across different platforms and technologies.

When working with text data, it's generally a good idea to use UTF-8 encoding to avoid issues related to character representation and ensure that your software can handle a diverse set of characters and languages.

For assistance, please contact: bdr-support@dcceew.gov.au