Stand-alone data validation tools

The DDb provides a few data validation tools to check tabular data files prior to upload. The eventual plan is to integrate all these into a single checking system, but until that work is complete it's worth passing data files through each of these tools separately prior to importing into the DDb.

Taxon names

Matches taxon names from other sources against accepted names in the DDb taxon lists (largely a variant of the Stace Edition 3 flora lists).

Recorder name formats

This tool attempts to apply standard formating (e.g. Surname, Forename or Surname, A.; Other, A.N.) to a list of names of people or organisations. Names which cannot be parsed are indicated and should be reformatted manually prior to data upload.

Grid-references

Checks for malformed references and matches grid-references to vice-county boundaries.

Dates

Parses various date layouts into a standard format.

Taxon distribution

Matches taxon occurrences against the distribution from the BSBI's 2000 Atlas, and against known vice-county occurrence and with pre-existing records in the DDb.