Mapping and Recording Insects
I recently purchased MapMate, a biological recording program for natural history in the UK. Whilst you can record a range of organisms using MapMate, I intend to use it primarily for recording insects.
The distributions of British records are now often given using both the traditional Watsonian vice-county divisions and a government agency (Ordnance Survey) grid reference system (both are shown below). In MapMate you specify both in the record for a particular site.
British mapping systems: Watsonian vice-counties (left) and grid reference (right). These images are adapted from the Biological Records Centre online resources.
The grid reference squares are 100km² and represented by two letters. To describe smaller areas in these squares, successive figures are given after the letters, one for each axis. Each pair of figures refers to an area that is ten times smaller than the last, so two figures would refer to a 10km² area and six figures would refer to a 100m² area.
Six-figure grid references are the smallest generally acceptable area to have in a recording but are what I’m finding the most problematic and time consuming. After getting used to other online map services, such as Google Maps/Earth and the Flickr map, using our Ordnance Survey site is an irritating experience that makes me feel that they prefer you to buy paper maps: it only displays a 1km² grid, doesn’t always display the x and y axis coordinates, and has a small map (400×400 pixel) display which is sluggish to move around.
I am still thinking about what the easiest way work out six-figure grid references is. I think I may resort to paper maps with a transparent overlay. If anyone has got an easier way, please let me know! I want a system that will be usable for areas that greater than 1km², like country parks.
Tags: biological records, data, mapping, Ordnance Survey, recording
Completely unrelated to the above post (but I know I’ll forget by the time you get home, so I’m posting here!): I found this blog whilst browsing the internet for parasite types and thought it was quite interesting — (with particular article) http://tachinid.wordpress.com/2009/01/14/strepsipteraa-rare-example-of-true-insect-parasitism/ — unfortunately, I’m still stuck on the parasite types. Heh.
I agree the OS site is crap! Not sure if I told you in an email, but the way I set up sites in Mapmate using Streetmap; I move the cursor to where I made the record and then follow the ‘click here to convert coordinates’ link
Not for use with mapmate, but the following tool is quite handy and quick. Just drag the pointer to where you want it, zoom in and use the satellite view which is the same as googleearth. Grid refs down to 8-figure with options for lat and long on right: http://homepage.ntlworld.com/keith.balmer/BNHS/focuson/getagridref/html/index.htm
Thanks for the comments.
@ Alan: Why can you not use those coordinates in Mapmate? It seems the easiest I have encountered for looking up grid references. I had a play just now and I think it’s fantastic! I will share it with Tristan too.
Oh you can use the coordinates however you want! I meant I wasn’t sure you could link the data directly to mapmate or within it or other such software, but you can of course do it manually. I’m probably not making myself clear! It’s a handy tool whatever! Found on the NBN Forum which is geared towards Recorder6 software: http://forums.nbn.org.uk/index.php
It will save me a great deal of time in looking up grid references. I spent a little time trying to find a site that did something similar to “Grab a Grid References”.
Thanks for introducing me to it!
If you go to the Surrey Botanical Society website, under the Recording button there is a virtual map facility. Basically this is an extension of Google Earth that will put a pointer on a satellite photo if you give it a grid reference, or will give you a grid reference if you put the pointer on a location on the photo. Brilliant!