MAPMATE RECORDING SOFTWARE

• This superb and inexpensive (£25) software allows the storage of records by taxonomic group.
• The search facility allows you to find records by species, site, recorder, date and much much more.
• The mapping facility allows you to make an endless variety of distribution maps, which can be limited to specific years or bands of years.

SETTING UP TAXONOMIC GROUPS
To keep taxonomic groups (birds, butterflies etc.) as separate data groups first use VIEW > MY CONFIGURATION and tick the fields of interest. At the start of any session use CTRL/D and choose the default species you want to work with.
ENTERING DATA
Choose Data Entry. N.B. If the required Data Entry Form does not appear as the default, select Records > Add New and choose Records, Sites, etc.
1.Enter the first few letters (or B&F number for moths) in the species field and press Return on the keyboard (auto complete operates). N.B. It is crucial to press Return to enter data for each field.
2.Click in a field and press F1 to get details and help about what the field accepts.
3.Click in a field and press F2 to show possibles, then select and press Return.
4.To quickly enter multiple records with common field settings, enter those fields while leaving the rest blank. Use Ctrl L to lock these fields (Ctrl V unlocks them).
5.Common settings such as your home site and records can be saved with Records > Save Common Settings. In a blank form, use Ctrl G to input these saved settings as one.
6.When a new site is encountered it can be entered directly in the site field using Site Name @ SD4056. @ unknown can be used if grid refs not known [press F1 in site field for more details]
7.For quantities you can also enter 0 = Present, -1 = Dominant (DAFOR), -2 = Abundant (DAFOR), -3 = Frequent (DAFOR), -4 = Occasional (DAFOR), -5 = Rare (DAFOR), -6 = Very Rare, -7 = Not Present. However, use true numeric recording where possible (or 0 = Present) as this allows sensible querying of individual totals and record totals.
8.USE !comment in the quantity box to add a comment when comment field is locked.
Set the form that appears as the default at Records > Change Default and the General tab.
FINDING RECORDS, SITES, SPECIES
Method 1:
Use Analysis and double click to find and select a relevant SQL query.
Method 2:
In the Data Entry New Record form, enter one field (or any combination of fields) and press F5 to find a Record, or F6 to find a Site, or F7 to find a Species. e.g.
1.Entering a Year and F7 will list all species for that year.
2.A Taxon and F6 will list all Sites with a record of that Taxon.
3.A Year and Recorder’s name with F7 will list all Species for that Recorder that year.
4.Use * as a wild card e.g. ac* covers all names beginning with ‘ac’ , *ac* words with ‘ac’ in the word.
AMENDING RECORDS
Find the record using a search and select it in the search results table. Choose Edit from the toolbar of the results table [if this is greyed out, use View first].
DELETING RECORDS
To delete a record(s), first find it (them) in the Analyser, select it (them) and right click and choose Remove Selected Records. Alternatively for an individual record, select it and click Edit on the toolbar. When the record form is presented use Records > Delete Record and confirm.
PRINTING SEARCH RESULTS
This must be done by copying and pasting from the results table of a search into a word processor application such as Word.
1.Hide any fields (columns) not needed by right clicking on them and selecting Hide Field [right click and select Show all Fields to reverse].
2.Sort Fields by selecting the column (click on heading) and choosing Sort Ascending or Sort Descending from the toolbar of the results table.
3.Select rows to be printed by clicking in left margin to highlight row in blue. Hold down Ctrl and click to add more rows or select first of a block of records and hold down Shift while clicking on the last of the block.
MAPS – CREATING
The main maps for plotting records are created using the Atlas Wizard; each should be given an individual name that can be recognised. Other maps are created as follows:
1.Special Maps: Several special maps, like Recorded Sites, Recorded Density and Recorded 10km Squares, are accessed via File > New Map > Special Map.
2.Picture Maps: Maps can be created with your own background image. This is explained in Help > Help with Maps > Picture Maps. These must be calibrated with two grid references – zoom in to mark the points on the map as accurately as possible.
MAPS - FINDING RECORDS AND SITES.
1.Left click on a symbol on the map and select Trace to get the record details.
2.Right click on a symbol on the map and select View Site Record to get details of the site.
MAPS - PRINTING
1.To Print the map directly or to print a set of maps of your choice, including thumbnails, use File > Print > and set your options from the tabs offered.
2.To incorporate a map into another document, use Edit > 'Copy to Clipboard' (sometimes using a screen grab – PRINT SCREEN key– works better).
3.Resize the map as required before copying with File > Map Properties > Frame and Scale.
MAPS – ANNOTATING
Changing the appearance of maps is done via the Feature Detail List. For Atlas maps (but not others) the default does not show feature details. Use View > Show Feature Details. Items in this list are selected and deselected by clicking on them. Take care, especially when deleting an item, that more than one feature is not left selected. Note that features appear in ‘alphabetical’ order i.e. anything beginning with a number will appear first.
1.Moving a feature: Select the feature in the Feature Details drop down. Right click and choose Move Selected Feature. Right click where the feature is required and choose Drop Selected feature here.
2.Resize maps with File > Map Properties > Frame and Scale
3.Editing a feature: The text, size, colour etc. of a feature can be changed. Find the feature in the list and right click on the item to be changed to get a menu of options. Note that when text has been edited (using rename) the Return key should be pressed for the change to take effect.
4.Adding Text: To add text first draw a rectangle using the mouse and select Keep This. Now choose Edit > Insert > Text > Text Annotation. Type in the required text in the dialog presented. Edit the appearance of the text as above by selecting the text annotation in the features list.
5.Adding Periodicity Plots: Draw a rectangle where the plot is to go. Choose Edit > Insert > Data Object > Graphs and Plots. A bar chart of the currently mapped species will appear. Move or delete the chart (if another size is needed) in the Feature Detail list as above. Reframe the map (see below) if you have gone outside the boundaries and intend to print off a copy.
6.Adding Keys: Keys may be added automatically using Edit > Insert > Keys. Edit the text etc. to taste as above.
7.Change the Order of Features: Where more than one feature would print at the same point the smaller can be retained inside the larger by changing the order. Right click on the number in the last column (order) of the item in the Feature List and select Bring to Front etc.
8.Reframing the Map: The simple way is to draw a rectangle round the map and features you want to reframe and select Keep This, then use View > Reframe Map > Reframe to Keep This. More complex options are available under View > Reframe.
9.Copying Features: Features can be copied from one map to another. Select the feature in the Feature Details List and Edit > Copy. Open new map, choose Show Feature Details and Edit > Paste.
10.Overlay a Second Map: A second map can be overlaid onto the first map e.g. a recorded 10km squares map could be used with a species map to show the proportion of recorded squares holding the species. Use Edit > Insert > Another Map. Note that the second map cannot be edited after incorporating it, but if it is edited separately the change is updated in the map in which it is incorporated.
DATABASE – Limits and Compaction
The limit on record capacity is set by a 1GB file limit on each dataset – or the Records.mdb file (check this file size in Explorer). As a test example (343,000 records) a Records.mdb file was 74.3MB and after compacting this became 60.1MB. This equates to a maximum record capacity of about 6 million records. Make sure you have at least the same hard disk left as is used by yourRecords.mdb file (so that MapMate has enough room to create an automatic backup).
To compact:
Close MapMate if open.
Open MapMate [this is done to open in a known state and after start up diagnostics]
Click on 'Dataset' on the toolbar and choose Tools > Compact.