• Database Management Policies and Procedures
• Database Management Software
• Database Management Personnel
• GIS Data Management and Research Support
• References

The primary goals of data management at SGS LTER are to provide secure, long-term data storage and make high quality data easily accessible to LTER scientists and the public in a timely fashion. We achieve these goals through three techniques: an organized and efficient data tracking system, secure data archiving procedures, and fully utilizing our SGS World Wide Web (WWW) site.

The implementation of our data tracking system (Fig. 5.1 ) means that data management starts long before data are collected. Investigators must submit a request form to the data manager as part of the procedure to conduct research. The form contains specific information about the study that the data manager logs into the tracking system. After entering preliminary information about a project into the system, the data manager tracks the progress of the dataset from data collection through to availability on the SGS WWW site. The SGS data tracking system increases the efficiency of data entry into the system, improves project-wide awareness of the scope of research activities at any given point in time, and improves overall data quality by providing consistency among datasets through standardized data collection forms.

Contact with the investigator is maintained throughout the duration of the project and data are submitted to the data manager no later than three months following the end of the study. For experiments that use the LTER field crew, data are submitted directly to the data manager. The data manager then verifies each dataset with its data description to ensure that there are no inconsistencies between the actual data and the metadata. Immediately following verification, the data manager updates the database by storing each dataset as a separate table in the database and relating it to the metadata via a dataset ID code.

1. hard disk on a Sun workstation (daily)
2. system level back-ups on high-density 8-mm cartridges (daily)
3. SGS archives on high-density 8-mm cartridges (quarterly)
4. original data forms are copied to be microfilmed

The metadata to all datasets are made publicly accessible as soon as they are received from the investigator. Datasets are available to the public three years after the end date of the study or following the investigator's publication of study results (whichever comes first). Investigators are notified when data are scheduled to go public and may at this point submit a written request to extend the access restriction on their data. A committee reviews the request and determines whether the data may remain limited access and for how long.

Once a dataset is verified, the metadata will be automatically posted to our SGS WWW site. Our goal is to use the SGS web site as the primary mode of information dissemination for SGS scientists, the scientific community, and the public. (The data access portion of our WWW site is currently being developed. We expect it to be operational by March 1, 1996. The rest of the site is fully functional now.)

The design of our web site will enable scientists everywhere as well as the public to easily access our on-line data library (see Tables 1.2, 1.3, and 1.4 for lists of the datasets currently managed by SGS-LTER). We have developed a standardized list of keywords that forms the foundation for searching the SGS data library on our WWW site. A user may either travel through the hierarchy of research categories to locate datasets of interest or may utilize a keyword search. When viewing the data, the structure of our home page allows the user the following options: 1. data files containing the actual rows and columns of data; 2. the metadata text, describing the study and its datasets; 3. graphs of the data which are generated "on the fly" as the user queries the dataset; 4. graphic images associated with datasets such as experiment designs, maps, photos of the study site etc.

We have recently assembled a comprehensive species list that is available on our home site. The list includes every species found at the site and is broken down into 7 categories: plants, birds, mammals, arthropods, microarthropods, nematodes and herpetiles. For a more complete description of our data management polices and procedures, please see our data management policy posted on our Web site.

GIS metadata at our site conform to the Content Standards for Geospatial Metadata. Approximately 75 percent of the metadata elements for this standard are appropriate and used at our site, with approximately 20 percent of these being required elements. This information is currently stored in relational database tables and accessible for internal use and maintenance. Text output files are made available for outside and network users. For new and recent data layers, the required metadata elements are complete. Metadata for spatial data preceding the standard, although well-documented, may never have all of the required elements we currently collect.

Research Support

Network Access

Long-term Data Archive