Shawn brings up a really good point about getting the correct county for a
sighting record. The MNBBA database does not include the county information
with the sighting, so blocks that cross county boundaries are a problem.
The conversion from the MNBBA data to MOU data has assumed that the center
of a block is the county to assign the data.
Another scheme to use when importing the sighting records from MNBBA:
Assign all the counties that a block spans to the record and then ask the
observer to indicate which county the observation came from. This can be
automated so an email is sent the observer requesting which county
corresponds to an observation.
There are 288 of the 9774 MNBBA blocks that overlap county boundaries. Two
of these blocks span three counties.
I'm interested in any feedback about if this will help resolve MNBBA to MOU
record mapping.
Thanks.
---
David Cahlander [email protected] Burnsville, MN 952-894-5910
----- Original Message -----
From: "Shawn Conrad" <[email protected]>
To: <[email protected]>
Sent: Sunday, August 22, 2010 7:45 AM
Subject: [mou-net] MOU seasonal report glitch
I have noticed a small glitch in the MOU site when it comes to seasonal
reporting. Some people may not have noticed, but the BBA sightings entry
has been merged with the MOU seasonal reports, so when you enter BBA data,
it also goes into the MOU seasonal report. (At least that appears to be
going on.) However, when the BBA data is moved to the MOU seasonal
reports,
sightings in the BBA block that straddle a county border are just
attributed
to one county or the other, sometimes incorrectly. This might only bother
county listers who are keeping their records via the MOU seasonal
reporting
entries, but if that data is used by the MOU to keep records by county,
there is possibility for error there as well.
If my description is not very clear, here's an example of what is
happening. I entered an observation on 5/26 of a pair of agitated
Sandhill
Crane in block T144R25d on the BBA site. The Sandhill Cranes were on the
Itasca portion of the block. I happened to look at my meager spring
reports
on the MOU site and saw that I had an entry of Sandhill Crane in Cass
County
on 5/26 when I hadn't even been in Cass County on that day nor had I ever
seen Sandhill Crane in Cass (oddly enough!). I would assume this could
occur in any case where a BBA block straddles a county border.
Like I say, this probably doesn't affect most birders much, but it may
affect county checklists other records/documents from the MOU so I thought
I'd mention it.
--
Shawn Conrad
www.itascacnfbirding.com
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