How To: Manage Specimen Event

Managing specimen_events aka record_events

(copied from documentation, please update and enhance!)

Edit Record Event Form

There are two ways to edit record events and associated place/time data.

1. old/normal way
   • normalized, makes managing data for shared localities easy
   • normalized, makes accidentally editing unrelated specimens easy
   • requires scary access to shared data
   • requires an in-depth understanding of the Arctos Locality Model to safely use
2. Fork-Edit method
   • denormalized - every save creates a new locality and event
     • but who cares, the cleanup scripts will renormalize the data by consolidating duplicates and purging orphans
   • requires only manage_specimens access; always creates new localities which can’t possibly be shared, so the back-end can safely run with elevated rights to create localities, collecting events, and geology determinations
   • provides a one-click path to keeping full history as unaccepted specimen-events
     • adding rather than editing is an option on every save
       • AWG: should not achiving be an option at all?
   • One-click georeferencing with GeoLocate
   • GUI georeference editing with GeoLocate
   • Provides service-derived coordinates and elevation; use them with one click

Fork-Edit method

This creates a new locality and event with every save. There are two save modes:

• edit (“Edit the current specimen_event”) should be used when changes have not affected the fundamental nature of the space-time data. Fixing a typo in a remarks field, verifying an event, making minor georeference adjustments, etc. can safely use this approach. When this option is used, the specimen-event is moved out of the “old” event and locality; it becomes detached from any history those objects may have had, and if other specimens are not using the event/locality they will be purged by the cleanup scripts.

• add (“unaccept current specimen_event; add Event with these data”) creates a new specimen event, and preserves the old. This maintains the history of the specimen being attached to now-unaccepted events, and the edit history of those events and the localities to which they are attached; it is a purely additive action. This option should be used for major or fundamental changes to the locality.

In both cases “save” clones the entire event/locality/geology stack; edits apply only to the single specimen-event being used by the single specimen. It is not possible to alter data used by any other specimen from this form.