Best way to input species data

[Kimberly Hyde - NOAA Federal]

Hello,

I have a phytoplankton species data from multiple cruises that I would like to include as a single dataset. The dataset includes both a summary category (e.g. diatom, dinoflagellate, other) and species level information. It is currently in a long format with the following headers: 
Date Collected
Station
Depth (m)
Summary Group
Phytoplankton species

Estimated abundance

I'm assuming we should keep it in the long format, but it isn't clear to me how the output would look on ERDDAP. 

Ideally we would like our data to look like this dataset, but it would also be great if we are able to add the Summary Group as a subset variable so that a user can easily select all species within a group (e.g. diatoms). There is also this example where the species (or taxon) are listed in a dropdown menu. I don't find this version as user friendly, but would this be the only way to use the Summary Group subset variable?

I welcome any suggestions on the best way to work with this data.

Thank you,

Kim

[Mathew Biddle - NOAA Federal]

Hi Kim,

I recommend giving the subsetVariable a try with the Summary Group variable and the species/taxon. See what it looks like and if it meets the needs of your community. Your use case seems appropriate to me and it shouldn't be to much trouble for ERDDAP to handle both.

Something to consider is the fact that power users don't poke around the dataset webpages in ERDDAP, they use clients (python/R) to search, subset, and gather data. The subsetVariables are helpful in the web browser but might not mean much to power users. Just keep that in mind so you don't think too hard about the decision. ;)

Again, take a look at the docs, there are a lot of detail in there about recommended use cases and when not to use it. https://erddap.github.io/docs/server-admin/datasets#subsetvariables

Feel free to reach out if you have more questions.

Matt

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Mathew Biddle, Physical Scientist
NOAA/NOS
US Integrated Ocean Observing System Office
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