Editing Distribution Maps

Filtering Occurrences

  1. Enter “Edit” mode for the eFlora profile of interest. The distribution map will be at the top of the page.
  2. Click “Edit map configuration” button below the map.
  3. This will bring you to a page that filters the AVH data using the AVH spatial portal filters. These are available under subheadings on the side.
  4. For a given filter (e.g. Occurrence-> Establishment means), click “Choose more” below the sample of characters included in this filter.
  5. Make selections and choose to ‘include’ or ‘exclude’ records that match the given filter characteristic.

Contributors are requested apply these filters with respect to the following principles:

  • Represent the native range for native species, and the non-cultivated range for naturalised introduced species. Cultivated and naturalised distribution can be described further in the “Distribution” text attribute. For some species this may be as simple as excluding cultivated records. Some native species with a naturalised distribution may require the usage of local electorates, IBRA regions or other filters to remove these occurrences.
  • Ensure the taxon concept represented in the occurrences is correct and free from identification uncertainty (see Taxon -> Scientific name (unprocessed), and remove suspect records.
  • Ensure the spatial validity of the occurrences presented. For example, some records are displayed in the ocean.

Notification of errant records

During the filtering process, the contributor may notice several errors in the data (e.g. oceanic records, or misidentifications (alpine plant in far north Queensland)) and may wish to notify the herbarium to correct the record. To do this:

Locate the record in the AVH, and on the individual record view there is a button in the top left hand corner: “Flag an issue”. This dialogue box will allow you to select a category of error (taxonomic issue, locality etc), and write a description of why that record is wrong.

If there are lots of errors for a species, we recommend that you keep a list of errant records, with the contact details for each herbarium responsible. Then bundle all the errant records for a particular herbarium into one email (with full description of catalogue numbers, species name and the error).

Be aware that individual herbaria will have different workloads and workflow processes for addressing errors in their data, so it may be some months before these modifications are seen to by the individual herbarium and uploaded to the AVH.