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Good and Bad Locality Descriptions

This overview explores the elements of a locality description, including elevation, coordinates, datum, GPS accuracy, extent, and references. It provides tips for creating accurate and precise locality descriptions and examples of good and bad localities.

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Good and Bad Locality Descriptions

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  1. Good and Bad Locality Descriptions Elements and Examples

  2. Overview • Elements of a Locality • Verbatim Locality Description • Elevation • Coordinates • Datum • GPS Accuracy • Extent • Reference • Examples

  3. What A Locality Should Be • Specific • Succinct • Unambiguous • Complete • Accurate • Precise Accurate Precise

  4. Locality Tips • Avoid uncertainty due to imprecise headings • distance along a path • two orthogonal distances from a place • Use only one reference point • small in size (extent) • stable in position and size over time • easy to find on maps or in gazetteers • Avoid vague terms such as “near” and “center of”

  5. Elevation • Provide an elevation value • Beware elevation from GPS - it is less accurate than a barometric altimeter (when calibrated) • Report the source of elevation (map, altimeter, seat of pants, etc.)

  6. Coordinates • It is not enough to have coordinates alone, a locality description is essential. • Decimal derees are recommended. If a different system is used, coordinate your resources. • More decimal places are better. • Original coordinates from GPS should be preserved for posterity.

  7. Datum • Datum has a corresponding coordinate sytem • Default datum WGS84 • Coordinate your resources, especially if you’re using a different datum • Coordinates without datum are ambiguous • Be consistent

  8. GPS Accuracy • GPS accuracy can be affected by many issues • number of satellites • interference • presence of reflective surfaces • Provide the GPS overall accuracy, or error, when possible • It will not be available later

  9. Extent • Indicates the size of the area within which an event (collection, observation) occurred • Can be a city, park, intersection, transect, grid, river, road, etc.

  10. References Document the sources and tools • Topographic map in field • Map title, publisher, scale, year, sheet number • Gazetteer or Road Atlas • Altimeter • GPS • Model • Datum • Accuracy

  11. Examples of Good and Bad Localities • Vague localities • BAD: “Sacramento River Delta” - an extremely large geographic areaBETTER: “Locke, Sacramento River Delta, Sacramento Co., California” - names a town within the Delta • BAD: “3 mi W of San Jose/Cartago border” - without additional details, this would mean anywhere 3 mi W of the borderGOOD: “3 mi W of San Jose/Cartago border on Highway 2, San Jose Province, Costa Rica”

  12. Examples of Good and Bad Localities • Names of Roads without additional reference • BAD: “Highway 9, Alajuela Province, Costa Rica” GOOD: “Intersection of Hwy 9 and Rio Cariblanco, Cariblanco (town), Alajuela Province, Costa Rica” • BAD: “S Berkeley, Alameda County, California”GOOD: “Oakland,1 mi S of intersection of 66th St and Telegraph Ave on Telegraph Ave., Alameda Co., California”

  13. Examples of Good and Bad Localities • Localities that are difficult to Georeference • BAD: “Battle Mountain, Lander Co., Nevada”BETTER: “Battle Mountain (city), Lander Co., Nevada” • BAD: “Km 58 Pan American Highway”GOOD: “Km 58 Pan American Highway, 6 km S of Cartago on Pan American Highway, Cartago Province, Costa Rica”

  14. REAL LOCALITIES FROM MaNIS Vague Biologically unlikely Non-sensical Requires specific knowledge To order Georeferencing T-shirt: http://herpnet.org/gbif/tshirt.html

  15. Just Remember: Don’t be like this field team!

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