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Plans for Search

Default Criteria

  • By default user can only search for public samples and samples that belong to them
    • How do we handle searching for samples in a project?

Criteria

  • Rock type
    • User is able to check multiple rock types to search for, the results contain one of the selected rock types. (i.e. it is an or query)
  • Mineral
    • User is able to check multiple Minerals to search for
  • Collection Date (Range)
  • Lat/Long coordinates (Bounding Box)
    • User is able to specify the latitude and longitude coordinates and it returns the samples whose locations are within it (it performs an intersection calculation)
  • Owner (currently the user name)
  • Alias
  • SESAR Number

Search Results

Here are some thoughts on how we might view the results of a database search

Sample search

I like the NavDat approach that gives the number of samples that the set criteria will select so the user can evaluate if the number is close to appropriate for the purposes. We might also employ a pop up warning if the number is too large for display, but provide a means for downloading the information.

When one searches for samples using selected criteria the result is a list of samples that fit the criteria.

Map view

Plot samples on a map (Google maps or Google Earth). There is a scaling issue here because if the map is large scale, then there may be too many samples to plot. So we will need to devise an algorithm for lumping samples together that are proximal. The easiest way I can think of is to create a grid based on lat and long, the size of the grid being dictated by the scale of the map. The locator pins could then reveal the number of samples inside the grid element.

List view

A table of all sample numbers with information about each sample is shown in this table. The information shown in the sample table is user-selectable, by clicking Customize Columns and choosing from a number of check boxes on the page. The sample number and info are required, the rest are all optional.

  • Optional table items
  • Latitude, Longitude
  • Region (what to do about more than one region?)
  • Rock type
  • Collector
  • Country
  • Reference(s)
  • Metamorphic Facies
  • Number of minerals present
  • Number of chemical analyses for the sample
  • Number of images for the sample

Home | Uploading | Viewing Data | Search | Making Public | Lists | Sample Attributes | Chemical Analysis Attributes | Image Attributes | To MetPetDB