DataManager

DataManager is an application that allows users to create their own ModestR databases with taxonomic and species distribution information. A Modest database consists of a taxonomic tree that can be populated manually or directly imported from CSV data or from another ModestR database. Once entered taxonomic data, maps built with MapMaker, imported from CSV files or downloaded from GBIF (among other possibilities) can be stored linked to species in the database. This way, taxonomic and distribution data can be easily managed together. DataManager offers several options to export data from database like taxonomic data, presence data from a species, or richness data from any taxonomic group. It’s also able to calculate AOO (Area of Occupancy) and EOO area using any of the hull algorithms already described and including only the valid habitats for a species (excluding for example land area for marine species). All those data can be exported in several formats (CSV, ESRI ASCII raster…) to make very easy to analyze and process them with other software (worksheets, GIS tools, R statistical package…). In this way, ModestR has been designed to maximize its interoperability with other existing software. The most relevant feature of DataManager is probably its capability to structure a distribution data database in a taxonomic way, and its features to easily work with entire taxonomic groups in an easy way. For example, you can download data from GBIF for any taxonomic group (a class, an order…) or even apply a convex hull transformation in an entire database in a single operation. In this way, most of the features available in MapMaker to work with a single map are available in DataManager but to work with an entire taxonomic group, making very easy to perform large processing tasks in a batch mode.