Annotation Database Import
The database is intended as a retrospective view on data collected by many potentially narrowly-focused surveys. Each survey produces a large number of entities with distinctive forms and purposes that must be mapped onto entities in the database, whose structure is roughly static and which must remain comparable through time.
As a trivial example, one survey might identify a fine substrate as comprising silt, sand and fine gravel while another might identify fine sediment as only silt. Ideally, the database will provide a way to preserve this distinction without introducing so much complexity that it becomes impossible to use and maintain.
The database import process consists of three main steps: