|
PointCount’99
Things
To Think About
Project
Design
PointCount’99 was originally designed for the US EPA Coral
Reef Monitoring Project (CRMP).
To fully utilize PointCount’99’s features, we recommend consideration be
given to details of project design such as required metadata,
organization of directory/file structures, and file naming
conventions.
We present the protocol used in the CRMP project as an
example to help other monitoring programs organize their data
stream.
Metadata
and Organization of Information
PointCount’99 utilizes a file of metadata, called sites.txt, (located in the main PointCount’99
directory) to automatically provide research site parameters.
These parameters are displayed with each point
identification in the csv
file. The sites.txt
file includes site name, site code, site identification number,
habitat type, project segment, and transect length and depth for
up to four stations within a site.
This file can be customized to meet the needs of a
project, but must remain in the format shown in Figure 1.
Figure
1.
Sites
text file information and format.
Conch
(Deep),9D4,73,forereef
deep,9,22.1,24.0,24.0,21.4,55.0,54.5,53.5,54.0
Format:
SiteName,
SiteCode, SiteID, HabitatType, WaterQualitySegment,
TransectLength1,
TransectLength2, TransectLength3,
TransectLength4,
TransectDepth1, TransectDepth2, TransectDepth3,
TransectDepth4 [note: all transect depths are means of
endpoints only]
PointCount’99
can be used without sites.txt information, but the csv file will
only contain data generated from pointcounting and the file
names used.
Information such as filming dates and transect depths
will be shown using a default entry.
Directory
and File Structures
While
the naming of a directory can be whatever is most suitable for
the project, the directory name should be a portion of the
prefix of every file name within that directory (Figure 2).
Figure 2.
Directory/file structure and naming convention used by
the US EPA CRMP. File
names are constructed on the 8+3 (DOS) naming convention.
Directory/File
Structure
Directory
= 7
3 1 g 9
Files =
7
3 1 g 9 1 0 0 . j p g
7 3 1 g 9 1 0 1 . j p g
7
3 1 g 9 1 0 2 . j p g
7
3 1 g 9 1 0 3 . j p g
7
3 1 g 9 1 0 4 . j p g
File Naming
Convention
73 = Site
Identification
1
= Station
Number
g
= Month
of filming (months correlated to alphabet;
i.e. a = January)
9
= Last
digit of year of filming
570
= Image
number
jpg
= File
extension
If file names
of images do not follow some type of naming convention where the
prefix indicates that given files are part of a set, PointCount’99
will treat each image as a set.
This results in a separate csv
file for each image.
Framegrabbing
PointCount’99 does not
support framegrabbing. Images
must be prepared using commercially available or custom
software. We have developed a custom application for framegrabbing
analog Hi8 video, but due to its complicated nature, it is not
feasible for us to make it available.
For digital video imagery, we are utilizing a commercial
interface card and software.
This methodology is presently under development and more
information will be released at a later time.
We can provide framegrabbing services and CD-ROM
publication on a limited basis at a cost of approximately $3.00
US/meter of transect.
Xgallery Image
Selection Utility
The
CRMP methodology produces a series of 120 overlapping images for
each transect. From
this imagery, the user must select a serial subset, or gallery,
of non-overlapping images that best represents the whole
transect. Xgallery
is an image selection tool used to produce a select file of
images. This select
file is used by PointCount’99
to allow the user faster access, with the click of a button, to
a gallery of selected images.
|
