Data Exporter incorrectly exporting coordinates

[grantfitzsimmons]

The Specify Data Exporter exports the Lat1Text and Long1Text values instead of using the decimal format in the Latitude1 and Longitude1 fields. For example, when exporting catalog number 000068515, the Lat1Text field displays the latitude in decimal degree format as '38.503253° N', which is correctly represented in the exported data as decimalLongitude: 38.503253. However, when exporting catalog number 000086813, where the Lat1Text field is in degrees, minutes, and seconds (DMS) format like 20° 50' 00.0" N, the exported decimalLongitude erroneously shows 205000.0.

Specify is incorrectly exporting the text coordinate values instead of exporting the decimal coordinate values. It assumes that the value is a decimal value when it, in fact, can be DMS or other supported entry formats. If you put the decimal lat and long values into the lat1text and long1text fields, the issue is resolved.

Reported By: PRI Paleo

[bronwyncombs]

Correspondence with Zach @ NMSU, who have the same issue:

I altered the Bar Code field filter to return only the example record you sent (NMC051100) and used the preview button >from this mapping view screen. In the preview, it was confirmed that long/lat values display properly.

I found that during the 'Export for Web Portal' process within the data exporter tool, the values are improperly converted to the format on the web portal page.

Upon searching in the Sp6 GitHub issues, I found an existing bug report matching your circumstances (issue-#1234). We found that this is the same issue you are encountering here– the "Data Exporter" tool in Specify 6 ignores the schema mapping configuration and uses the lat1text and long1text values rather than the decimal equivalents (latitude1 and longitude1). Exactly as you observed, it uses the incorrect fields and interprets "106°35.310' W" as "-10635.31", which is an invalid longitude value, making it unmappable. This is clear when the mapping includes both sets of fields:

Since most institutions use the decimal format for lat/long field entry, this issue has largely flown under the radar. In the short term, we are left with two choices:

1. Move the current lat/long values to "verbatim" fields on the locality form, and use the values from the text fields in the original field. We can provide you with the SQL command to run as needed.
2. Edit the values in the CSV from the .zip after exporting for the web portal and before uploading the data. This could be automated by a script on your IT department's side, and would not require all data entered going forward to be captured in both the verbatim and current coordinate fields.

Specify 6 is slowly being deprecated, so I cannot guarantee an update will be released to resolve this.