Mapping Tool:

Providing tools that facilitate data exploration and interaction allows researchers more time to develop and comprehend more informed research questions. An important facet of population dynamics, movement, behavior, and health research involves examining spatial relationships between individuals and the environment. Visualization of photo-identification data can play a vital role in the identification and communication of complex spatial relationships.To facilitate the visualization of data stored in FinBase, a companion ArcGIS™ Extension called the FinBase Mapping Tool was developed.

The FinBase Mapping Tool allows users with little to no background in GIS or relational databases to query FinBase from within ArcMap using simple, point-and-click controls and display the results spatially. The queries can be based on a variety of the collected and stored parameters, including: Survey Number, Sighting Number, Survey Area, Survey Type (e.g. photo-identification, biopsy, radio-tracking, etc.), Date, CatalogID, Location, Conditions (e.g. depth, salinity, tide, etc.), Field Estimates, Behaviors (e.g. feed, social, fast travel, etc.), Observations (e.g. presence of Xenobalanus sp., group cohesiveness, shrimp boat associations, etc.), and Attributes (e.g. chopped fin, fluke scar/notch, fin scar, etc.).