Overview

Recorder is a powerful piece of biological recording software, designed to exploit the potential of a nationwide network of biodiversity data.

It has been created to enable people who conduct field surveys (whether on land, in fresh water or at sea) to record their observations efficiently in an electronic format that is ready for widespread exchange.

Indeed, data exchange is the key to the design of Recorder. It has been built so that individual recorders can quickly exchange data with their peers, or forward their information to organisations involved in collating data to provide more widespread access.
The same exchange format is designed to take updates so that individual users can pick up on changes in classification, standard lists of sites or other reference information that helps with recording.

The previous recording package, Recorder 3.3, was restricted to people making species observations. Recorder, however, has been built so that biotope and habitat surveys can also be made and combined in new ways with species-based recording.

Recorder includes a number of innovative concepts, designed specifically with user-friendliness in mind. These include Recording Cards (for quick and easy data entry), Rucksacks (for compiling and storing lists of frequently encountered information) and System Supplied Data (such as species, habitat and administrative dictionaries). Mapping and reporting facilities have also been upgraded.