Data Structure

Workspaces

BatScope 4 stores all project data in workspaces, which can be stored and transported independently of the main BatScope application.

When starting BatScope you will be presented with a dialog where you can create New or Open existing workspaces.

Important

The underlying PostgreSQL database requires filesystem operations that may not be available on limited filesystems such as networked drives. Such filesystems may therefore not work correctly for creating or accessing workspaces and are not recommended.

To load a different workspace, simply restart BatScope and select the new workspace from the dialog.

Caution

Make sure a workspace is never opened in more than one BatScope instance at a time, such as by multiple users when storing workspaces on shared volumes, as this may lead to unexpected behavior and data loss!

Data Hierarchy

BatScope organizes data in four hierarchical levels:

• Projects

  are the highest hierarchical level within a workspace and are created by the user to group collections together.

• Collections

  group sequences together, typically based on the source of the WAV files, such as all those imported from the same BatLogger SD card.

• Sequences

  are the basic unit and represent one recorded WAV file. The primary data processing operations are performed at this level.

• Calls

  represent one individual animal sound. Sequences can be cut, which identifies and isolates the individual calls present in the sequence. These calls are used by the inspector and subsequently by the classifiers to identify the species present in the sequence.

Migrating workspaces between Windows and Mac

Workspaces created with Batscope 4.2 are compatible between Windows and Mac. The compatibility is indicated in the workspace selector by the version number [10]. Workspaces created with older versions of Batscope 4 show the version number [9.6].

You can upgrade a workspace from 9.6 to 10 by selecting “File -> Upgrade DB to latest”. Note that this operation can take a long time to finish.

Warning

Workspaces created in BatScope 4.2 (or converted to PostgreSQL v. 10) cannot be opened with BatScope 4.1 anymore, as it doesn’t contain PostgreSQL v. 10!