FAQ:Reloading Obs Data
From PTAGISWiki
Note: This is generally obsolete as of June, 2010, as PTAGIS no longer processes interrogation files that already reside on the file server.
Can I reload Interrogation Data files to fix problems with the data?
The short answer is "'you can add interrogation records to your existing interrogation data files, but PTAGIS will not recognize changes to records already processed, and will instead process those records as new entries.'"
Prior to loading interrogation data into the PTAGIS database, the data file is parsed to generate a structured list of data records. Each record contains fields for:
- Obs_Site
- File_ID
- Tag_ID
- Antenna_ID
- Transceiver_ID
- Port_ID
- Obs_Date ( a timestamp precise to the second)
- Obs_Count (the number of detections reported in the file for that tag, at that antenna, during that second).
When the parsed list is processed into the database, any "new" records are appended to the Obs_Data table. However, if the values in all eight fields listed above duplicate an existing record in Obs_Data, then the record is silently rejected. If an interrogation data file is re-processed by PTAGIS, and is identical to the original file, then the net result will be no changes in the interrogation data detail or summary records. If that re-submitted interrogation data file contains additional detection records not reported in the original data file, then PTAGIS will append only those new detection records into Obs_Data and, depending on the circumstances, may update the various interrogation event summary tables. However, if the data in the re-submitted file contains modifications to any of the fields in an existing detection record, then PTAGIS will perceive this as a new record, and add this to the database. The original versions of these data records are not excised from Obs_Data. There is no mechanism, other than deliberate, manual intervention by PTAGIS staff, to delete previously-processed detection data from the PTAGIS database, and refresh the various summary tables to reflect the "current" state of the interrogation event.
Unlike tag/release/recovery data files (such as those generated by the P3 software), PTAGIS does not "replace" re-submitted detection data files. If an interrogation file is reprocessed, the previous version of the file is overwritten on the PTAGIS file server. PTAGIS tracks and reports the number of times an interrogation file is processed, and when each version was processed, but preserves only the most recent version of the file. So, while it is possible to identify which interrogation files have been processed more than once, it is not possible (from PTAGIS) to compare the contents of the various versions of a single interrogation data file, and so we can't tell what changes have occurred in the file's contents.
To the extent possible, PTAGIS discourages the resubmittal of interrogation data files. However, we recognize that, under some circumstances, this may be the desired, or only, method to acquire and process your complete and correct interrogation data set. This can best be decided after discussion with the PTAGIS staff, on a case-by-case basis.
