-Over 32 years, CUCC has developed methods for handling such information. Refinements in data +Over 42 years, CUCC has developed methods for handling such information. Refinements in data management were made necessary by improved quantity and quality of survey; but refinements in data management also helped to drive those improvements. The first CUCC Austria expedition, in 1976, produced only Grade 1 survey for the most part (ref -Cambridge Underground 1977 report). In +Cambridge Underground 1977 report). +
In the 1980s, the use of programmable calculators to calculate survey point position from compass, tape, and clinometer values helped convince expedition members to conduct precise surveys of every cave encountered. Previously, such work required hours of slide rule or log table work. On several expeditions, such processing was completed after the expedition by a FORTRAN program running on shared mainframe time. BASIC programs running on personal computers took over with -the release of the BBC Micro and then the Acorn A4. +the release of the BBC Micro and then the Acorn A4. A full history of this period is described in +Taking Expo Bullshit into the 21st Century - a story of the data management system up to 1996. +
In the 1990s, Olly Betts and Wookey began -work on "Survex", a +work on "Survex", a program in C for the calculation and 3-D visualization of centerlines, with intelligent loop closure processing. Julian Todd's Java program "Tunnel" facilitated the production of attractive, computerized passage sketches from Survex centerline data and scanned -hand-drawn notes. +hand-drawn notes. +A history of survex article covering the period 1988-1996 was published in Cambridge Underground 1996. +
Along with centrelines and sketches, descriptions of caves were also affected by improvements in data management. In a crucial breakthrough, Andrew Waddinton introduced the use of the nascent markup language HTML to create an interlinked, navigable system of descriptions. Links @@ -53,12 +58,14 @@ webpages from data files reduced the need for repetitive manual HTML coding. Cen of all caves in a large .CSV file with a cave on each row made the storage of new information more straightforward. +
Another important element of this system was version control. The entire data structure was stored initially in a Concurrent Version System repository, and later migrated to -Subversion. Any edits to the spreadsheets which caused the scripts to fail, breaking the +Subversion [now using a DVCS in 2019]. +Any edits to the spreadsheets which caused the scripts to fail, breaking the website, could be easily reversed. - +
However, not all types of data could be stored in spreadsheets or survey files. In order a display descriptions on the webpage for an individual cave, the entire description, written in HTML, had to be typed into a spreadsheet cell. A spreadsheet cell makes for an extremely awkward @@ -84,7 +91,7 @@ had an individual system for storing QMs. Without a standard system, it was some how to correctly enter data.
From " -Troggle: a novel system for cave exploration information management", by Aaron Curtis, CUCC. +Troggle: a novel system for cave exploration information management", by Aaron Curtis, CUCC [with some additions]