Metadata templates

Objective: to configure and use Inselect metadata templates.

This example will cover

• how inselect treats metadata and validation,
• Inselect's metadata template format and
• how to export crops and CSV files.

Preamble

Open 3.Metadata\Scopelodes_spp_Lim_14.inselect

• This is a SatScan image of pinned insects - moths in family Limacodidae
• Segment the image and refine bounding boxes

Metadata template in Inselect

You have complete control over metadata fields and validation through .inselect_template files, which are simple text files that you can edit using any good text editor.

• Load the Templates/limacodidae.inselect_template template by clicking on the 'Simple Darwin Core' button and clicking Choose...
• Pink shading over the bounding boxes indicates one or more validation problems, so we can see at a glance any boxes that need our attention
• The template specifies that the Location and Taxonomy fields are both mandatory - newly created bounding boxes have no metadata, so all of the bounding boxes are shaded pink

Click on any of the bounding boxes. The Location and Taxonomy fields are both coloured pink.

• Set Location to Drawer 1
• Set Taxonomy to Scopelodes
• The pink shading is removed from the fields and box

Let's set the metadata for all boxes

• CTRL + A to select all boxes
• The field both contain a '*' to indicate multiple values among boxes
• Set Location to Drawer 1 and Location to Scopelodes

Metadata panel

The metadata panel on the right shows Simple Darwin Core fields along with links to definitions.

Creating and editing metadata templates

Files are in a format called YAML (YAML Ain't a Markup Language) - a structured text format. A reference and examples template files are at https://github.com/NaturalHistoryMuseum/inselect-templates - open this page in a new browser tab and have a quick look through it.

Open limacodidae.inselect_template in your text editor:

Name: Limacodidae
Object label: '{Taxonomy}-{Location}-{ItemNumber}'
Fields:
    - Name: Taxonomy
      Mandatory: true
      Choices:
          - Anaxidia
          - Anepopsia
          - Apodecta
          - Birthamoides
          - Calcarifera
          - Chalcocelis
          - Comana
          - Comanula
          - Doratifera
          - Ecnomoctena
          - Elassoptila
          - Eloasa
          - Hedraea
          - Hydroclada
          - Lamprolepida
          - Limacochara
          - Mambara
          - Mecytha
          - Parasoidea
          - Praesusica
          - Pseudanapaea
          - Pygmaeomorpha
          - Scopelodes
          - Squamosa
          - Thosea
    - Name: Location
      Mandatory: true
      Choices:
          - Drawer 1
          - Drawer 2
          - Drawer 3
          - Drawer 4

When you come to create your own .inselect_template files, it is best to modify an existing template to suit your needs.

Editing the template

You will append a new, optional free-text field - Notes - to the template.

• Use your text editor to add the field to the template
• Click on the 'Limacoididae' button in Inselect and select 'Reload'

Export metadata and bounding boxes to a CSV file

Click 'Export CSV' in the toolbar and open the CSV file in Excel, OpenOffice or similar.

Columns are

• Cropped_image_name - the filename of the crop
• ItemNumber - the number of the bounding box

• Locations of the bounding boxes in

  • normalised (i.e., between 0 and 1) coordinates - NormalisedLeft, NormalisedTop, NormalisedRight, NormalisedBottom
  • coordinates of the thumbnail image - ThumbnailLeft, ThumbnailTop, ThumbnailRight, ThumbnailBottom
  • coordinates of the original full-resolution image - OriginalLeft, OriginalTop, OriginalRight, OriginalBottom

• A column for each of the metadata fields defined in the template

  • Taxonomy
  • Location
  • Notes