Plant Database Project

[Farhan Ahmed]

This post requires action by Farooq Sb
Whereas its just an information to other members

As suggested by some members & especially by Farooq Sb to have a Plant Database as like of Flora of India, Our Dear Admin Mirafzal Sb created a customized form and a sub-forum with the name of Flora of Pakistan. A Tab is visible beside Home Tab with the name of FORMS. This form can be used to fill data for a plant specie. The data fields are very comprehensive. Images option is yet not clear to me. However they can be added afterwards the Entry for specie is made. When a entry is made in a form a new thread will be made in Flora of Pakistan sub-section with the name of the specie that you have written.

At presently only admins can access this form as well as view the Database(Flora of Pakistan) as its under trial.

Farooq Sb you will be having exclusive permissions for this form and sub-forum so that you can assist us in making this database......as we progress all members who want to volunteer for this Job maybe given rights to this Form and Forum. Presently Farooq Sb only you will be able to access both. When we have a handsome database we will make it public.

If you face any difficulty in using this form/forum/tools, you may ask. A sample entry of one plant that Mirafzal Sb made is there to help you in going about. You have the permission to edit/delete/attach etc in this sub-forum. Once you have made the entry in form and a new thread is created in Sub-forum (flora of Pakistan), you can edit that thread and add pictures like we do normally through [IMG] code. You can make a new photobucket account for this purpose or any other mean to attach images, which ever suits you.


The aim to keep this post public is that future volunteers will be upto pace how to go about adding entries and other modalities.

Lets See ...Sorry for putting the responsibility on your shoulders, but i guess you are the BEST man for this cumbersome job

If you need any additional field to be included in plant profiles or any other permissions because of which you are not able to do the job..feel free.

[M Farooq]

Farhan bhai many thanks!

I wish I could accomplish it alone but I believe this has to be a collective effort like Flowers of India website. The original idea was more like a pictorial catalogue guide of our Pakistani garden plants. Once we know the scientific name, with a single click of a button you can find everything about it :-). The key problem was identification.

The original idea was that people/ members/ submit pictures. Someone identify them, add details, and then we make a list, which will grow with time. A picture of Flowers + Leaves would suffice. Another problem is that it is not okay to lift pictures from the internet. The entries in the database do not have an option for a picture and secondly the entry details are out of my reach of expertise. Last year I even posted an email if anyone wishes to send a picture of their garden plants - not even a single picture received so far.

However, I have a personal list of ~ 50 scientific names in a word file (actually those plants I had at some point in time which I had managed to identify from here and there), out of which ~25 have pictures. If you or anyone else wishes to see it, let me know. From there, we can proceed.

Regards,

Farooq

[Farhan Ahmed]

I can just Smile.......
Any volunteers to assist Farooq Sb?

[Farhan Ahmed]

I wish I could accomplish it alone but I believe this has to be a collective effort like Flowers of India website. The original idea was more like a pictorial catalogue guide of our Pakistani garden plants. Once we know the scientific name, with a single click of a button you can find everything about it . The key problem was identification.

Yes, collective effort it will be....but to start with as an experiment....I suggested that you move ahead. It means you create few entries to start with. Meanwhile we gather more volunteers.

Plz you have to understand, we can not give all permissions to everyone. Or one day we might end up forum wiped out. It has to be a step wise process, with credible volunteers. I am sure our senior members will chip in soon.
However as i suggested earlier this is a tedious path and will require
Time
Expertise
Computer Knowledge

The original idea was that people/ members/ submit pictures. Someone identify them, add details, and then we make a list, which will grow with time. A picture of Flowers + Leaves would suffice. Another problem is that it is not okay to lift pictures from the internet. The entries in the database do not have an option for a picture and secondly the entry details are out of my reach of expertise. Last year I even posted an email if anyone wishes to send a picture of their garden plants - not even a single picture received so far.

Pictures can be added as i already explained. However this is best format that is available right now. Search tool and sub-section forum will make searching the plants easier.
If you are reluctant to use internet pictures, You can start with pictures that you have or hundred of pictures that are of members on the forum. I doubt they would mind.

Regarding the expertise/entry details, this was my initial concern, if you remember that we are not specialist , anyhow what do you suggest reduce the fields? In my opinion these are the bare minimum fields.

Lastly, feel free this is not a compulsion. I asked just because it was your suggestion.



.

[M Farooq]

I think what can we try as a simple experiment is that we circulate a word file among interested members using a common email (shared one). The word file can have the same entries along with the box for pictures as this current plant database has. Once we get say 10 entries, we can (or I) weekly update the Plant Database here. With a common email we can see each other's updates as well.

I feel this is more practical since it does not put the burden of time and expertise on anyone. I don't think gathering 10 entries per week is a big deal, especially if there is "laggan". As you rightly said, nobody, is an expert here, but we indeed are quasi-experts in the sense that we do know little bit about deeper about our very own plants. You are great mausami phool expert!

Since this plant database does not have a pictures facility at the moment, this very word file will be our main database. Once the facility for pictures is also available, we (or I) can start uploading the pictures one by one for corresponding plant entries.

All of this would be possible by collective efforts and enthusiasm. Last time few people got excited but their promises remained promises. So those who are willing now to participate must be really willing to deliver. There is/should be no compulsion on anyone :-).

What do you (and others) think about this Gedankenexperiment?

[Farhan Ahmed]

Hamad Kisana, Rafique and Tahir? Any volunteer?

[jdashraf]

I suggest excel file instead of word file as excel file has number of advantages, like you can filter entries, sort them, etc and more importantly excel data/fields can be imported in any type of database that you might end up using in your database/web application. Any technical assistance regarding excel,etc can be provided by me.

[Hamad Ahmed Kisana]

why not sir it is a noble cause for gardening in pakistan...i am ready to do any job you order... but sir problem is this that we are in total dark because we don't know that what is format of form and what type of plants we will add i mean native plants of pakistan or all plants which survive in pakistan..

[jdashraf]

Before starting collection of data it is important that we finalize the column headings known as attributes in DB language, because once you have thousands of entries it will be difficult to add any entry as it will require entry of that attribute in all thousand entries. The suggested headings may be shared here and finalized after input of members. This will help us in preparing more comprehensive DB of Flora of Pakistan. This is comparatively easy job, difficult part is preparation of data which can be handled by senior members here..

[M Farooq]

Here are the entries:

Botanical Name
Family
Genus
Specie
Local Name
In Urdu Font Common Name
Life cycle
None selectedPerennialAnnualBiennial Cultivar Name
Flowering Months
Flower Color
Growing Areas
Name the city/cities where you have seen the plant is growing. Frost Tender
The Plants which cannot withstand frost. Yes No Exposure
Soil pH
Propagation
Uses
Description