As with many SMRs our recording system is becoming more sophisticated and
more complex. Whereas once upon a time we might record a farm complex as a
single record 'Farm', we are now recording such a site as a 'Farm' record,
linked to records of 'barn', 'well', 'farmhouse' etc using the 'define
relationships' function in exeGesIS to highlight the links between them.
However, although this produces a series of records that is most useful for
development control and detailed academic research, it tends to produce a
level of detail that many users do not require. Often they would have been
happier with the original single 'Farm' record. When supplying SMR data to
users we would like to offer it at a level which is suitable for their
purpose, allowing those who want the detail to receive it and those who want
only the 'sites' to receive those. To produce a printout of 'sites' I could
build a query which ignored all records which only fulfilled the role of
'child' in relationships but this would miss all those unsurveyed farms
which are child records of 'estate' but which had no child records of their
own. I imagine this is a general problem that we all face. Any suggestions?
Paul Cuming
SMR Officer
Kent County Council
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