novel database schema

We are happy to announce that the novel database schema has been created. The new database is based on a relational model, just as it was before, but uses PostgreSQL instead of MS-Access. Most of the data fields remained. To facilitate data publication and export (e.g. to PANGAEA) some additional data collection was introduced. One of the key differences is the organization of items within the database: it has been adapted towards the third normal form standard. This aims at the avoidance of data duplication as well as data anomalies and with this supports data integrity.