Instructions (Inventory)

From LagWiki

Inventory information is tied to the nearest survey station. At each survey station to be inventoried, scan the area halfway between the last station and the next station for any of the inventory items. Work your way through the inventory sheet recording which station the inventory items are located at. The first time there is and entry for a category, record the pre-fix (example: XJ3). Whenentering another station to a category that has a previous entry there is no needto use the pre-fix unless a new prefix has been selected (example: XJ4,5,8,A3,9). If you have numerous stations that have an item, instead of writing A1,2,3 you can record them as A1-3. Only use commas and dashes between numbers.

Comments

Dashes

In the field, it is difficult and error prone to use dashes. Using a dash requires predicting the future. For example, if you are at G37 and find an inventory item to record for it and expect to encounter it again at the next few stations, it is dangerous to enter "G37-". The danger lies in what happens when you don't encounter the expected. Do you erase the dash? Did you remember to erase the dash or is your inventory inaccurate because of an oversite? My advice is to never use the dash or at least be extremely judicious and careful with its use.

Abbreviations

Leaving off the prefix (the letter part) of the survey stations for the second and subsequent encounters of an inventory items is good practice. Some of the spaces for recording stations are small and you may be cramped for space on a long day of survey. Abbreviating the stations helps here. But, do not abbreviate anything but the letter part of the survey station. For example, do not record an inventory items encountered at FA223, FA224 and FA225 as "FA223,4,5". This is ambiguous and difficult for the recorder, who uses your form later, to decipher. Instead, record this situation as "FA223,224,225".