Dataset details: CRDA/10/DS/1/1

The dataset was transferred to NDAD by the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (MAFF) on two floppy disks which were received on 25 March 1998. The disks contained the Microsoft Access 2.0 version of the Coast Protection Survey of England database which MAFF held at that time. The database also included datasets for the 1995 and 1996 updates of the Coast Protection Survey of England: see Links to related datasets.

This dataset contains data gathered in the initial Coast Protection Survey of England which was conducted in 1993-1994. For further information about this survey and the three subsequent updates, see the Series Catalogue.

The tables in the dataset were received as part of a Microsoft Access 2.0 database. The database also contained the datasets for the 1995 and 1996 updates of the Coast Protection Survey of England. The Access database consisted of two files, CPSE2702.mdb and CPSE2702.ldb.1

The Access database was received as one zip (compressed) file, spanned across two diskettes. A copy of the program Pkunzip.exe was also received on one of the disks. The zip file CPSE2702.zip was unzipped using WinZip version 6.1 for Windows (produced by Nico Mak Computing Inc, Bristol, Connecticut, USA) and Pkunzip (produced by PKWARE Inc, Brown Deer, Wisconsin, USA). Pkunzip was required as the zip file was across more than one disk.

The Access database file CPSE2702.mdb was read into Microsoft Access version 7.0 for Windows 95. The tables comprising the dataset were output from CPSE2702.mdb to comma-separated format. As CPSE2702.mdb was created in an earlier version of Microsoft Access, no changes could be made to the file. This meant that no analysis of the database could be performed as no "queries" could be created. A "query" in Microsoft Access is the method used to interrogate a database file. For example, to calculate the sum of a numeric field a query must be created. The result of this was that no validation of the contents of the file could be done other than a visual inspection. Therefore a conversion of CPSE2702.mdb to a Microsoft Access version 7.0 format was created to facilitate more reliable validation. Anomalies found within the converted Access version 7.0 copy of the database were checked manually against the original CPSE2702.mdb file. For further information on the validation of the data, see Content validation.

A number of documents relating to the original Coast Protection Survey of England survey have been transferred to NDAD, including contract-related documents, the published summary survey report, and an extract from the report on the Cambridge Area of the survey. These and other documents relating to the Coast Protection Survey of England can be consulted via the Dataset Documentation Catalogue.

The dataset consists of two tables (Length_94 and Element_94) which contain data relating to defence lengths and defence elements, respectively. More detailed descriptions of these tables dataset are available, including details of the fields they contain. The Access 2.0 version of the Coast Protection Survey of England database also contained a single lookup table: l_princip_type. This explains the values used in the principal_type field (principle type of land use within the 50-year erosion zone) in the Length tables in the first three Coast Protection Survey of England datasets.

The dataset comprises the following table(s):

As indicated in Digital processing and conversion, validation checks were first done on a converted copy of the Access database. Any anomalies found were then manually checked against the original CPSE2702.mdb file.

A number of checks on the content of the dataset were done. These included checks for missing and non-valid data. The anomalies found include the following:

Anomalies found within CRDA/10/DS/1/1

The purpose of the supp_report_choise field in the Element_94 table is taken to be whether a supplementary report exists or not, and the field value is 'Yes' or 'No'. Some records in Element_94 contain an inconsistency. For 77 records the supp_report_choise field is 'Yes' but no details of the supplementary report exist in the supplementary report description fields (supp_report_desc_1 and supp_report_desc_2). For 120 records the supp_report_choise field is 'No', but data is held in the description fields.

In the Length_94 table there are 6 records in the field principal_type where it is not possible to link to the lookup table l_princip_type. This is because the values in the Length_94 table are missing and the l_princip_type table does not have a corresponding missing choice.

In 2001 NDAD received the Access 97 version of the Coast Protection Survey of England database, which also included Length_94 and Element_94 tables (see the Series Catalogue for further details). These tables were checked against those which had been transferred in 1998: no differences in the data were detected.

The number of records in each table of the transferred Access database was compared with the number of records in each comma-separated file which was created. These corresponded exactly.

The sum, average, maximum and minimum of numeric fields were calculated for the transferred data and transformed data. No discrepancies were found.

1. "For every database .mdb file Access creates a .ldb file to store locking information. This file is required while a database is open in a multi-user environment." Source: Microsoft Corporation, Microsoft Access Relational Database Management System for Windows Version 2.0: User's Guide (Microsoft Corporation, 1994), p.102.