File Naming Guide

Use this guide when naming datasets for deposit.

There are a few mandatory elements and structural considerations to include when naming datasets.

Required elements

• Geographic coverage, region or jurisdiction. This element should be placed first (e.g. lincolnCountyRoadkillData)

  • State names should always be abbreviated and capitalized (e.g. IDRoadkillData, WIRoadkillData).

• Temporal coverage to the level of granularity that makes sense for the data collection period (to the month, day, year), put this at the end of the name, separated by an underscore. Use the format yyyyddmm (e.g. lincolnCountyRoadkillData_2017-2019, nashvilleRoadkillData_198802-198805).

• An important dataset characteristic like taxon, season, collection method, etc. (e.g. WARaccoonSurveyData_200305-200807, evergladePythonRoadkill_20081608-20081609)

Structure

• Use camelCase to delineate words (ex. roadkillData).

• Spatial coverage should be included at the start of the file name.

• Temporal coverage should be included at the end of the name.

• Separate temporal coverage with an underscore _ and date ranges with a dash -.