The Datasheet Editor¶
The DARIAH-DE Datasheet Editor is accessible at http://geobrowser.de.dariah.eu/edit or by clicking “Datasheet Editor” on Geo-Browser. Geo-Browser is documented in the tutorial DARIAH-DE Geo-Browser.
Further information on the Geo-Browser and the Datasheet Editor are on the DARIAH-DE Portal.
Note
What is new?
AAI (Authentification & Authorization Infrastructure)
Since the latest Geo-Browser release (as of version 3.0), the DARIAH-DE OwnStorage is used to store your datasets! That makes the usage of the Geo-Browser and Datasheet Editor more secure, and you can work on a dataset privately until your dataset is complete and working, and then you can share it with the world.
To store your datasets to the DARIAH-DE OwnStorage, you will have to log in (authenticate) via the DARIAH AAI using your DARIAH account or an eduGAIN federation account. Internally the Geo-Browser and Datasheet Editor are using the DARIAH-DE PDP and OAuth2 tokens for authorization.
Accessibility
The datasets stored in the OwnStorage are accessible to you only at first. You can read, write, delete, and share each of your datasets. A listing of all your Geo-Browser’s datasets will be available in the near future.
Sharing and unsharing
If you want to share your datasets, you can do so using the Datasheet Editor’s “Manage your data” box. The dataset shown in the table view will then become available for everyone to read. You can unshare the dataset any time you like. Sharing to and editing with a specific group of people is not yet possible.
All the above tasks are available from the menu “Manage your data“.
Look of Identifiers
The look of the dataset’s IDs has slightly changed: instead of 721203 the IDs now look like EAEA0-7A23-E68F-EBC2-0. The storages URL host and path stays as it always has been: https://geobrowser.de.dariah.eu/storage/ID.
Old dataset references
All your old dataset references (CSV and KML files) will still be readable via their old URLs, such as https://geobrowser.de.dariah.eu/storage/721203. If you do not want to edit an old dataset, just leave it as it is. Otherwise, you could just store it to the OwnStorage. Then edit it and share it if you want it to be publicly available.
How it works:
- Just request an old URL for editing with the Datasheet Editor including an old dataset storage ID, such as https://geobrowser.de.dariah.eu/edit?id=721203.
- The old dataset is loaded and displayed read-only in the table view. You now can (i) download the old dataset as a CSV file using the download button, or (ii) create a new dataset in the DARIAH-DE OwnStorage by clicking “Create new datasheet“ in the “Manage your data“ box. The newly created dataset will contain your old data and you then can edit and share it. The old dataset will not be touched.
- An example of a migrated and already shared dataset you can see here: https://geobrowser.de.dariah.eu/edit?id=EAEA0-D088-5071-4C39-0.
Autosave always on
It is! Really!
:-)
GUI Documentation¶
Create or import your data¶
The first option after calling the website is to either create a new datasheet or to import an existing datasheet. By clicking “Create a new datasheet”, a new document is generated. By clicking “Durchsuchen...” (German) or “Browse...“ (English), a CSV file from the local storage can be loaded into the datasheet.

CSV files can be created with Microsoft Excel or Open Office Calc. In Mac OS X CSV files can be created with Numbers.
After clicking on “Create a new datasheet“ or “Durchsuchen...“ / “Browse...“, you will be redirected to the DARIAH-DE log-in, the DARIAH AAI (Authentification & Authorization Infrastructure). Here, you have to log in with your DARIAH account or an eduGAIN federation account. Internally the Geo-Browser and Datasheet Editor are using the DARIAH-DE PDP and OAuth2 tokens for authorization. After logging in, a green window with the title “New datasheet created!” opens at the top of the Datasheet Editor. The new datasheet has now an own ID in the DARIAH-DE OwnStorage, with which the sheet can be retrieved again. By using the DARIAH-DE OwnStorage to store your datasets, you can work on a dataset privately until it is complete and working, and then you can share it with the world.
As soon as you make an entry in your datasheet, it will be saved (autosave always on). In the datasheet the following data can be entered:
- “Name”: enables you to name your data point. Places have to be entered in the “Address” field, so “Name” can be used to display the name of an event or a name that would not be recognized as Address.
- “Address”: identifies the place and is used to add the values for the “Longitude” and “Latitude” fields via Geolocation completion.
- “Description”: is used to display any additional data.
- “Longitude”: can be filled in by Geolocation completion or manually entered and uses decimal geographic coordinates. Existing coordinates will not be overwritten by Geolocation completion.
- “Latitude”: can be filled in by Geolocation completion or manually entered and uses decimal geographic coordinates. Existing coordinates will not be overwritten by Geolocation completion.
- “TimeStamp”: is used to store the date of an entry. The format for time stamps is YYYY-MM-DD, however, just naming the year is also possible.
- “TimeSpan:begin”: can be used to convey the beginning of a timespan. Just like “TimeStamp” it uses YYYY-MM-DD but can be used without specifying the day.
- “TimeSpan:end”: can be used to convey the end of a timespan. Just like “TimeStamp” it uses YYYY-MM-DD but can be used without specifying the day.
- “GettyID”: ID for the identification of locations, is automatically filled in using the Getty Thesaurus of Geographic Names via Geolocation completion. An existing GettyID will not be overwritten by Geolocation completion.
The description of these variables can also be found in the Datasheet Editor by clicking on the “How to fill the table” button right to the datasheet. It is not required to enter all data to create a datasheet.

Example of an entry: A city at different points in time (TimeStamp) in history. In the “Description” field of the datasheet the population at the given point in time may be entered. The data in the datasheet can be dragged directly via copy and paste from e.g. Excel or Calc. For this the area to be copied must be marked and inserted in the cell, where the marked area should start in the left upper corner. Data can be inserted at any position in the datasheet.
By right-clicking on a cell in the datasheet, a row above (“Insert row above”) or below (“Insert row below”) can be inserted. Rows can be removed via “Remove row” and columns via “Remove column”. Columns can be inserted as well either to the left (“Insert column on the left”) or right (“Insert column on the right”). Thus it is possible to create new categories in the datasheet if additional information on the locations is to be saved. Categories can also be altered in the Datasheet Editor.

Find the coordinates for the places in your datasheet¶
To enter a location directly into the Datasheet Editor, the longitude and latitude must be known. If these data are not already known, the tools on the website “Add geocoordinates”, “Place selection” and “Map selection” can be used to find them out. By clicking “Geolocation completion”in the area “Add geocoordinates”, the fields “Longitude”, “Latitude” and “GettyID” are added automatically for all locations listed in the “Address” field of the datasheet. These locations will also be listed in the “Place selection” box.
Here, the Getty Thesaurus of Geographic Names (TGN) is used for searching locations. With TGN larger locations are found, smaller locations are not always found. If the location is not the desired one, in the “Place selection” box you can click on the arrow next to the location name to open a drop-down menu with a list of other locations with the same name (if they exist). After choosing the right location from this list, you can click “Set” right to the drop-down menu to fill in the corresponding fields “Longitude”, “Latitude” and “GettyID” in the datasheet.
If the desired location is not listed in the drop-down menu, you can click on the “Map” field next to the drop-down menu. By this, the location will be entered in the “Map selection” box, both above and below the world map. Below the world map you can find the search options TGN, OpenStreetMap (OSM) and GeoNames. OSM often also finds smaller locations, which TGN does not find. With OSM it is also possible to find streets and street numbers. By clicking the field “Set” above the world map, the fields “Longitude” and “Latitude” will be updated in the datasheet for the correponding location. Caution: the location entered in the text field above the world map has to be spelled in the same way as the location in the “Address” field of the datasheet!

Another option is to drag the flag in the “Map selection” box with the mouse, hereby the longitude and latitude can be determined with more precision. By zooming into the map, it’s possible to see streets more precisely. You can also search “manually” for the places in the datasheet within the “Map selection”. But by searching locations via OSM or GeoNames in the “Map selection”, GettyIDs will not be given.
DARIAH-DE OwnStorage¶
The datasets stored in the OwnStorage are accessible to you only at first. You can read, write, delete, and share each of your datasets. A listing of all your Geo-Browser’s datasets will be available in the near future. If you want to share your datasets, you can do so by clicking on “Share dataset” in the “Manage your data” box. The dataset shown in the table view will then become available for everyone to read. You can unshare the dataset any time you like. You can also delete your dataset by clicking “Delete dataset” in the “Manage your data” box. Sharing to and editing with a specific group of people is not yet possible.
Access your data¶
When a new Worksheet is created, an ID from the DARIAH-DE OwnStorage Service is assigned to the file. The datasheet can be retrieved again with the ID. By clicking “Download datasheet” in the “Manage your data” box, the file can be downloaded as CSV file and stored in the local storage. Furthermore, the storage ID is shown, and the complete URL can be copied to the clipboard. Using this URL the file can be addressed directly.
New vs. old datasets in the Datasheet Editor¶
The look of the dataset’s IDs has slightly changed: instead of 721203 the IDs now look like EAEA0-7A23-E68F-EBC2-0. The storages URL host and path stays as it always has been: https://geobrowser.de.dariah.eu/storage/ID.
All your old dataset references (CSV and KML files) will still be readable via their old URLs, such as https://geobrowser.de.dariah.eu/storage/721203. If you do not want to edit an old dataset, just leave it as it is. Otherwise, you could just store it to the OwnStorage. Then edit it and share it if you want it to be publicly available.
How it works:
- Just request an old URL for editing with the Datasheet Editor including an old dataset storage ID, such as https://geobrowser.de.dariah.eu/edit?id=721203.
- The old dataset is loaded and displayed read-only in the table view. You now can (i) download the old dataset as a CSV file using the download button, or (ii) create a new dataset in the DARIAH-DE OwnStorage by clicking “Create new datasheet“ in the “Manage your data“ box. The newly created dataset will contain your old data and you then can edit and share it. The old dataset will not be touched.
- An example of a migrated and already shared dataset you can see here: https://geobrowser.de.dariah.eu/edit?id=EAEA0-D088-5071-4C39-0.
Open with Geo-Browser¶
With this action the data from the datasheet can be opened in Geo-Browser. The entered locations are shown as points on the world map. The data is also shown below the world map in a list. If you shared your data, everyone is able to see it in the Geo-Browser. Otherwise, only you can see it.
Versions and Releases¶
The current version of the DARIAH-DE Datasheet Editor is always accessible at https://geobrowser.de.dariah.eu/edit. As of April 2019 this is Release version 2.7.0. We try to keep new versions compatible with older ones. The version of the Datasheet Editor that is currently being developed is accessible via https://geobrowser.de.dariah.eu/beta/edit.