Tony Hunt's recent message on the convergence of experimental data and data for modeling agrees with my experiences at CIAT and CIMMYT. We are fast moving to a situation where researchers will want to have all of their data stored in a database and have the option to examine the results with models. One might add that in international centers, where data are publicaly owned, administrators may start requiring such databases. As you finish a project, data will be deposited in a data wharehouse as a condition for terminating the project. Concerning the present file system in DSSAT3, I encourage people to take Tony up on his request for feedback. The better we make the system, the more widely it will be used and supported. My thoughts are as follows: 1) Site location should include latitude, longitude, altitude. Ten years from now a farm or institute may have changed names or owners, so a FILEX should always be tied to an exact location. GPS-level accuracy can be assumed (e.g. decimal fractions of seconds). 2) Associated publications should be cited in FILEX. For the moment, I use the "notes" section for references, but I would prefer to see a separate section. My experience with other databases is that "note" sections create a lot of problems for searches. 3) Data distribution limitations should be noted. People may want to submit data to databases with restrictions on distribution (particularly "in-house" databases). Options might be: Public domain - no limitation on use Acknowledgment requested - may be used, but contingent upon acknowledgment in publications Institutionally held - cannot be released externally without permission 4) Number of treatments should be increased. At the moment FILEX accepts up to 999 treatments, but that is done using up the blank in column 3. I would add two columns to permit up 9999 treatments. This is mostly of interest for GIS applications, but I have run replicated photoperiod screening trials with over 1000 entries. Best regards, Jeff White ----- End forwarded message ----------------------------------------------------------------- CENTRO INTERNACIONAL DE MEJORAMIENTO DE MAIZ Y TRIGO (CIMMYT,INT) International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center Note INTERNET address: [log in to unmask] Lisboa 27 Apdo. Postal 6-641 CP 06600 Mexico, D.F. MEXICO Telephone: +52(5)726-9091 FAX: +52(5)726-7559 -----------------------------------------------------------------