Query Manager and MARPLOT (DRAFT)

Query Manager

Query Manager (QM) is a data delivery application that can be used to access sediment chemistry, sediment toxicity data, and tissue chemistry data. QM organizes data sets from multiple studies into a consistent and standardized structure, thereby improving data delivery and ease of interpretation for coastal resource managers. Users can sort and examine data in a variety of ways by selecting from a menu of pre-programmed queries that evaluate individual contaminants, contaminant groups, comparisons to common toxicological benchmarks, user-defined ranges, or many other filters.

MARPLOT

Output from QM can be immediately displayed in the integrated mapping program, MARPLOT, or it can be exported in a variety of formats for use with either other mapping software (e.g., ArcView) or other applications.

Query Manager and MARPLOT are tools designed to assist coastal resource managers by providing a rapid, convenient way to create watershed-based maps that display analyzed, sorted, and summarized data.

These tools can be used to:

• Evaluate multiple data sets;
  
• Identify chemical concentration and toxicity gradients;
  
• Prioritize problem areas based on sediment chemistry, sediment toxicity, and/ or tissue chemistry; and,
  
• Identify important data gaps.
  

Query Manager Components

The main display screen in Query Manager provides the user with three choices regarding data evaluation (Watershed, Query Group, and Query).  The Query Info box is updated based upon your Query Group and Query choices.  The menus that are available in Query Manager (File, Edit, Query, MARPLOT, Tools, and Help) allow the user to set defaults, interact with the Query, facilitate communication and viewing in MARPLOT (the companion mapping application), save queries, in addition to setting other options.

Watershed

Query Manager data is generally organized into distinct watershed datasets. After downloading and installing the desired watershed data files, the user selects the desired watershed dataset from the drop-down menu. All subsequent query choices (query group, specific query) will be performed against the selected watershed dataset. For datasets outside the Query Manager directory navigate to the file using the File > Open menu option.

Main Query Manager Selection Screen

Query Group

There are five different Query Groups within Query Manager:

• All Data Types - Displays station locations, study notes and references.
  
• Sediment Chemistry (surface) - Queries relating to surface sediment with lower depth of sample <30.5 cm (12 inches) in depth.
  
• Sediment Chemistry (subsurface) - Queries relating to sediment cores with upper depth of sample > 305 cm (12 inches) in depth, with optional inclusion of surface sediment data.
  
• Tissue Chemistry - Queries tissue chemistry and calculates Dioxin Toxic Equivalency.
  
• Sediment Bioassay - Queries sediment bioassay results by test endpoints, species, and response values.
  

  Query

  The queries that are available depend on the Query Group (type of data) selected. Queries range from simple extraction of all concentrations for a selected chemical (or chemicals) to more complex summations or comparison to relevant Sediment Quality Guidelines.

  Query Info

  The Query Info box displays an explanation of the selected query. This field contains a more in depth explanation of how data is presented or what formula /values were used in analysis. Query Info is also available from the auto-documentation function located under the Tools menu.