Version 0.3.0
Taxonomy and Geological Context
This release introduces structured taxonomy and geological context to Fossil Tracker, allowing specimens to be organised within their biological and geological frameworks.
Rather than storing this information solely as free text, taxonomy, geological ages and localities are now maintained as structured reference data, improving consistency across the collection while providing a richer context for each specimen.
New Features
- Structured taxonomy reference table
- Geological age reference table
- Locality reference table
- Support for taxonomic classification from Kingdom to Species
- Geological context including Era, Period, Epoch, Stage and Formation
- Confidence levels for uncertain identifications
- Controlled vocabularies for geological periods and specimen preparation types
- Updated database schema and migrations
Improvements
- Specimen records now reference taxonomy and geological context through related tables
- Improved consistency and validation during data entry
- Reduced duplication of common taxonomic and geological information
- Removed duplicate specimen-level context fields after migrating them into related records
- Enhanced Streamlit interface for selecting taxonomy, ages and localities
Notes
With this release, Fossil Tracker begins to model the relationships between specimens rather than treating each as an isolated record. Shared taxonomy and geological context provide a more consistent foundation for organising and exploring the collection while acknowledging that many fossil identifications remain provisional.
The introduction of confidence fields also reflects an important principle of the project: uncertainty should be recorded explicitly rather than hidden. As understanding evolves, specimen identifications and classifications can be refined while preserving an honest record of the collection.