We are now testing out an upload and convert service on this website. This means that one of our pages will let you upload a .dbf-file with LON/LAT columns and then download a file with a QDGC string. We have dealt with some initial problems, and the service now seems to be up and running, although we might still have the odd error. In case the service, crashes there is a restart every hour.

The lonlat2qdgc tool has been updated. The tool creates a qdgc reference string based on positional data. An incompatibility in one of the libraries led to problems for some users. The new version is available for download on this website.

An article on Quarter Degree Grid Cells has been published in the African Journal of Ecology. DOI: 10.1111/j.1365-2028.2008.00997.x

A key paper on the extension of QDGC is under preparation and will probably be presented a bit later this year. The paper will focus on describing historical use of QDGC as presented by the Avian Demography Unit at the University of Cape Town, South Africa. Furthermore the paper will describe an extension of the QDGC which is suitable for global use. In the meantime I would encourage reading up on articles using the original QDGC. This article represents a short list.

This is an announcement of the availability of Quarter Degree Grid Cells (QDGC) on a national level for African countries.