Merging Datasets

There may be a point at which you want to merge two datasets for further exploration with IN-SPIRE.  Merging datasets enables you to discover new relationships between documents and topics within documents.

Accessing the Dataset Editor

If IN-SPIRE is running, from the main IN-SPIRE menu bar, choose File > Datasets. Alternatively, on start up, the Dataset Editor window opens after the IN-SPIRE splash screen displays.

Basic Steps

  1. On the Dataset Editor window, in the list of datasets, click on one of the ones you wish to merge.

  2. Click Merge. The Compatible Datasets window opens and a list of all datasets which may be merged together appears in it. See Which Datasets Are Compatible?

  3. If the dataset that you want to merge with is in the list, click on it to select it.

  4. Click Merge. The datasets will be merged together.

Which Datasets are Compatible?

The requirements for compatible datasets are quite stringent in this release of IN-SPIRE. Compatible datasets have:

Two compatible datasets may have different stopmajor files. If they do, then the stopmajor file for the merged dataset is made up of all the words from the first plus all of the words from the second dataset's stopmajor file.

What Happens to Saved Groups and Queries?

All groups and queries will be preserved. If there are name collisions, the source dataset name will be prefixed to the Group name.  For example, suppose there is a Group called Support in both dataset DS1 and dataset DS2.  If you merge these two datasets, the result will have a Group folder called Support which will contain groups called DS1:Support and DS2:Support.

 

 

7/18/05