It's hard to imagine but some decades ago, vegetation scientists relied entirely on paper and ink to archive their data. Hand-written notes were typed and kept in thick folders, neatly stacked on shelves. Nowadays, vegetation science is unthinkable without electronic database tools.
One of the most widely used software programs to manage vegetation data is Turboveg. Although, in theory, once could use any database tool (say MS Access), Turboveg is custom-designed for vegetation scientists and allows entering, storing, selecting, and exporting vegetation data. It has been released in the 1990s and has gained wide popularity since then.
One of the most widely used software programs to manage vegetation data is Turboveg. Although, in theory, once could use any database tool (say MS Access), Turboveg is custom-designed for vegetation scientists and allows entering, storing, selecting, and exporting vegetation data. It has been released in the 1990s and has gained wide popularity since then.
I got the chance to interview Stephan Hennekens the developer of Turboveg about his software. Despite his busy schedule at Alterra and Wageningen University, Stephan was very kind to answer my questions about the beginnings of Turboveg and the much-anticipated Turboveg 3 version.