ecoEditor for version 3
For data suppliers and editors, the "ecoEditor for version 3" is the tool to create, edit, review and upload datasets for the ecoinvent database version 3 (due for release in 2011). It replaces the old (internally used) ecoEditor 1 and the ecoSpoldAccess. The software is free to use. The current version is the third beta version intended for
- testing the functionality of the software by working creating and editing real ecoSpold 2 files
- to demonstrate the ecoSpold 2 format to data suppliers, editors and software partners in a more user-friendly way than the schemas that can be found here
- data suppliers to the ecoinvent database version 3 that wish to start working with the ecoSpold 2 format.
Please note that this is a beta-release, and therefore is expected to contain bugs (see the introduction document for a list of known issues), have a lower performance (speed) than desirable, and misses a number of functionalities that we intend to add in the coming releases, notably:
- There is currently limited validation of inputs. This means that you can add implausible data and circular references that may cause the program to crash. For normal, sensible, data entries the program should be stable.
- The program does not yet support the separate adding of review comments.
- The program does not yet interact on-line with the ecoinvent database.
- The program does not yet support language editing.
- The program does not yet support comparisons of datasets and assisted disaggregation of datasets.
For users of the current ecoinvent database, the ecoinvent 2.1 datasets, converted to ecoSpold 2, can be found as a zip file (EcoEditor21.Templates.zip) in the folder [files] when you have logged in as a member. Please read the installation notes in the zip file to ensure correct installation of the ecoinvent 2.1 datasets. The directory structure contained in the archive must be preserved (the archive software should do this by default) and the "xml\MasterData\ActivityIndex.xml" file must be overwritten with the same file from the zip-file.
Non-license holders can view and experiment with a part of the ecoinvent database that is made freely available by the kind contribution of sponsors. Download these free datasets here, and read the installation notes in the zip-file.
We hope that you will enjoy working with the ecoEditor. Please report any bugs (not already listed in the introduction document) and any wishes for improvements to weidema(at)ecoinvent.org
We intend to release a beta 4 in August 2010 with improved validation of inputs, on-line access to the database, and separate adding of review comments. The final version of the ecoEdior should be ready for release in December 2010. However, with the current beta 3 you may already now create real ecoSpold 2 files that can then later be used with the coming beta versions and finally be uploaded to the ecoinvent database version 3.
Download:
- ecoEditor for version 3
- ecoEditor Introduction.pdf
- draft ecoinvent Data Quality Guidelines for version 3
Thanks for testing and feedback!