When you have selected the mapping tool you will be presented with a world map:

• check the ‘zoom in’ option beneath the map
• repeatedly click on the map to select your area of interest
• activate the check box if you wish to include coral reefs (polygon and arc data) in the background

NOTE: the map of your area of interest will be redrawn each time you activate a coral reef data check box.

• select a disease from the pull down menu (see here for definition of disease and disease names)
• select a year (if a particular year does not appear there are no records for that date)
• check the box to the left of the disease pull down menu to plot observations

NOTE: if you select ‘all years’ then activating the quick legend option will allow the observations to be plotted much more quickly. An explanation of the quick legend function is provided by following the hyperlink.

• you now have a map of all the observations of your selected disease in the year(s) you have chosen

NOTE: if your selected disease was observed on more than one species at the same location in the same year then the map symbols will overlap and appear on the screen as a single point.

• to investigate individual locations, check the ‘identify’ option beneath the map
• now click on a map symbol

NOTE: a new browser window is opened with tabulated details from the Global Disease Database records which you have plotted. If your selected disease was observed on more than one species at the same location in the same year, or if you have selected the ‘all years’ option, then the table will have more than one row. If there are more than 20 rows the records will be presented as multiple tables (it is faster to present the data in this manner). Go here for an explanation of the column titles.

• to save the table, click File, Save As in the browser window and save as a html file. This can then be opened in Microsoft Excel.
• to see the details of all the records for the disease you have plotted, click on the ‘select extent’ option beneath the scale bar and a new browser window will open with the data in one or more tables. This may take a little time, depending on the options you have selected. Save these in the same manner as above.

NOTE: to interpret your map(s) properly be sure to read the guide to the Global Coral Disease Database.