Just a Minute

The Just a Minute packages have been developed to provide professional and amateur biologists with access to encyclopaedic information about Victorian plants and animals in conjunction with detailed distribution data on 1:100,000 scale maps. The resolution of the data is commensurate with that of our front line databases, the Victorian Flora Information System (FIS) and the Victorian Fauna Database (VFD), while the software maintains the simplicity and ease of use of Wild Plants of Victoria (WPV) and Wild Animals of Victoria (WAV).

The name, Just a Minute, comes from the resolution of the distribution data in both packages. All records in the databases have been summarised in a grid system with individual grid cells of dimensions 1 minute longitude x 1 minute latitude, which, in Victoria, translates to grids which are 1500 x 1800 m (an area of about 2.7 km², an average suburban block). There are about 85,000 1-minute grids that cover Victoria. There are nearly 600,000 1-minute grid records in Just a Minute - Animals and almost one million records in Just a Minute - Plants.

There are three basic functions for Just a Minute for which the software and database structures are optimised.

Looking up an animal or plant species [More]
The packages show, at a glance, the names, classification and conservation status of all 4334 vascular plant species and 767 mammal, bird, reptile and frog species recorded for Victoria. Each species has a plain English description and most are represented by one or more colour photographs. You can find the names by typing in an abbreviation (e.g. Euc cad for Eucalyptus cadens, Gr fal for Grey Falcon) or an old name (e.g. entering Helichrysum dendroideum will find the new name Ozothamnus ferrugineus, entering Blue Wren will find the current name Superb Fairy-wren) and even the odd misspelling will be catered for. Names can be viewed in alphabetic order of common or scientific name.

Find the distribution of any species [More]
Once you have found the species you are looking for you may, with a single mouse-click, plot its distribution on a series of 1:100,000 map tiles each showing roads, rivers, lakes, towns, public land, parks and reserves etc. You may also plot the distribution across the whole state on a single, low resolution map. Each of these maps can be printed or exported as Windows Metafiles for use in word documents or other desktop publication packages.

Finding all animal or plant species for any area [More]
You may load any of the map tiles and, using simple point-and-click methods, determine an area on that map to search. Once the area has been defined a single mouse-click will find all the species recorded for that area and the date of the most recent record. The resulting list can then be printed, exported or queried further. There is even an on-line place name index to help you find the map tile you need.