Keyword hierarchy

[Steve Crane]

Just started using LR3 beta and have imported my first shoot. With the fresh start for keywording I'm trying to figure out the keywording strategy to take; my LR2 keywords are a mess with many images having none or not all they should. I would like to be able to enter the least number of keywords I can but generate all the output keywords I possibly can. The shoot I imported was from an airshow hosted by TFDC (Test Flight Development Centre), located at the SAAFs (South African Air Force) Overberg base. The base is near Bredasdorp in the Overberg region of South Africa's Western Cape province. I currently have the following hierarchies indicating location and SAAF unit.

[pre] SAAF
{South African Air Force}
AFB Overberg
TFDC
{Test Flight Development Centre}
South Africa
Western Cape
Overberg
Bredasdorp[/pre]

An air force base has a fixed geographic location and I'm wondering if there is any way to link AFB Overberg with Bredasdorp so that one need simply enter TFDC to associate but SAAF unit structure and geographic location.

The alternative of entering TFDC and Bredasdorp is not the end of the world but as the size of the library and the number of keywords grows, one has to be more and more careful to remember the rules you create for yourself when entering keywords, or your keywords soon get out of kilter.

Perhaps there is another, completely different way of approaching this that hasn't occurred to me.

 

[clee01l]

In your example, I would place AFB Overberg under Bredasdorp (They all are location and the most specific is TFDC) I would carry SAAF separately since it is an entity and not a place. However on Closer inspection, The TDFC is ~2'km away from Bredasdorp. So, Bredasdorp probably should not be a keyword anymore than Arniston and AFB Overberg should be a child of Overberg

To Keyword a photo here using my last hierarchy, I would only need to use SAAF and TFDC to get all the realtionships of all the other keywords except Bredasdorp which would also be a child of Overberg just like AFB Overberg.

 

[Steve Crane]

Thanks Cletus. After making the post I gave it some more thought and had already moved AFB Overberg (with TFDC under it) beneath Bredasdorp by the time I read your reply. It makes more sense as not everything I photograph at an air show is SAAF related. I shoot spectators and civilian aircraft and those shouldn't be tagged with SAAF.

As to the geography, it's true the AFB Overberg is some distance outside Bredasdorp but as the closest town (Arniston is more of a village) the base is associated with it. People typically say they're going to the show at Bredasdorp. No doubt your own part of the world has some anomalies that have grown through common use even if they're not strictly geographically accurate.

 

[elfroggio]

1. How many users of the hierarchy? You only or many other people? If it's only you it's much easier to understand.
2. Make sure that you don't have twice the same taxonomy target or synonym. That's where things start to fall apart.

I have build a fairly large keyword hierarchy. I ended up doing the geographical by Continent -> Countries -> States/provinces -> Counties -> Cities -> Locations. I also ended up creating categories like Concepts -> Culture or Concepts -> Time or Concepts -> Security

http://www.foto-biz.com/Keywords/Lightroom-keywords

Hope this helps.

 

[clee01l]

[quote author=Steve Crane link=topic=8394.msg56883#msg56883 date=1258324191]
As to the geography, it's true the AFB Overberg is some distance outside Bredasdorp but as the closest town (Arniston is more of a village) the base is associated with it. People typically say they're going to the show at Bredasdorp. No doubt your own part of the world has some anomalies that have grown through common use even if they're not strictly geographically accurate.
[/quote]For me it resolves to whether a hierarchy can fall apart. If your anomalies are stable, then feel free to use them. It is your catalog.
For my catalog, I tend to look at parents as containers of children. In the case of a physical location, it would appear that Bredasdorp would not be the container for AFB Overberg. Overberg District Municipality would seem to be the logical container for AFB Overberg and Bredasdorp

Should you continue to nest AFB Overberg inside Bredasdorp and later discover that the parent for AFB Overberg is not Bredasdorp, all you need to do is in the keyword list panel, drag AFB Overberg to its new parent and all your images that have the AFB Overberg keyword will be instantly updated