Import field reference

The column contract for every import format: the sheet each one expects, its columns, which are required, and the defaults Erde fills in. Use it to prepare a file before you open the app, or to understand a validation message.

The multi-sheet laboratory deliverable has its own page — Lab Report (EDD) format. For the end-to-end workflow (validate, review, commit, roll back) see Import data.

The fastest way to get a correctly shaped file is still Download Template on the import create form — it produces the exact columns below for the type you pick.

How to read these tables

In the Required column	Meaning
Yes	You must provide a value in every data row.
Default: x	Optional. A blank cell is filled with x.
Cond.	Required only under the condition in the notes.
No	Optional.

A few conventions hold across all formats:

• A required column (its header must be present on the sheet) is a separate, stricter check than a required value. A missing required header fails the import before any row is read. Most of the time the two coincide; where they differ it is noted.
• Enum columns take a value's code or name — see Codes and names. The value lists live in Enumerations and codes.
• Lookup columns resolve against your project's reference data (matrices, units, organizations, and so on) by name or code. Equipment resolves by code or asset tag.
• Column order does not matter; column names do. Unrecognized columns are ignored with a warning.
• Dates and times use your locale's parseable formats; date-time columns accept a combined value.

Sample

Sheet: one sheet named Samples (required). One sample per row.

Column	Required	Type	Notes
Code	Yes	text	Sample code, unique within the Project.
Name	No	text	Display name.
LocationCode	No	lookup	The Location. Optional, but a value you supply must resolve.
SampleType	Default: Normal	enum	Sample type.
Matrix	Yes	lookup	The sample Matrix.
Status	No	enum	Sample status.
ArchiveStatus	No	enum	Sample archive status — Archived or Disposed. Leave blank for a normal sample. Separate from Status.
IsComposite	Default: false	bool	Whether the sample is a composite.
SampleDate	No	date	Collection date.
SampleTime	No	time	Collection time.
SampleEndDate	No	date	End date for a composite/duration sample.
SampleEndTime	No	time	End time.
SampleMethod	No	lookup	Sampling method.
ProjectTask	No	lookup	The project task the sample belongs to.
ParentSampleCode	No	text	Parent sample code (stored as text; field samples link by value, not FK).
ParentSampleDate	No	date	Parent sample date.
SampledBy	No	text	Who collected it.
CoordinateX / CoordinateY	No	number	Sample location coordinates (paired).
CoordinateSystem	No	lookup	Coordinate system for X/Y.
Elevation	No	number	Sample elevation.
ElevationUnit	No	enum	Elevation unit.
VerticalDatum	No	lookup	Vertical datum for the elevation.
DepthStart / DepthEnd	No	number	Sample depth interval.
DepthUnit	No	enum	Unit for the depth interval.
WeatherConditions	No	text	Free text.
Notes	No	text	Free text.

Location

Sheet: one sheet named Locations (required). Creates new locations, with an optional primary coordinate on the same row. To add coordinates to existing locations in bulk, use Coordinate.

Core columns

Column	Required	Type	Notes
Code	Yes	text	Location code, unique within the Site. A code that already exists is skipped (not re-created).
Name	No	text	Display name.
LocationType	Yes	lookup	The location type.
Status	Default: Active	enum	Location status.
SiteArea	No	lookup	Site area assignment.
SiteAreaNotes	No	text	Notes on the site-area assignment.
EstablishedDate	No	date	Date established.
DecommissionedDate	No	date	Date decommissioned.
IsAccessible	Default: true	bool	Whether the location is accessible.
AccessNotes	No	text	Access notes.
OwnerOrganization	No	lookup	Owning organization (must be active).
Description	No	text	Free text.

Inline primary-coordinate columns (optional)

Fill these to create the location's primary coordinate in the same row. They are all-or-nothing: the block runs only when CoordinateX, CoordinateY, or Elevation is present.

Column	Required	Type	Notes
CoordinateX / CoordinateY	Cond.	number	A complete X/Y pair (easting/northing or lon/lat per the coordinate system). One axis without the other is incomplete.
CoordinateSystem	Cond.	lookup	Required when X/Y are present, unless the Site has a default coordinate system.
HorizontalAccuracy	No	number	Horizontal accuracy value.
HorizontalAccuracyUnit	No	enum	Unit for horizontal accuracy.
Elevation	No	number	Elevation value.
ElevationUnit	No	enum	Elevation unit.
VerticalAccuracy	No	number	Vertical accuracy value.
VerticalAccuracyUnit	No	enum	Unit for vertical accuracy.
VerticalDatum	Cond.	lookup	Required when Elevation is present, unless the Site has a default vertical datum.
MeasurementStatus	Default: Measured	enum	Measurement status of the coordinate. Used only when coordinate/elevation data is present.
CollectionMethod	No	enum	Collection method.
MeasurementDate	No	date	Date measured.
MeasuredBy	No	text	Who measured.
SurveyOrganization	No	lookup	Surveying organization (must be active).
CoordinateNotes	No	text	Notes on the coordinate.

Coordinate

Sheet: one sheet named Coordinates (required). Attaches coordinates to existing locations — one coordinate per row.

Column	Required	Type	Notes
LocationCode	Yes	lookup	The existing Location to attach to — must already exist.
CoordinateX / CoordinateY	Cond.	number	A complete X/Y pair. At least one of a coordinate pair or an elevation is required per row.
CoordinateSystem	Cond.	lookup	Required with an X/Y pair, unless the Site has a default.
HorizontalAccuracy	No	number	Horizontal accuracy value.
HorizontalAccuracyUnit	No	enum	Unit for horizontal accuracy.
Elevation	Cond.	number	Elevation value (or supply a coordinate pair).
ElevationUnit	No	enum	Elevation unit.
VerticalAccuracy	No	number	Vertical accuracy value.
VerticalAccuracyUnit	No	enum	Unit for vertical accuracy.
VerticalDatum	Cond.	lookup	Required when Elevation is present, unless the Site has a default.
IsPrimarySpatial	Default: false	bool	Mark as the location's primary spatial coordinate.
IsPrimaryElevation	Default: false	bool	Mark as the location's primary elevation.
MeasurementStatus	Default: Measured	enum	Measurement status.
CollectionMethod	No	enum	Collection method.
MeasurementDate	No	date	Date measured.
MeasuredBy	No	text	Who measured.
SurveyOrganization	No	lookup	Surveying organization (must be active).
Notes	No	text	Free text.

Water Level

Sheet: one sheet named Water Levels (required). One reading per row. See Water levels.

Column	Required	Type	Notes
LocationCode	Yes	lookup	Monitoring location (code or alias).
Well	No	lookup	Well at the resolved location.
MeasurementDate	Yes	date-time	When the level was measured.
Unit	Default: ft	enum	Unit for the length values below.
Method	No	enum	Measurement method.
Equipment	No	lookup	Instrument (by code or asset tag).
MeasuringPointElevation	No	number	Measuring-point elevation.
DepthToWater	No	number	Depth to water.
GroundwaterElevation	No	number	Groundwater elevation.
LnaplThickness / DepthToLnapl	No	number	LNAPL thickness / depth (paired).
DnaplThickness / DepthToDnapl	No	number	DNAPL thickness / depth (paired).
TotalDepth	No	number	Total depth.
IsDry	No	bool	Well-dry flag.
DryReason	No	text	Reason if dry.
IsValid	Default: true	bool	Validity flag.
Qualifier	No	text	Data qualifier.
MeasuredBy	No	text	Who measured.
Notes	No	text	Free text.

At least one measurement value is required per row, and the NAPL thickness/depth pairs must be supplied together — both enforced at validation.

Well Purge

Sheet: one sheet named Well Purges (required). One purge event per row. See Well purges.

Column	Required	Type	Notes
LocationCode	Yes	lookup	Monitoring location.
Well	No	lookup	Well at the location.
Method	No	enum	Purge method.
Criterion	No	enum	Purge criterion.
Equipment	No	lookup	Instrument (by code or asset tag).
PurgeStart	Yes	date-time	Purge start.
PurgeEnd	No	date-time	Purge end (must be after start).
TargetVolume / PurgedVolume	No	number	Target / actual purge volume.
VolumeUnit	No	enum	Unit for the volumes.
PurgeRate	No	number	Purge rate.
PurgeRateUnit	No	enum	Unit for the purge rate.
PumpDepth	No	number	Pump intake depth.
PumpDepthUnit	No	enum	Unit for pump depth.
WentDry	No	bool	Well-went-dry flag.
IsValid	Default: true	bool	Validity flag.
Qualifier	No	text	Data qualifier.
PurgedBy	No	text	Who purged.
Notes	No	text	Free text.

Amount/unit pairs must be supplied together, enforced at validation.

Field Parameter

Sheet: one sheet named Field Parameters (required). This format has dynamic parameter columns — see below. See Field parameters.

Fixed columns

Column	Required	Type	Notes
LocationCode	Yes	lookup	Monitoring location.
Well	No	lookup	Well at the location.
Date	Yes	date	Reading date.
Time	Yes	time	Reading time.
RecordedBy	No	text	Who recorded.
Equipment	No	lookup	Meter/probe (by code or asset tag).
ProbeDepth	No	number	Sonde depth in the water column.
ProbeDepthUnit	No	text	Unit for probe depth.
IsUnstable	Default: false	bool	Session marked unstable.
StabilizedAt	No	date-time	Stabilization time.
ReadingInvalid	Default: false	bool	This reading is invalid.
ReadingNotes	No	text	Reading-level notes.
Notes	No	text	Session-level notes.

Dynamic parameter columns

Every header that is not one of the fixed columns above is treated as a parameter column, and its cell holds that parameter's value for the row.

• Header format: ParameterName or ParameterName(unit) — for example Temperature(°C), pH, Dissolved Oxygen(mg/L). The parameter is resolved by name (then code) against your active parameters; an unknown parameter fails the row.
• Unit: the (unit) hint is resolved by name or code. With no hint, or an unrecognized one, Erde falls back to the parameter's default unit (with an informational note); a parameter with no default unit and no usable hint fails.
• Two columns that resolve to the same parameter in one row is an error.
• At least one parameter value is required per row. A blank parameter cell simply means no reading for that parameter on that row.

Logger

File: exactly one file. Logger telemetry is staged as a per-location (or single-stream) summary and streamed straight to the database on commit — it is not one staged row per reading. CSV is unbounded; an Excel logger file is capped at 100,000 rows. See Continuous loggers and the load modes.

Logger files have reserved column names rather than a fixed schema. Two independent choices shape the file:

Layout (auto-detected):

Layout	Columns	Meaning
Wide	Timestamp, one column per channel (e.g. Water Level (ft), Temperature (°C))	The channel header may embed a unit in parentheses; each cell is that channel's reading.
Tall	Timestamp, Parameter, Value, optional Unit	One reading per row. Detected when both Parameter and Value columns are present.

Load mode (chosen by whether a LocationCode column is present):

Mode	LocationCode column	Behavior
Bulk — one file, many locations	Present	One summary row per location; auto-creates logger streams. Up to 5,000 distinct location codes per import.
Single stream	Absent	The whole file loads into the one stream you pick on the form.

Timestamp is always required. A reading whose timestamp or value can't be parsed is skipped and counted, and reported in the summary's Skipped count.

Field artifacts: Well, Borehole, Sediment Core, Test Pit

These are multi-sheet workbooks — a parent sheet plus child sheets, with an optional Locations sheet — uploaded as one Excel workbook or one CSV per sheet (name each CSV after its sheet). See Locations and field artifacts.

Linkage. Child rows attach to their parent by a parent-code column; parent rows attach to a location by LocationCode:

Format	Parent sheet	Child sheets	Parent-code link
Well	Wells	Intervals	WellCode
Borehole	Boreholes	Lithology Intervals, Sampling Runs, Groundwater Observations	BoreholeCode
Sediment Core	Sediment Cores	Lithology Intervals	SedimentCoreCode
Test Pit	Test Pits	Lithology Intervals, Groundwater Observations	TestPitCode

Which sheets are required. At least one of the parent or child sheets must be present — a child-only upload appends to parents that already exist in the Site (resolved by code). The optional Locations sheet (documented at the end) can create the parent locations in the same import. Only one sheet of each type is allowed.

The depth/dimension unit for a parent and its child intervals comes from the parent row (DepthUnit, or DimensionUnit for Test Pit) — child sheets carry no separate unit column. All Status columns are header-required but default, so a blank status cell is filled.

Wells sheet

Column	Required	Type	Notes
LocationCode	Yes	lookup	Parent location.
Code	Yes	text	Well code.
Borehole	No	lookup	Associated borehole.
PermitNumber	No	text	Permit number.
WellType	Yes	lookup	Well type.
Status	Default: Active	enum	Well status.
PrimaryAquifer	No	lookup	Primary aquifer.
InstallationStartDate / InstallationEndDate	No	date	Installation dates.
DrillingOrganization / DrilledBy / DrillingMethod	No	lookup / text / lookup	Drilling details.
DecommissionDate … DecommissionReportNumber	No	mixed	Decommissioning details.
Depth / DepthUnit	No	number / enum	Total depth and its unit (also the unit for child intervals).
Diameter / DiameterUnit	No	number / enum	Borehole diameter.
TocElevation / TocElevationUnit / TocVerticalDatum	No	mixed	Top-of-casing elevation.
SurfaceCompletionType / StickupHeight / StickupHeightUnit	No	mixed	Surface completion.
ScreenTop … SlotSizeUnit	No	mixed	Inline screen shortcut: any value here creates a screen interval on the well.
Notes	No	text	Free text.

Intervals sheet (Well)

One sheet for both casing/screen and annular intervals, discriminated by IntervalType. Fields meant for the other type are rejected on the wrong row.

Column	Required	Type	Notes
WellCode	Yes	text	Parent well.
IntervalType	Yes	enum	Casing vs Annular.
Top / Bottom	Yes	number	Interval depth range (parent's depth unit).
CasingType	Cond.	enum	Casing / Screen / Sump — for casing rows.
InnerDiameter / OuterDiameter	No	number	Diameters.
CasingMaterial / ScreenType / Aquifer / SlotSize	No	mixed	Casing/screen fields (casing rows only).
AnnularMaterial / PlacementMethod / Quantity / QuantityUnit	No	mixed	Annular fields (annular rows only).
Notes	No	text	Free text.

Boreholes sheet

Column	Required	Type	Notes
LocationCode	Yes	lookup	Parent location.
Code	Yes	text	Borehole code.
BoreholeType	Yes	lookup	Borehole type.
Status	Default: Active	enum	Borehole status.
DrillingStartDate … DrillingMethod	No	mixed	Drilling details.
Depth / DepthUnit, Diameter / DiameterUnit	No	number / enum	Total depth and diameter (depth unit also drives child intervals).
TerminationNotes / RefusalType	No	text / enum	Termination.
WaterColumnDepth / WaterColumnDepthUnit	No	number / enum	Water column depth.
LoggedBy	No	text	Logged by.
DecommissionDate … DecommissionReportNumber	No	mixed	Decommissioning details.
Notes	No	text	Free text.

Sampling Runs sheet (Borehole)

Column	Required	Type	Notes
BoreholeCode	Yes	text	Parent borehole.
RunNumber	Yes	text	Run number.
DepthStart / DepthEnd	Yes	number	Run depth range (parent's depth unit).
SamplerType	Yes	enum	Sampler type.
RecoveryLength	No	number	Recovered length.
Condition	No	enum	Sample condition.
Description / LoggedBy / LoggedAt	No	text	Run details.

Sediment Cores sheet

Column	Required	Type	Notes
LocationCode	Yes	lookup	Parent location.
Code	Yes	text	Sediment core code.
Status	Default: Active	enum	Sediment core status.
CollectionStartDate … CoringMethod	No	mixed	Collection details.
DepthStart / DepthEnd / DepthUnit	Yes	number / enum	Core depth range and unit (required on this parent; the unit drives child intervals).
Diameter / DiameterUnit	No	number / enum	Diameter.
RefusalType / TerminationNotes	No	enum / text	Termination.
RecoveredLength	No	number	Recovered length.
WaterColumnDepth / WaterColumnDepthUnit	No	number / enum	Water column depth.
LoggedBy / StorageLocation / DisposedDate / DisposedBy	No	mixed	Handling/storage.
Notes	No	text	Free text.

Test Pits sheet

Column	Required	Type	Notes
LocationCode	Yes	lookup	Parent location.
Code	Yes	text	Test pit code.
Status	Default: Open	enum	Test pit status.
ExcavationDate / BackfillDate	No	date	Key dates.
ExcavationOrganization / ExcavatedBy / ExcavationMethod	No	mixed	Excavation details.
Length / Width / Depth	No	number	Dimensions (share DimensionUnit).
DimensionUnit	No	enum	Shared linear unit for length/width/depth.
TerminationReason / TerminationNotes	No	enum / text	Termination.
BackfillMethod / BackfillNotes / LoggedBy	No	mixed	Backfill and logging.
Notes	No	text	Free text.

Lithology Intervals sheet (Borehole, Sediment Core, Test Pit)

Prefixed by the parent-code column for its format (BoreholeCode, SedimentCoreCode, or TestPitCode).

Column	Required	Type	Notes
(parent code)	Yes	text	Parent borehole / sediment core / test pit.
DepthStart / DepthEnd	Yes	number	Interval depth range (parent's depth unit).
Description	Cond.	text	Interval description. At least one of Description, Lithology, or FieldUscsClassification is required.
Lithology	Cond.	lookup	Lithology classification. Satisfies the at-least-one rule above.
FieldUscsClassification	Cond.	text	Field USCS classification. Satisfies the at-least-one rule above.
Color / Texture / Structure / Odor	No	text	Descriptive fields.
Moisture / Consistency / Density / Sheen / Napl	No	enum	Classified observations.

Groundwater Observations sheet (Borehole, Test Pit)

Prefixed by the parent-code column (BoreholeCode or TestPitCode).

Column	Required	Type	Notes
(parent code)	Yes	text	Parent borehole / test pit.
Type	Yes	enum	Observation type.
ObservationTime	No	text	When observed.
DepthToWater	No	number	Depth to water.
Observation	No	text	Observation text.
MeasuredBy	No	text	Who measured.
MeasurementMethod	No	enum	Measurement method.

Locations sheet (optional, all field-artifact formats)

A shared optional sheet that creates the parent locations in the same import. Its columns are identical to the Location format (core columns plus the inline primary-coordinate block).

Lab formats

Format	Page
Lab Report (multi-sheet EDD)	The full sheet-and-column contract is on its own page: Lab Report (EDD) format.
Lab Results (Single Sheet) (flat)	One wide sheet combining the report, sample, analysis, result, and validation columns — batch codes ride in the analysis columns' typed LeachateBatchCode / PreparationBatchCode / AnalysisBatchCode columns, and Erde collapses the sheet into the review tabs. It is more permissive than the multi-sheet EDD: the lab sample code is optional (a result can attach to an existing project sample by field sample code alone), and it adds two column groups the EDD omits — FieldSampleCode/SampleDate on analysis and result rows, and the inline Val_* validation columns for already-validated historical data. The validated qualifier rides in Val_Qualifier; disposition (rejected, estimated, and so on) is derived from it through the Qualifiers reference data, so there are no separate rejected or estimated columns. See the EDD column reference for column meanings and Enumerations and codes for value lists.

Related

• Import formats
• Lab Report (EDD) format
• Import data
• Enumerations and codes
• Troubleshoot and roll back imports