Comparison of characteristics of interactive identification programs

The idea and part of contents of the below table borrowed from M. Dallwitz:
http://delta-intkey.com/www/comparison.htm.
Each program obtains estimation in accordance with every characteristics (rather subjective) within 0 and maximal value of the particular characteristic given in the column "Max. value". As value of characteristics are also subjectively attributed, the total values of programs represent only a relative interest. However the comparative review of opportunities of different programs is more important.
The initial table was rather modified: it was enlarged by some new characteristics (they proposed by A.L. Lobanov and D.A. Dmitriev and collected in part "New features") and by the programs missing in the initial table (including our elaborations - PICKEY and WebKey-X, and also the program 3I (by D.Dmitriev)).
The table at stage of infilling - estimation of new characteristics and value for added programs is still under consideration and sometimes not written. Therefore it has still no reason to be in earnest about total estimation rup in the below line.
The participants of the project decided to make a translation into Russian and review the set of characteristics from their viewpoint. Therefore the given table is preliminary and incomplete in many aspects.

In the table the following programs are included:

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FEATURES	Max. value	WEBKEY_X	PICKEY	DMITR_3I	FLORA_SRCH	INTKEY	LUCID	MEKA	POLLYCLAVE	IDENTIFYIT	VISUAL_KEY	NAVIKEY	XID	DAP	DAWI
NEW FEATURES
Use of conventional DB	16	16	16	16	0	8	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Mark non working states (instead of removing)	4	0	4	4	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Show the number of taxa that can be identified by each state	2	0	0	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Possibility to create different keys from same datamatrix	2	0	2	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Multilanguage keys (all text on several languages)	8	0	8	8	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Storing synonymies names (and search for those names)	2	0	2	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Can be used on both Mac and PC computers	4	0	0	4	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Search in Internet for additional information on the taxon	4	0	0	4	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Store and search in list of literature with links to taxa	2	0	0	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Store and search for additional information for hosts	2	0	0	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Store and search for distribution with maps	4	0	4	4	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
ADVANTAGES OVER CONVENTIONAL KEYS
Unrestricted character use	8	0	0	8	0	8	8	8	8	8	8	8	8	0	0
Character deletion and changing	4	4	4	4	0	4	4	4	4	4	0	4	4	0	0
Error tolerance	8	0	8	8	0	8	8	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Locating errors	4	0	0	4	0	4	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Expressing uncertainty	8	0	0	8	0	8	8	4	8	0	8	0	4	0	0
Numeric characters	8	0	0	8	0	8	8	0	8	0	0	8	0	0	0
GUIDANCE IN CHARACTER SELECTION
Character maps	8	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	8	0	0	0	0
Best characters	8	8	8	8	0	8	4	0	4	8	8	0	8	0	0
Separating a taxon	4	4	4	0	0	4	0	0	0	0	0	0	2	0	0
Best routes	2	0	0	0	0	0	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
DIFFERENTIATING ATTRIBUTES
Removing redundant characters	2	0	0	2	0	2	2	2	0	2	2	2	2	0	0
REMOVING REDUNDANT CHARACTER STATES
Character reliabilities	4	0	0	4	0	4	0	0	4	0	0	0	4	0	0
Attribute reliabilities	4	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Searching the character list	4	4	4	4	0	4	4	0	2	0	4	0	0	0	0
RECORDING AND MATCHING CHARACTER VALUES
Retaining unknowns	16	16	16	16	0	16	16	16	16	0	16	16	8	0	0
Character dependencies	4	0	0	0	0	4	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Automatic controlling characters	4	0	0	0	0	4	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Gaps for integer numerics	4	0	0	0	0	4	4	0	4	0	0	4	0	0	0
Text characters	2	2	2	0	0	2	0	0	1	0	0	1	0	0	0
Special values for keys	4	0	0	0	0	0	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Probabilistic identification	4	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Inapplicable versus unknown	2	0	0	0	0	2	0	0	2	0	1	1	0	0	0
Expanded ranges for numerics	2	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	0
Unknown state values	2	0	0	0	0	0	2	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Exact characters	2	0	0	0	0	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Fixing character values	2	0	0	0	0	2	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
SUBSETS
Named subsets of characters	4	0	4	4	0	4	4	4	0	0	0	0	4	0	0
Global subsets of characters	4	0	4	4	0	4	4	4	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Local subsets of characters	2	0	2	0	0	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	0
Named subsets of taxa	4	0	4	0	0	4	0	0	0	0	4	0	0	0	0
Global subsets of taxa	4	0	4	0	0	4	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Local subsets of taxa	2	0	2	0	0	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
CHARACTER INTERPRETATION
Character notes	4	0	4	4	0	4	4	0	0	2	0	0	4	0	0
Glossaries	4	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Character illustrations	4	4	4	4	0	4	2	0	4	2	4	0	4	0	0
State selection from illustrations	4	4	4	4	0	4	2	0	0	2	4	0	0	0	0
IMAGES AND SOUNDS
Taxon illustrations	4	4	4	4	0	4	4	4	2	4	4	4	2	0	0
Taxon illustrations by subject	4	0	4	4	0	4	4	0	0	4	0	0	0	0	0
Flexible display of illustrations	4	0	0	0	0	4	0	0	0	0	2	0	0	0	0
Text with illustrations	2	0	0	2	0	2	2	0	0	0	2	0	2	0	0
Sounds	2	0	2	2	0	2	2	0	0	2	2	0	0	0	0
Videos	2	0	2	2	0	2	2	0	0	2	2	0	0	0	0
Running without illustrations	2	0	0	2	0	2	0	0	0	0	2	0	0	0	0
LINKED KEYS
Integral hierarchical keys	2	0	0	2	0	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Separate hierarchical keys	2	0	0	2	0	2	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
INFORMATION RETRIEVAL
Searching the taxon names	2	0	0	2	0	2	1	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	0
Descriptions from the data	2	0	2	2	0	2	2	0	2	2	2	2	2	0	0
Differences between taxa	4	0	0	0	0	4	2	0	0	2	0	0	0	0	0
Similarities between taxa	2	0	0	0	0	2	1	0	0	1	0	0	0	0	0
Diagnostic descriptions	4	0	0	0	0	4	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Taxon retrieval by attributes	2	0	0	0	0	2	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Control of value matching	2	0	0	0	0	2	1	1	0	0	0	0	1	0	0
Character-value distributions	2	0	0	0	0	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	0
Most similar taxa	2	0	0	0	0	0	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Text files attached to taxa	2	0	0	2	0	2	2	0	0	2	0	0	0	0	0
DATA SHARING
Importing DELTA format	2	0	0	0	0	2	1	0	2	0	0	2	0	0	0
Exporting DELTA format	2	0	0	0	0	2	1	0	2	0	0	2	0	0	0
Data output	2	0	2	0	0	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Links with description writing	2	0	0	2	0	2	0	0	2	0	0	2	0	0	0
Links with key generation	2	0	2	0	0	2	0	0	2	0	0	2	0	0	0
Links with classification	2	0	0	0	0	2	0	0	2	0	0	2	0	0	0
USEABILITY
Online help	2	0	0	1	0	2	1	0	1	1	0	1	2	0	0
Command files or macros	2	0	0	0	0	2	1	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
User-definable toolbar	4	0	0	0	0	4	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
External program text	2	0	0	0	0	2	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Log files	2	2	2	0	0	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Unlimited data size	4	4	4	4	0	4	4	4	4	2	4	4	4	0	0
Unlimited field lengths	2	2	2	2	0	2	1	0	2	0	2	2	2	0	0
No special memory requirements	2	0	0	2	0	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	0	0
Fast execution	4	0	0	4	0	4	0	4	0	4	4	0	4	0	0
Internet capability	8	8	4	8	0	4	0	0	4	0	4	2	0	0	0
Installation unnecessary	2	2	0	2	0	2	0	2	0	0	2	0	2	0	0
SUM of FEATURES ESTIMATION	304	84	144	195	0	227	133	62	94	56	101	71	77	0	0

A.L. Lobanov, M.B. Dianov,
A.G. Kirejtshuk, A.T. Vakhitov
December of 2005