Why naming matters
Measure uses identifiers (tag names and ref_ids) to decide whether an uploaded row is new or an update. Identifiers are matched exactly, character for character:
Denver-HQanddenver-hqare two different records.denver-hqanddenver-hq(with a trailing space) are two different records.A hyphen (-) and an en dash (–) look alike but make two different records.
A small difference in an identifier creates a duplicate instead of updating your data, and the two often look identical on screen. Consistent naming prevents this.
Recommended conventions
Each record has a readable display field and an identifier that mirrors it in lowercase, with spaces and punctuation replaced by hyphens.
Record | Display field | Identifier | Example |
Facility tag | title: facility name plus only what's needed to tell it apart | name | Langley - Warehouse → |
Activity | label: | ref_id | Leland Warehouse - Propane Forklift #3 → |
Consumption | none | ref_id |
|
Emission factor | none | ref_id |
|
When two facilities share a name, add only what you need to tell them apart, such as division, type or city. For example, "Portland - Rugby" and "Portland - Novo."
Allowed characters in a tag name
Measure enforces these rules:
Letters (A–Z) and digits (0–9)
Hyphens, underscores and periods, but only between letters or digits, and only one at a time
Must start and end with a letter or digit
No spaces, other punctuation or accented characters. Replace accented letters with plain ones (Zürich →
zurich).
Valid | Invalid | Why |
|
| Contains spaces |
|
| Two separators in a row |
|
| Starts with a separator |
|
| Accented character |
|
| Slash isn't allowed |
We recommend all lowercase, since identifiers are case-sensitive.
Allowed characters in a tag type
Tag types follow different rules from tag names: lowercase letters, digits and underscores only. facility_type is valid as a type. facility-type is not.
ref_ids
Measure accepts almost any characters in a ref_id, but we strongly recommend following the same rules as tag names, in lowercase. In particular, never use:
A colon (:) or semicolon (;)
Leading or trailing spaces
Invisible characters, such as non-breaking spaces copied from a PDF or web page
A leading
=,+or-. Exports add an apostrophe in front of these, so re-uploading an exported file creates a duplicate.
Keep identifiers stable
Once a record exists, keep its identifier the same in every future upload. Changing a ref_id or tag name, even to fix a typo, creates a new record rather than renaming the old one. To rename a record, delete the old one and upload the new one. See How imports work.