1. Isn't there a printed book version of the Compendium?

There once was, but it has been discontinued. The last edition was printed in November 2002. We have none left.

2. How often is the LNP Dome Theater Compendium updated?

During the normal everyday course of doing business at Loch Ness Productions, we're continually making changes and updates to our database. When we receive an order for the Compendium, we will usually generate an entire new set of Compendium pages at that time! So the data will always be current, often to within a matter of minutes.

We've priced the Compendium so reasonably low that you'll be tempted to order frequent updates. At the bottom of every listing and index page is the creation date, to help you decide when it's time.

3. Can I get the data electronically,
like a spreadsheet?

Short Answer: Some of the data is available, but not in the same form the Compendium uses. dBASE-compatible DBF files for mailing purposes are $150 US, $150 International. To order, contact us.

Long Answer: The LNP Dome Theater Compendium does not exist as a single spreadsheet or database. It is a compilation of data from different sources.

We use the relational database program dBASE III+ (yes, a DOS program). The address information is in one database, projector equipment in a second, people in a third, the text blocks and URLs in yet more databases, and there are others we don't publish, such as Loch Ness Productions customer histories. Each database is indexed, and records linked using unique locater codes. This allows us to link indefinite numbers of records -- such as attaching multi-person staffs to single institutions or multiple projectors to single domes, for example -- without the overhead of duplicated data in each.

When people ask for our publication in electronic form, what they usually want is either 1) a mailing list so they can pitch some product or service to the planetarium or planetarian, or 2) a data set from which marketing analyses can be run for commercial or research intent. We do make available a subset of the information in our databases to parties we perceive as beneficial to the planetarium community -- sometimes even our competition.

For those requests that fall into the first category above, we can make available the "address block" of the LNP Dome Theater Compendium. Scroll down for details about which items are included. For those wanting information extending beyond what's needed for mailings, you'll have to contact us about doing custom database programming for you.

There are approximately 1500 US and 1500 international planetarium entries in our database. We do no advance culling of the lists -- you get all the entries.

We charge $150 US and $150 International for the mailing databases. That works out to about US$.10/entry.

dBASE III+ files are space-filled, not delimited, databases. Most database and spreadsheet programs can import .DBF format files. The structure of each record is detailed below. We store the files into zip archives for transmission as an e-mail attachment. US and International combined are usually less than 200K zipped; they expand to approximately 450K each when unzipped.

Structure for dBASE III+ databases:

United States:
Field  Field Name  Type       Width
    1  PLT_NAME    Character     30
    2  INST_NAME   Character     30
    3  ADDRESS     Character     30
    4  CITY        Character     20
    5  ST          Character      2
    6  ZIP         Character     10
    7  PHONE       Character     19
    8  PHONDESC    Character     10
    9  PHONE2      Character     19
   10  PHONDESC2   Character     10
   11  PHONE3      Character     19
   12  PHONDESC3   Character     10

International differs by these fields:
    5  PROVINCE    Character     17
    6  COUNTRY     Character     30
    7  POSTALCODE  Character      9

4: Are the addresses CASS-certified?

A: No. We know about the USPS CASS-certification guidelines for conforming mailing addresses, but have chosen not to format our data in that manner. We think "123 Second Circle Street, Suite A" looks a lot better in our Compendium than "123 2D CR ST STE A". At Loch Ness Productions, we usually send our mailings first class anyway, so we don't use pre-sort discounts, bulk rates and such.

5. What's the difference between the Dome Theater Compendium and what's listed in the ONLINE! sections?

A: The LNP Dome Theater Compendium is the biggie, the full Monty, the complete listing of all the theaters worldwide. It's a commercial product, available as a CD-ROM or a Zip file. There are about 3000 listings. It features three index columns (Locations, People, and Projectors); the online listings provide only one, Locations.

The LNP Dome Theater Compendium ONLINE! is a subset -- only those theaters who have licensed a Loch Ness Productions show, or have submitted update forms. There are about 650 listings.

The Fulldome Theater Compendium ONLINE! is also a subset -- only those theaters with fulldome video capability. There are about 150 listings.

The latter two may include information about Loch Ness Productions shows that theaters have licensed; the commercial product does not.