GBIF and the Biodiversity Informatics Landscape Donald Hobern

GBIF and the Biodiversity Informatics Landscape Donald Hobern GBIF Director Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF) London, 24 July 2013

Origins and principles Established in 2001 Response to OECD recommendation Open to all countries Voluntary memorandum of understanding (Mo. U) Vision - a world in which: Biodiversity information is freely and universally available for science, society and a sustainable future

GBIF Participation 58 countries (38 voting and 20 associate) 46 international organisations Last updated: 2013 -01 -03

12 years – 405 million records

New portal – October 2013

Weaknesses with distributed data Distribution Modeller Climate Change Researcher Environment Agency Uses Rejects Id: CURC-00015436 Species: Acalles dubius Location: Berlin, Germany Latitude: 13. 41 Longitude: 52. 52 Digitises Curator Id: CURC-00015436 x Id: CURC-00015436 Species: Acalles dubius Species: Acalles camelus Location: Berlin, Germany Latitude: 13. 41 Longitude: 52. 52 Corrects Id: CURC-00015436 Species: Acalles dubius Location: Berlin, Germany Latitude: 13. 41 52. 52 Longitude: 52. 52 13. 41 Reidentifies Taxonomist

Toward a shared knowledgebase Environment Agency Distribution Modeller Climate Change Researcher Flags issue Uses Corrects Publishes model Sequences Technician Global Biodiversity Knowledgebase Id: CURC-00015436 Version: 6 1 2 3 4 Distribution model Species: Acalles camelus dubius Uses Acalles camelus Location: Berlin, Germany Latitude: 52. 52 13. 41 Longitude: 13. 41 Sequence: ATTGCA. . . Longitude: 13. 41 52. 52 Image: 15436. jpg Sequence: ATTGCA. . . Issue detected: Locality Image: 15436. jpg Images Photographer Reidentifies Digitises Curator Taxonomist

So what is needed? • • • Data standards Persistent storage Culture of open reuse Collaborative curation Mobilising all primary data Interpretation of primary data

Persistent storage • Long-term data management • Stable data identifiers and citation • Data replication

Culture of open reuse

Collaborative curation

Building the knowledgebase Assessments and Indicators Environmental, Climatic and Sociological Data Models (best estimates of reality) Organised Data (specific views and indexes of data) Primary Data (all streams of biodiversity data) e-Infrastructure (services and culture to support data reuse)

Thank you Donald Hobern, dhobern@gbif. org GBIF Director Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF) London, 24 July 2013

Parallels with climate data https: //mitpress. mit. edu/books/vast-machine

Knowledge today is easily lost Ochyrotica taiwanica, Taipei City, 30 Jan 2011. Image copyright http: //www. flickr. com/people/cchsieh/ Second known individual Hexadactilia trilobata, Sulawesi Image copyright Richard Seaman Only live photo for genus • How do we connect experts with such observations?