Tool Provision For Users

The Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF) is an international organization that focuses on making scientific data on biodiversity available via the internet using web services. Xentity supported GBIF on multiple projects, helping to provide better tools and needs (publications, taxon scientific names, web applications, etc.) to the community. These tasks included creating algorithms for approximate string matching, developing web applications and GBIF services, and glossary applications for “Terms Used in Bionomenclature.”

Using Our Design and Development Process

There are numerous ways to make scientific data on biodiversity available to the public, via web services. Namely, web applications, algorithms, web services specific to the website, etc. At Xentity, we believe there is a five step process to product creation: discovery, define, design, develop and then implementation. Here, GBIF required help in their design and development stages in order to implement these services they had in mind.

Xentity supported the design and development for several tools through our internationally and nationally recognized program and design solution methodology. We helped develop an algorithm for fuzzy matching of taxon scientific names. Also, we supported the design and development of several web applications that provide specific web services for publishing biodiversity data, reclassifying changes made based on a user’s choice of “Checklist Authority” in the GBIF Checklist Bank, identifying and extracting scientific names from other web pages and documents, and a glossary of terms with RDF and SKOS standards. Consequently, the design and development of these tools serve to help GBIF in their mission to provide data on biodiversity.

Building Better Tools For Better Applications

The major outcomes are the development of many helpful tools for taxonomy reconciliation, name finding, and Darwin Core Archive generator. Also, PHP version of Taxamatch to be used with taxonomic authority files, matching taxon scientific names. Furthermore, a spreadsheet processor to publish biodiversity data to the GBIF network. Also, the “taxon tagger” to identify and extract scientific names. Finally, the creation of the GBIF “Darwin Core Archive Spreadsheet Processor”, which takes Excel templates for Species Occurrence and Species Checklists and transforms those into Archives. All of which were meant to benefit the community of GBIF users by simplifying the GBIF’s taxonomy system.