EDIT WP5 Platform for Cybertaxonomy

Since ATBI+M activities include creating biodiversity inventories, tools for visualisation of such data are needed. Scientists involved in ATBI may use mapViewer for mapping species distribution, performing basic spatial analysis or creating camera ready maps needed for reports or publications. On the other hand the Map REST service is a powerful visualisation tool for those involved in automated publication of the collated information.

This report provides a summary of the procedures and steps to follow using converter webservices for transforming point occurrence data to distribution data.

Point data to regional distribution - Priorities in programming efforts should thus be concentrated on a set of known end-user needs in the domain of taxonomy related work, for practical purposes. Based on previously conducted surveys and reports following services have been selected as a priority to be used by taxonomists or users of taxonomic information:

On January 26th, a small rather informal meeting was held in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, back-to-back with the EDIT ATBI+M manual workshop.

This was a good opportunity, as the lead developer for the CSIC mapViewer tool (Pere Roca Ristol) was there, and Anke Hoffmann for the management part. The partners not physically present have largely contributed via the (geo and dev) mailing lists, and their comments and suggestions were taken into account for the workplan and the outcomes of the workshop.

This report provides an overview of possible test data for the EDIT Geoplatform tools, specifically the mapViewer tool. Examples are given in the Annexes to this report.

As described in the C5.65 and C5.66 component reports, an online GIS webapplication for taxonomic visualisation of point occurrences and regional distribution has been developed by CSIC, in collaboration with BGBM and RMCA, with two major constituents: (i) An interactive online tool for taxonomists, to visualise their data and download the result in a host of image formats (png, jpg,...) in print quality for publication. See the EDIT WP5 C5.66 report. (ii) A REST webservice offering the same functions in an automated way by means of an Application Programming Interface (API).

Based on the M5.28 report (Report on Guidelines to produce publication ready maps), identifying the requirements for the service in terms of quality map printing, features for enhancing the MapViewer tool for publication-ready maps have been studied and implemented.

It should be noted that this implementation work is still ongoing, in close coordination with the map services API development and documentation (see C5.68 report).

The regional distribution map generation webservice within the EDIT WP5.4 GeoPlatform is now available.  It allows taxonomists to generate regional distribution maps from their own point data uploads. It can be used for map-making in everyday taxonomic work, much as you would use a GIS system, but without the steep learning curve and complex interface of the latter.

Symbolisation, zoom level, map positioning and background imagery can be adapted on-line, so users can adapt the maps exactly as they require for their daily work and their publications.

MNCN Madrid has been developing a web-application (EDIT MapViewer) that currently allows these actions: 

• The visualization of user point data in a specified map context
• Filtering and symbolization (colour, symbol and size) of the uploaded data
• The identification of user data through two different tools
• Add different WMS layers coming from the EDIT Web Map Server
• Make thematic searches in remote WMS servers
• Load and display layers from a pre-defined list of WMS Servers

The assessment of the needs of taxonomists in terms of Geospatial components and the e-conference previously held (see Component 5.32) indicated that there is a high interest in having access to camera ready maps for different publication means ( Websites, Presentations, scientific papers, large format maps, posters). The local post processing of maps for publication has been identified as being far from straightforward and often rather time consuming for non-specialists in GIS systems. The development of a freely available and easy-to-use tool able to produce maps for those taxonomists not experienced in the use of GIS programs is indeed an essential part of EDIT Work Package 5.4 (Geospatial Component).

As described in the C5.65 and C5.66 component reports, an online GIS webapplication (the EDIT MapViewer Tool) for taxonomic visualisation of point occurrences and regional distribution has been developed by CSIC, in collaboration with RMCA and BGBM. Applications developed include: