DataClasses - AtlasOfLivingAustralia/ala-datamob GitHub Wiki
Introduction
aspects common to biodiversity data:
- what (taxonomy)
- when (temporal)
- where (spatial)
- who (collectors)
- (and sometimes why, e.g. symbiosis)
sub-systems of the atlas, where data surface
i.e. appear, or are made accessible :
- biocache - http://biocache.ala.org.au - the main specimens+sightings database
- spatial portal - http://spatial.ala.org.au - the geographical information system (gis), which shares a common backend with the biocache and allows users to cross-reference the species observation data with contextual (dots, lines, boxes, polygons...) and environmental (measurements+facts, classifications, opinions...) data; see http://spatial.ala.org.au/alaspatial/layers/ for a list of layers
- biodiversity information explorer (bie) - http://bie.ala.org.au - stores the profile data for taxa (descriptions, taxonomy, synonymy, common names, multimedia, ...)
- collectory - http://collections.ala.org.au - stores information on most data providers
- volunteer portal - http://volunteer.ala.org.au - a collaborative tool for users to help collections, particularly with transcription of labels, etc.
- morphbank - http://morphbank.ala.org.au - the australian node of the morphbank distributed network of images & multimedia
- ... not an exhaustive list
different kinds of data
the sub-systems may be aware of many logical classes of data:
- species' observation data (what+when+where+who)
- species' profile data (what+who, what+where, what+why)
- resource descriptions (who, what)
- spatial (environmental) data (where)
observations | profile data | resources | spatial | |
---|---|---|---|---|
biocache | 1 | 2 | ||
spatial portal | 3 | 4 | ||
morphbank | 5 | 6 | ||
bie | 7 | 8 | ||
collectory | 9 |
classes of data relate to each other
some of these (types, kinds) of data can be related through common dimensions (or aspects, facets, natural keys, ...):
Relate... | observations | profile data | spatial layers |
---|---|---|---|
to observations | through preparations, derivation, digitisation, biological relationships, collectors, collection events, statistical analysis | identification, associations (explicit or inferred) | location desc./coordinates, environmental classification |
to profile | through taxonomy, inference | taxonomy, biological interactions | taxonomy |
to resources | through data provision | taxonomic coverage | spatial layer metadata |
to spatial | through location descriptions or coordinates, species distributions, predictive analysis | with species' distributions | by environmental layer grouping, e.g. median rainfall & max rainfall => 'rainfall' |
although there is a number of potential relationships at all intersections, there are common aspects that allow for the relationship to exist; when they are normalised we find ourselves with a list of possible dimensions, common to the kinds of data relevant to biodiversity:
naturally, that wouldn't be complex enough! so follow this link for more specifics as well...
https://sites.google.com/site/atlaslivingoz/ala-data/classes