This page is meant to be an index to Darwin Core resources such as schemas, applications, properties files, and example data sets.

If you have schema to contribute or discuss, create a wiki page for it, provide clear and succinct sections on Purpose and Audience, and give it an appropriate schema Label (schema-XML, schema-TEXT). When the page is developed satisfactorily a reference to it can be placed in the index on this page, which is referenced in the Darwin Core Standard documents.

• Tools
• Simple Darwin Core
• Darwin Core Text Archive (DwC-A)
• What is a Darwin Core Archive and who uses it?
• GBIF Darwin Core Archive References
• Darwin Core Archive Reader
• Darwin Core Archive Validator
• Darwin Core Archive Assistant
• GBIF Integrated Publishing Toolkit
• dwca2sql

Tools

Controlled Vocabulary Tools (lists, web services):

• http://rs.gbif.org
• http://vocabularies.gbif.org/

Simple Darwin Core

• Introduction: http://rs.tdwg.org/dwc/terms/simple/index.htm
• XML schema: http://rs.tdwg.org/dwc/xsd/tdwg_dwc_simple.xsd
• Extensible XML schema: http://rs.tdwg.org/dwc/xsd/tdwg_dwc_simple_extensible.xsd
• CSV file header (UTF8 encoding): http://darwincore.googlecode.com/files/SimpleDwCCSVheaderUTF8.txt
• Properties file (language=en): http://darwincore.googlecode.com/files/SimpleDwC.properties
• MySQL CREATE TABLE statement: http://darwincore.googlecode.com/files/SimpleDwCMySQL.sql
• Microsoft Access database: http://darwincore.googlecode.com/files/SimpleDwCMSAccess.mdb
• Microsoft Excel spreadsheet: http://darwincore.googlecode.com/files/SimpleDwCMSExcel.xls

Darwin Core Text Archive (DwC-A)

What is a Darwin Core Archive and who uses it?

GBIF Darwin Core Archive References

GBIF Online Resource Center for Darwin Core Archives

Darwin Core Archive Reader

See DarwinCoreArchiveReader for more details

Darwin Core Archive Validator

The validator was written by GBIF to test Darwin Core Archives as specified in the Darwin Core Text Guide. Due to the simplicity of the archives GBIF encourages publishers to create them using simple custom scripts. Therefore the need arises to provide a testing framework for developers to make sure GBIF and others can read the information as expected.

The validator uses the official XML schema to validate the meta.xml descriptor, but additionally it validates the content against the known extensions and terms registered within the GBIF network for sharing biodiversity data. GBIF runs a production and a development registry that keeps track of extensions, both of which are used by this validator.

• online validator service at GBIF: http://tools.gbif.org/dwca-validator/
• source code: http://code.google.com/p/darwincore/source/browse/trunk/dwca-validator/

The meta.xml descriptor schema: XML schema for validation

Darwin Core Archive Assistant

See http://code.google.com/p/gbif-meta-maker/

Online service at http://tools.gbif.org/dwca-assistant

The Darwin Core Archive Assistant is a web application that presents a simple interface for describing the data elements a data publisher wishes to serve to the GBIF network as basic text files and composes the appropriate XML descriptor file as defined in the Darwin Core Text Guidelines to accompany them. It communicates with the GBIF registry to provide an up-to-date listing of all relevant Darwin Core terms and available extensions and presents these in a simple checklist format.

GBIF Integrated Publishing Toolkit

See http://code.google.com/p/gbif-providertoolkit/

Online demonstration instance at http://ipt.gbif.org

The GBIF Integrated Publishing Toolkit (IPT) is a freely available open source web application that makes it easy to produce, share, and publish biodiversity-related information using Darwin Core Archives. More information about the GBIF IPT can be found at http://www.gbif.org/informatics/infrastructure/publishing/

dwca2sql

Darwin Core to SQL (dwca2sql) is a lightweight tool to ease the importation of Darwin Core archives into a relational database. It translates the structure and content of a Darwin Core Archive file into CREATE TABLE and/or INSERT INTO SQL statements, packaged as an .sql file, which you can then import in your database.

http://code.google.com/p/canadensys/wiki/dwca2sql