Global Names Architecture

Names of organisms provide a common link to nearly all recorded information of a species. The ubiquity of names in recorded information about species marks them as a key component in information management, retrieval and integration. Yet names, both scientific and informal, are neither unique, or stable, and this presents serious challenges in assembling and distributing information about species. Despite these challenges, a comprehensive list of names does not exist and information about names, and how they relate to species, is dispersed across a range of biological and informatics initiatives.

The Global Names Architecture seeks to develop, promote and refine, infrastructure, standards, and collaborations that lead to a comprehensive compilation of all organism names and embeds the use of authoritative information about names into the wide range of informatics activities that publish and exchange information about species. This project has it's origins with the Global Biodiversity Informations Facility and the Encyclopedia of Life who sought to combine resources and reduce duplication of effort in addressing common issues concerning organism names.

The focus of the GNA is:

• Define and promote simple, effective data standards for sharing information about organism names
• Simplify the process for publishing and discovering information about organism names
• Develop a global index of published resources in order to:
• develop a complete index of organism names associated within information about taxa
• evaluate the degree to which organism names can be tied to authoritative nomenclatural and taxonomic records.
• Develop tools, services, and best practices that utilise and promote the use of taxonomic and nomenclatural identifiers within biodiversity information.

GBIF Secretariat contacts for this work:

• David Remsen, Senior Programme Officer (ECAT) dremsen@gbif.org
• Markus Döring, Senior Developer, mdoering@gbif.org
• Tim Robertson, Systems Architect, trobertson@gbif.org

Note: This site is under active construction. Many pages are in a draft form and may change at any time

YourKit is kindly supporting open source projects with its full-featured Java Profiler. YourKit, LLC is the creator of innovative and intelligent tools for profiling Java and .NET applications.

Take a look at YourKit's leading software products: YourKit Java Profiler and YourKit .NET Profiler.