• Introduction
• To Publish Checklists
• Checklist Publishing Tools supporting GNA format and Training in their Use

This page is under construction and subject to significant revision.

Introduction

Sharing taxonomic and nomenclatural information about scientific names in a common, interoperable way is the foundation for the Global Names Architecture. In its simplest form, a simple list of namess can be shared, but further detailed nomenclatural and taxonomic information regarding taxa is desirable. Sharing additional information about taxa, particularly species in a simple and flexible manner is also of great interest to GBIF and many partnering projects and initiatives.

The recommended Darwin Core archive is based on the text guidelines of Darwin Core and extends the functionality of the standard so that a core record may refer not only to an occurrence of a taxon but to a taxon itself. This provides the basis for including terms sufficient to describe taxonomic and nomenclatural data resources that we collectively refer to as "checklists."

The Darwin Core Archive (DwC-A) is the simplest and most efficient way to publish checklist data. In addition GBIF will support the use of the Taxonomic Concept Transfer Schema (TCS) developed by TDWG. TCS provides a comprehensive standard in the area of organism names and concepts. GBIF will support the indexing of TCS either as XML or RDF, but recommends the use of Darwin Core Archive format for its simplicity and extensibility.

To Publish Checklists

• Identify the specific data elements in your dataset that you would like to publish to the network
• Review the existing GNA data exchange format and determine if it will accommodate all of these data elements. This includes both the core taxon properties as well as extensions to the core taxon data. It may be helpful to review example data (or suggest new ones for us to post).
• If not, review additional extensions registered in the GBIF network that may not be part of the core GNA extensions.
• Consider proposing a new extension to register with the GBIF network. Please review Extension Guidelines before proceeding.
• Export your data in the GNA data exchange format or Taxon Concept Schema XML
• It is possible to export files in the GNA data exchange format directly from databases and spreadsheets. However, creating a DarwinCore Archive is simpler using one of the available online tools.
• The http://code.google.com/p/gbif-providertoolkit/ Integrated Publishing ToolKit] serves as a both a tool for transforming your data to the GNA format and as a respository for hosting your data. The IPT will also automatically register your dataset once you specify it is ready to publish.
• The [ipt-lite.gbif.org/ Darwin Core Data Transformation Tool] serves as a utility for transforming your data to a zipped DarwinCore Archive file in the GNA format.
• Register your dataset with the GBIF Network using the GBIF registry
• The registry enables your checklist data to be discoverable on the GBIF network. The metadata catalogue allows you to describe the dataset, it's authors and curators and other useful information for users.

Checklist Publishing Tools supporting GNA format and Training in their Use

• Integrated Publishing ToolKit (IPT)
• Introduction to the IPT
• Basic requirements to have an IPT installation
• IPT Data Interfaces
• IPT User Interface
• Customisation and internationalisation of the GBIF IPT
• Extensions
• Darwin Core Data Transformation Tool
• EDIT Taxonomic Scratchpads (in workplan)
• ITIS taxonomic workbench (in workplan)
• Spreadsheet Templates (for offline compilation and intermittant Internet Access) (coming)