Slides presented as an invited speaker representing GBIF—the Global Biodiversity Information Facility (http://gbif.org)—at an event seeking 'to kick-start collaborations to mobilise the National Biodiversity Network’s extensive undigitised data holdings using crowdsourcing platforms'. Organized by the UK's NBN Trust, the summit took place at the Manchester Museum on 25 Sept 2015.
3. WHAT IS GBIF?
http://www.gbif.org
• Open-access research infrastructure for
biodiversity information, funded by the world’s
governments
• Established in 2001 on recommendation by
OECD Global Science Forum in 1999
• 92 national and organizational participants:
‘member state’ approach
• Secretariat hosted by KU and attached to
the Zoological Museum in Copenhagen
4.
5.
6. GBIF BY THE NUMBERS
576,332,681
species occurrence records
1,611,321
species
15,147
datasets
765
data-publishing institutions
http://www.gbif.org | 22 SEP 2015
8. CITATIONS IN PEER-REVIEWED RESEARCH
2 SEP 2015
Annual number of peer-reviewed publications
using GBIF-mediated data
52
89
148
169
229
249
357
261
0 50 100 150 200 250 300 350 400
2008
2009
2010
2011
2012
2013
2014
2015 (Jan-Aug)
9. SOURCES OF CITIZEN SCIENCE DATA
Citizen science networks
• eBird: 150 (soon 210) million
high-quality observations
• Recorder networks in UK,
Sweden, Norway, Finland et al.
Bioblitzes
• Sometimes hosted by national
and organizational participants
• Important tool for public outreach
for ‘member states’
Crowdsourced digitization
• Virtual public transcription
projects: ongoing or timebound
GBIF Secretariat analysis—Nov 2014
10. CITIZEN SCIENCE DATA: 2014
TOP NATIONAL PUBLISHERS
GBIF Secretariat analysis—Nov 2014
Country # Observations
USA 161,894,332
Sweden 38,604,747
UK 22,304,967
Finland 13,519,114
Australia 7,448,478
Germany 4,951,803
Denmark 4,609,679
Ireland 1,582,524
Norway 370,911
Estonia 169,086
Belgium 370,911
Canada 121,916
Country # Observations
Sweden 38,604,747
UK 22,304,967
Finland 13,519,114
USA 8,362,169
Australia 7,448,478
Germany 4,951,803
Denmark 4,609,679
Ireland 1,582,524
Norway 370,911
Estonia 169,086
Belgium 370,911
Canada 121,916
EXCLUDING eBIRD
11. BASIS OF RECORD
• Greater proportion of
observations
• Contributions to
specimen data are
underreported and
underappreciated
GBIF Secretariat analysis—Nov 2014
Basis of record Citizen science Institutional
Human observation 204,330,760 67,405,200
Observation 45,803,179 55,760,093
Unknown 3,782,583 36,026,607
Preserved specimen 1,984,634 97,090,284
Literature 51,204 404,875
No information 81 3
Fossil specimen 47 3,850,597
Living specimen 0 822,136
Machine observation 0 689,739
Material sample 0 2,293
Ratio of specimens 0.8% 39%
13. DATA FROM THE UNITED KINGDOM
http://www.gbif.org/analytics/country/GB/published
14. LARGEST OCCURRENCE DATASETS ABOUT UK
• Botanical Society of the British Isles - Vascular Plants Database
7,999,606 occurrences in United Kingdom out of 8,934,780 (89.53%)
• Botanical Society of the British Isles - Vascular Plants Database
additions since 2000
4,776,757 occurrences in United Kingdom out of 4,801,101 (99.49%)
• British Bryological Society
2,258,879 occurrences in United Kingdom out of 2,419,291 (93.37%)
• Suffolk Biological Records Centre
2,120,907 occurrences in United Kingdom out of 2,120,907 (100%)
• Bristol Regional Environmental Records Centre
1,581,060 occurrences in United Kingdom out of 1,581,060 (100%)
• Rotherham Biological Records Centre
1,444,609 occurrences in United Kingdom out of 1,444,609 (100%)
http://www.gbif.org/country/GB/publishing
15. DATA SHARING FROM UK INSTITUTIONS
http://www.gbif.org/analytics/country/GB/published
16. DATA PUBLISHED BY GBIF PARTICIPANTS
NOTE: Datasets are assigned to countries according to the location of the publishing institution,
including aggregated datasets with contributors from many other countries. http://www.gbif.org | 03 SEP 2015
1. France 21,582,586 6. United Kingdom 2,440,150
2. United States 5,920,877 7. Belgium 2,297,574
3. Sweden 4,907,131 8. Norway 2,192,808
4. Brazil 3,736,933 9. Netherlands 2,088,214
5. Australia 3,605,281 10. Finland 1,736,075
1. United States
212,516,65
6
6. Netherlands 22,694,678
2. Sweden 52,232,884 7. Finland 20,157,042
3. United Kingdom 49,611,538 8. Norway 19,137,395
4. Australia 40,300,025 9. Germany 19,121,495
5. France 38,974,640 10. Spain 10,668,065
Number of new records published—Top 10 Countries
(1 Jan to 31 August 2015)
Total number of records published—Top 10 Countries
(as of 31 August 2015)
17. VISITS TO GBIF.ORG BY COUNTRY
Access available upon request from comms@gbif.org | 02 SEP 2015
1. United States 12,152 6. France 3,670
2. India 6,150 7. Mexico 3,338
3. Germany 4,839 8. Colombia 3,163
4. Brazil 4,153 9. Spain 2,909
5. United Kingdom 3,890 10. Australia 2,765
August 2015
18. DATA DOWNLOAD REQUESTS, BY COUNTRY
Requests for download do not necessarily result in data actually being downloaded. Based on country indicated by user login | 4 SEP 2015
1. Mexico 11,920 6. Colombia 2,524
2. United States 8,336 7. United Kingdom 2,486
3. Brazil 4,876 8. Ecuador 1,814
4. China 4,825 9. France 1,618
5. Spain 3,477 10. Australia 1,616
Total of
58,538 requests
from 6,167 users in
137 countries, islands
and territories
1 Jan 2015 – 31 August 2015
19. USE CITATIONS, BY COUNTRY OF AUTHORS
2 SEP 2015
Total 2015
Number of research publications from January to August 2015 citing use of
GBIF-mediated data, ranked by country according to affiliation of author.
Top ten countries shown.
August 2015 August 2015
Number of research publications in August 2015 citing use of
GBIF-mediated data, ranked by country according to affiliation of author.
Top nine countries shown.
1. United States 109 6. Brazil 22
2. United Kingdom 50 6. China 22
3. Germany 28 8. Spain 19
4. Mexico 23 9. Colombia 17
4. Australia 23 10. Belgium 16
1. United States 12 4. China 3
2. Colombia 5 4. Germany 3
3. Spain 4 4. India 3
4. Australia 3 4. United Kingdom 3
4. Brazil 3
20. UK FUNDERS OF RESEARCHERS
USING GBIF-MEDIATED DATA
• DEFRA
• BBRSC
• UK Department for Business,
Innovation and Skills
• James and Eve Bennett Trust
• The Leverhulme Trust
• Medical Research Council
• NERC
• North of England Zoological
Society / Chester Zoo
• Northern Ireland Department
of Agriculture and Rural
Development
• Northern Ireland Natural
Heritage Research Partnership
• University of Oxford
• The People’s Trust for
Endangered Species
• Queen’s University Belfast
• Rhodes Trust
• Rufford Small Grants
Foundation
• Scotland Rural & Environment
Science & Analytical Services
GBIF Literature Tracking Programme
21. RECENT AND UPCOMING WORK AREAS
• DOIs for datasets and downloads provides
framework for tracing use to occurrences
• Improved map viewer (mapped search to follow)
• Standardized licencing using Creative Commons
• Country reports with statistics on mobilization,
geographic and taxonomic coverage, and use
• Gap mapping to highlight areas of poor coverage
• User profiles to define data quality/fitness on use
http://www.gbif.org
22. ACCELERATING DISCOVERY OF
BIOCOLLECTIONS DATA
• Global ‘metadata approach’ for describing and
characterizing undigitized collections
• Helps setting priorities for mobilization
• Documenting best practices and successful
business models for content mobilization
• Scoping training and outreach materials
• Expert task force includes Ian Owens
• Background Behrensohn et al. (2010)
http://dx.doi.org/10.17161/bi.v7i2.3989
http://www.gbif.org/newsroom/news/accelerating-discovery-of-biocollections-data
24. Kyle Copas
kcopas@gbif.org
Twitter @gbif
Facebook gbifnews
Research uses gbif.org/mendeley
LinkedIn Group linkedin.com/grp/home?gid=55171
Github github.com/gbif
GBIF Ebbe Nielsen Challenge gbif2.devpost.com
gbif.devpost.com
Editor's Notes
THANK YOU
Here to listen and learn from you. We appreciate the chance to share a bit about GBIF, citizen science, sharing data—both globally and in the UK—and a little about some current work that could provide food for thought ahead of this afternoon’s workshops.
How many here are familiar with GBIF?
Open-access research infrastructure for biodiversity information, funded by the world’s governments
Established in 2001 on recommendation by OECD Global Science Forum in 1999
92 national and organizational participants or member states, nodes that do considerable work around citizen science and reporting at national levels
Secretariat hosted by KU and attached to the Zoological Museum in Copenhagen
Open-access research infrastructure for biodiversity information, funded by the world’s governments
Established in 2001 on recommendation by OECD Global Science Forum in 1999
92 national and organizational participants or member states, nodes that do considerable work around citizen science and reporting at national levels
Secretariat hosted by KU and attached to the Zoological Museum in Copenhagen
This comes togerther atGBIF.org, which is now a fully functional, near real-time open-access data infrastructure.
Also important to point out that we
Provide and maintain open access and web services to global species data through GBIF.org
Promote common standards and free tools for biodiversity data management and exchange
Offer guidance on national mobilization of biodiversity information
Support collaborative network at global and regional levels
But I’m pleased to report, this week, we’ve finally made it.
This post is from an evolutionary biogeographer, using Twitter to define a five-year trajectory, probably represents a geologic era or two in Internet time.
It’s also a slide that ought to cure you of reading your slides.
Statistical snapshot of what we provide
Species occurrence data include field observations, collection specimen, records from literature and now sample-based data
CBD uses this as a primary indicator of progress toward Aichi Target 19
The infrastructure is maturing, and while we are still very much engaged in content mobilization, we are also coming to grips with questions data quality and data gaps. Global and national metrics on data trends are one way of doing that. Not simply numbers, but also geographic or taxonomic completeness and precision, for example.
Ongoing literature tracking for peer-reviewed uses of GBIF-mediated data since 2008
Data are cited in substantitive uses at an average rate of more than one paper per day. Based on past trends, we expect to surpass 400 papers for 2015.
Look at Citizen Science.
Ireland, Denmark, Costa Rica, even Barcelona parks
Analysis from last fall
eBird about to add 60 million more records
Underappreciated contributions to specimens
These analyses are also useful at the national level to identify not just trends but issues with the data or areas to concentrate mobilization efforts in the future.
Stable API with strong versioning, as it’s used extensively.
Only additions are made, and any breaking changes must await v2 (with lots of advance warning).