Biodiversity Information Projects of the World

TAXAMATCH

Project Website

http://www.cmar.csiro.au/datacentre/taxamatch.htm

Project Description

TAXAMATCH is an algorithm (actually: a set of algorithms and rules used in combination) developed for fuzzy matching of taxon scientific names, useful for coping with either misspelled user input (e.g., via a web query interface), or misspelled stored data - for example, detecting near duplicate names in two data sets to be matched or merged so that inconsistencies can be rationalised, or for deduplication tasks within a pre-existing resource. TAXAMATCH combines a fast phonetic algorithm for specialised tasks (such as parallel testing, flagging high precision phonetic matches, and/or use in "rapid" variants of TAXAMATCH), with a modifed Edit Distance (ED) approach for detecting non-phonetic as well as phonetic errors. Both of these algorithms are custom developed for TAXAMATCH, initially as functions in the Oracle PL/SQL programming language, but with planned replication into other languages as part of the activities of a TAXAMATCH development community.

Contact

Tony Rees
Project Leader / principal developer
CSIRO Marine and Atmospheric Research, Australia

Project Type

Facilitator

Project Language

English

Project Start Date

01-Aug-2007

Key Inputs

-

Key Infrastructure

Reference implementation presently implemented against the IRMNG database, access point http://www.cmar.csiro.au/datacentre/irmng/ .

Key Technologies

Version 1 of TAXAMATCH is initially available for Oracle databases and is written in Oracle PL/SQL programming language, other languages to follow.

Key Processes

Used for correction of misspelled user input to taxonomic database searches, recognition of near matches in multiple species lists, and deduplication (quality assurance/review) of content in existing systems.

Geographic Scope

Global - Global

Taxonomic Scope

Life - Applicable to names governed by any of the taxonomic codes (except cultivars and hybrids at this time)

Comments

A TAXAMATCH developers' wiki is available at https://wiki.csiro.au/confluence/display/taxamatch/ , username and password required (available on request from Tony Rees)

Record Status

Information about this project is Complete.
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