NCD Toolkit: Storing and Exchanging Natural Collection Descriptions Using the NCD Schema
Wouter Addink, Ruud Altenburg
Abstract
The National Nodes of the Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF) store and/or manage information about Natural Collections. To aid the creation and aggregation of data to describe those collections in a standardised format, a toolkit is being developed using the Natural Collection Descriptions (NCD) standard under development within Biodiversity Information Standards (TDWG).
GBIF commissioned the development of an NCD toolkit which consists of a MySQL database and web-editor in PHP. Collections descriptions can be maintained with the toolkit on any platform that is able to run a web browser. The toolkit supports multiple languages and allows import of legacy data in NCD schema compliant XML documents. The toolkit will also include an easy to use web service for extraction of data in the XML format as defined by the NCD standard. Entering a correct URL in a web browser will return an XML file with data to the user without the need for additional technology (this is called a REST style web service). In addition an Open Archives Initiative (OAI) harvesting interface will be developed. This means that users of OAI can use standard OAI queries to get NCD data.
The NCD toolkit will be available for download as open source software at the GBIF website. Installation executables for both Macintosh and Windows platforms will be available, and a helpdesk will be established by NLBIF (the national GBIF node in the Netherlands) to support users.
A central database will be established at the Berlin Botanic Gardens (BGBM) pre-seeded with data currently in the BioCASE NoDIT database (a database developed in the European BioCASE project containing information about natural collections in Europe). This database will be used in testing and to act as a repository for data from organisations that do not wish to host their own.
GBIF commissioned the development of an NCD toolkit which consists of a MySQL database and web-editor in PHP. Collections descriptions can be maintained with the toolkit on any platform that is able to run a web browser. The toolkit supports multiple languages and allows import of legacy data in NCD schema compliant XML documents. The toolkit will also include an easy to use web service for extraction of data in the XML format as defined by the NCD standard. Entering a correct URL in a web browser will return an XML file with data to the user without the need for additional technology (this is called a REST style web service). In addition an Open Archives Initiative (OAI) harvesting interface will be developed. This means that users of OAI can use standard OAI queries to get NCD data.
The NCD toolkit will be available for download as open source software at the GBIF website. Installation executables for both Macintosh and Windows platforms will be available, and a helpdesk will be established by NLBIF (the national GBIF node in the Netherlands) to support users.
A central database will be established at the Berlin Botanic Gardens (BGBM) pre-seeded with data currently in the BioCASE NoDIT database (a database developed in the European BioCASE project containing information about natural collections in Europe). This database will be used in testing and to act as a repository for data from organisations that do not wish to host their own.