Guideline

Data standards in Dandjoo

Making biodiversity data more searchable and usable.

About data standards

Dandjoo brings data from many different people and organisations together. This means that when data arrives at BIO for ingestion it may contain a variety of different fields and be structured quite differently from submission to submission.

Incoming data needs to be standardised so it can be represented consistently in Dandjoo and be combined and searched by data users. Dandjoo does this by allowing key fields in data submitted to be mapped to widely recognised biodiversity data standards.

The Darwin Core standard

Darwin Core is the first biodiversity data standard to be incorporated into Dandjoo, and BIO is currently reviewing other standards (such as VegX) for inclusion in future releases.

Darwin Core is an internationally recognised standard that supports management and sharing of biodiversity data, and defines a glossary of terms in a flat structure to represent taxon, occurrences, specimens, and samples.

Resources:

The Dublin Core standard

The Dublin Core Metadata Initiative (DCMI) is specifically based around record-level definitions, with some terms integrated into the widely used Darwin Core standard. Links to documentation for the expanded Dublin Core standard are provided below.

Resources:

Dublin Core documentation

The Australian Biodiversity Information Standard (ABIS)

The Australian Biodiversity Information Standard (ABIS) is a standard being specifically developed for biodiversity data exchange in Australia. It combines many established standards (including Darwin Core, and TERN Ontology) and is being designed to be machine readable.

ABIS is introducing standards related to surveys and projects, and are used in Dandjoo’s new Systematic Survey Data release.

Resources:

Data fields used in Dandjoo

When users export search results from Dandjoo, the export will contain the following data fields shown in the table below.

Some fields may be blank for some records - this means that the submitter who provided a record did not collect or upload data for that field, or may not have mapped the field during data submission. However, all submitters must provide certain core fields to show an organism’s name, and to indicate where and when it was observed.

Data standard	Dandjoo Field	Data Field Property Name	Data Field Property Description
N/A	Record ID	Record_ID	The persistent unique ID assigned to each record in Dandjoo
Darwin Core	Data type	dwc:eventType	The nature of the dwc:event, in this case refers to either the occurrence or systematic survey data submission pathway
Darwin Core	Latitude	dwc:decimalLatitude	The geographic latitude (in decimal degrees, using the WGS84 (EPSG:4326) system) of the geographic centre of a Location. Positive values are north of the Equator, negative values are south of it. Legal values lie between -90 and 90, inclusive.
Darwin Core	Longitude	dwc:decimalLongitude	The geographic longitude (in decimal degrees, using the WGS84 (EPSG:4326) system) of the geographic centre of a Location. Positive values are east of the Greenwich Meridian, negative values are west of it. Legal values lie between -180 and 180, inclusive.
Darwin Core	Date observed/collected	dwc:eventDate	The date-time on which an Event occurred. For occurrences, this is the date-time when the event was observed. Not suitable for a time in a geological context.
Darwin Core	Field Scientific Name	dwc:scientificName	The full scientific name. When forming part of an Identification, this should be the full name, including the lowest level taxonomic rank that can be determined. (Note: In Dandjoo, this is the taxonomic name originally provided by the data submitter, after curation to address any errors.)
Darwin Core	Recognised Scientific Name	dwc:acceptedNameUsage	The full name, with authorship and date information if known, of the currently valid (zoological) or accepted (botanical) taxon. (Note: In Dandjoo, this is BIO’s determination of the most recently-known current name of the organism observed.)
Darwin Core	Submitter	dwc:institutionCode	The name (or acronym) in use by the institution having custody of the object(s) or information referred to in the record. (Note: In Dandjoo, this is the organisation that had custody of the information in the record, and submitted it to Dandjoo.)
Dublin Core	Dataset	dcterms:title	A name given to the resource. (Note: In Dandjoo, this is the dataset name provided by the submitter.)
Darwin Core	Dataset ID*	dwc:datasetID	An identifier for the set of data. May be a global unique identifier or an identifier specific to a collection or institution.
ABIS	Project name	abis:project	An Activity that requires concerted effort following a Plan in pursuit of an objective
Darwin Core	Project ID	dwc:parentEventID	An identifier for the broader dwc:event that groups this and potentially other dwc:events.
ABIS	Project Purpose	abis:purpose	The intent of the Activity
ABIS	Survey name	tern:survey	A Survey is an 'Activity' during which 'Sampling' or 'Observation' Activities occur.
Darwin Core	Survey ID	dwc:eventID	An identifier for the set of information associated with a dwc:event (something that occurs at a place and time). May be a global unique identifier or an identifier specific to the data set.
Dublin Core	Survey participants	dcterms:contributor	An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource.
ABIS	Survey date range start	tern:survey; prov:startedAtTime	Supports the association of a temporal entity (instant or interval) to any thing
ABIS	Survey date range end	tern:survey; prov:endedAtTime	Supports the association of a temporal entity (instant or interval) to any thing
Darwin Core	Survey Summary	dwc:eventRemarks	Comments or notes about the dwc:event.
Darwin Core	Bounding box	dwc:footprintWKT	The ellipsoid, geodetic datum, or spatial reference system (SRS) upon which the geometry given in dwc:footprintWKT is based.
Dublin Core	Habitat, Type and Highlights Tags*	dcterms:subject	A topic of the resource. Recommended practice is to refer to the subject with a URI. If this is not possible or feasible, a literal value that identifies the subject may be provided. Both should preferably refer to a subject in a controlled vocabulary.
Darwin Core	Documents	dwc:associatedReferences	A list (concatenated and separated) of identifiers (publication, bibliographic reference, global unique identifier, URI) of literature associated with the dwc:occurrence.
Darwin Core	Count	dwc:individualCount	The number of individuals present at the time of the Occurrence.
Dublin Core	Rights Holder	dcterms:rightsHolder	The person or organization owning or managing rights over the record. (Note: In Dandjoo, this is the submitter in most cases.)
Darwin Core	Method/Protocol	dwc:samplingProtocol	The names of, references to, or descriptions of the methods or protocols used during an Event.
GBIF Darwin Core Extension: Species Distribution	Conservation Status (authorized users only)	threatStatus	Conservation status of a species. (Note: This is populated and updated in Dandjoo based on the most recent threatened and priority species lists maintained by the Western Australian Government.)
Darwin Core	Identification basis	dwc:basisOfRecord	The specific nature of the data record. e.g. Fossil, live specimen etc.
Darwin Core	Collector*	dwc:recordedBy	A list (concatenated and separated) of the globally unique identifier for the person, people, groups, or organizations responsible for recording the original occurrence. Recommended best practice is to separate the values in a list with “space vertical bar space” ( \| ).
Darwin Core	Field identification (original field name)	dwc:verbatimIdentification	A string representing the taxonomic identification as it appeared in the original record.
Darwin Core	Human observation ID*	dwc:occurrenceID	An identifier for the Occurrence (as opposed to a particular digital record of the occurrence). In the absence of a persistent global unique identifier, construct one from a combination of identifiers in the record that will most closely make the occurrenceID globally unique.
Darwin Core	Date identified	dwc:dateIdentified	The date on which the subject was determined as representing the Taxon.
Darwin Core	Identification Ambiguity	dwc:identificationQualifier	A brief phrase or a standard term ("cf.", "aff.") to express the determiner's doubts about the Identification.
Darwin Core	Identified by*	dwc:identifiedBy	A list (concatenated and separated) of names of people, groups, or organizations who assigned the Taxon to the subject. Recommended best practice is to separate the values in a list with “space vertical bar space” ( \| ).
Darwin Core	Specimen ID*	dwc:materialSampleID	A physical result of a sampling (or subsampling) event. In biological collections, the material sample is typically collected, and either preserved or destructively processed.
Darwin Core	Identification notes	dwc:identificationRemarks	Comments or notes about the Identification.
Darwin Core	Scientific name publisher	dwc:scientificNameAuthorship	The authorship information for the scientific name formatted according to the conventions of the applicable nomenclatural code.
Darwin Core	Taxonomic Rank	dwc:taxonRank	The taxonomic rank of the most specific name in the dwc:scientificName. (e.g. species, subspecies, variety)
Darwin Core	Organism Remarks	dwc:organismRemarks	Comments or notes about the Organism instance.
Darwin Core	Presence/Absence	dwc:occurrenceStatus	A statement about the presence or absence of a Taxon at a Location.
Darwin Core	Preparations	dwc:preparations	A list (concatenated and separated) of preparations and preservation methods for a specimen (e.g. ethanol, dried).
Darwin Core	Genomic sequence information	dwc:associatedSequences	A list (concatenated and separated) of identifiers (publication, global unique identifier, URI) of genetic sequence information associated with the Occurrence.
Darwin Core	Life Stage	dwc:lifeStage	The age class or life stage of the Organism(s) at the time the Occurrence was observed (e.g. juvenile, nymph).
Darwin Core	Reproductive State	dwc:reproductiveCondition	The reproductive condition of the biological individual(s) represented in the Occurrence (e.g. pregnant, flowering).
Darwin Core	Native/introduced/feral	dwc:establishmentMeans	Statement about whether an organism or organisms have been introduced to a given place and time through the direct or indirect activity of modern humans.
Darwin Core	Geographic uncertainty (m)	dwc:coordinateUncertaintyInMeters	The horizontal distance (in meters) from the given decimal-Latitude and decimal-Longitude describing the smallest circle containing the whole of the Location. Leave the value empty if the uncertainty is unknown, cannot be estimated, or is not applicable (because there are no coordinates). Zero is not a valid value for this term.
Darwin Core	Area/locality of occurrence	dwc:locality	The specific description of the place. (e.g. 200km north of Perth). (Note: This is a free text field that does not correspond to a specific geography or list of regions.)
Darwin Core	Habitat	dwc:habitat	A category or description of the habitat in which the Event occurred.
Darwin Core	Vernacular name	dwc:vernacularName	A common or vernacular name.
N/A	Informal groups
Darwin Core	Kingdom	dwc:kingdom	The full scientific name of the kingdom in which the dwc:taxon is classified.
Darwin Core	Phylum	dwc:phylum	The full scientific name of the phylum or division in which the dwc:taxon is classified.
Darwin Core	Class	dwc:class	The full scientific name of the class in which the dwc:taxon is classified.
Darwin Core	Order	dwc:order	The full scientific name of the order in which the dwc:taxon is classified.
Darwin Core	Family	dwc:family	The full scientific name of the family in which the dwc:taxon is classified.