Report prepared for the Experts Meeting Towards the Implementation of a Global Invasive Species
Information Network (GISIN), 6-8 April, 2004. Baltimore, Maryland, USA.
I - iii
8/30/2004
sharing invasive species information (and probably for much wider applications in
biodiversity informatics).
Specifically, a technical session concluded that it is feasible and desirable for the
participating nodes to quickly implement a standardized XML-based format for expressing
information on experts, dataset and project metadata, and some document types (e.g.,
species fact sheets). They recommend that a Dublin Core formulation be considered for the
minimal metadata for databases and similar data resources. The approach to a
standardized XML expression for species occurrence data (the “Darwin Core”) developed by
the SEEK project and others in the museum community can be adapted for use with
invasive species occurrences, and is being prototyped for that purpose by several pilot
projects. Standardized “semantic web” expressions of other core data types identified in
GISIN’s partner projects described above are less mature, but should be developed under
the auspices of GISP, GBIF, IUCN, and/or other international coordinating bodies.
Adoption of a semantic web approach does not imply that sites should not collect and store
information in proprietary formats. XML can be produced as a report from many kinds of
software, and may serve more as a data sharing standard than as a native format for the
foreseeable future.
Agreement on XML and related technologies is only a first step toward interoperability.
Information managers need specifications for detailed structures (e.g., XML “schemas”),
which specify variables, standards and vocabularies used to express them, and the
relationships among them. These have not been standardized for most invasive species
data types.
Metadata
Metadata serves several functions in distributed networks. Minimal metadata, as
represented by the Dublin Core, aids users in finding appropriate information. More
complete specifications, such as the Federal Geographic Data Committee (FGDC) Spatial
Metadata Standard, also document the content, methodology, and suitability for particular
uses, but can be onerous to complete. Future formulations may provide for machine
interpretation of data with less human interpretation than envisioned in the FGDC approach.
Since rapid discovery of information is essential in many invasive species applications,
GISIN should encourage universal use of at least minimal metadata to “tag” public invasive
species data. Several widely used formations (Global Information Locator Service, Dublin
Core, Ecological Metadata Language, Federal Geographic Data Committee Spatial
Metadata Standard section 1, ISO 19115 metadata standard) express similar information
content, and with care, can be expressed in XML and used interoperably. An important
decision for North American data managers is the relative emphasis on FGDC vs. Dublin
Core metadata. Several profiles of the FGDC system are widely used within government.
Dublin Core is becoming more prevalent among other important data providers and users,
including museums, libraries, and universities.
The choice of metadata tools depends in part on use. Simple tools (Dublin Core, EML, ISO
19115) work well for data discovery, but are too limited to provide the full documentation
needed to use data for research or analysis (as envisioned by the FGDC Spatial Metadata
Standard and its Biological Profile). Nevertheless, the core information needed for data
discovery can be made simultaneously compliant with the Dublin Core, EML, and the
identity portion of FGDC, and can be expressed in XML and/or RDF. We recommend that
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