Report prepared for the Experts Meeting Towards the Implementation of a Global Invasive Species
Information Network (GISIN), 6-8 April, 2004. Baltimore, Maryland, USA.
Page 49
8/30/2004
The portal generates a search form from a
list of servers. That list of servers is in an
XML file with a list of data sources as well
as some basic metadata relating to them.
For example, the metadata may describe
the USGS’ database; a uniform resource
locator for the search page; a link to the
USGS logo; that it’s a freshwater database
for animals all over the USA; and that it
contains fact sheets, citation records,
images, and maps.
On the NISbase search page, that XML for
the servers is transformed into an HTML
table with check-boxes that allow users to
select which database they wish to search.
Links are provided for accessing each
individual database, and their metadata is
displayed if the mouse is hovered over their
names. The user submits search criteria
that the Web page passes to the portal,
which in turn passes them to the selected
databases. The online data providers return
the results as XML.
Each taxa record returned by a database
contains a scientific name, taxonomic
group, and in some cases a URL to a
species collection. In the portal, this
information is gathered from the various
providers, merged, and converted into an
HTML table. The user can then view the
results and follow any associated links
through the interface. The information
returned for a species can also include
things like Google images and appropriate
links to the Integrated Taxonomic
Information System (ITIS).
If species summaries could be
standardized and put into an XML
format, we could integrate one mega-
fact sheet from multiple sources so
that users would not have to follow
links to access the information.
So what is next for NISbase? The team
wants to add more searchable queries to
the database, much like those that the Baltic
Sea Alien Species Database currently has,
allowing searches by habitat, vector, or
source region. They’d also like to see a
standard developed for species summaries
(species profiles). If species summaries
could be standardized and put into an XML
format, we could integrate one mega-fact
sheet from multiple sources so that users
would not have to follow links to access the
information. It would all be merged and
displayed on one species summary page.
NISbase is also adding more data providers
to the current group of five and investigating
the possibility of becoming a Web Service
so that new collaborators (databases) would
not have to use the portal page. The
parameters could be passed directly from
the interface to the database and the XML
could be retrieved and used in unlimited
ways. And finally, the Distributed Generic
Information Retrieval (DiGIR) protocol may
soon be implemented in NISbase.
DiGIR is currently being developed using
the Darwin Core standard for museum
collections. With NISbase, and as the case
may be with the GISIN, there are ways to
modify the protocols that are being used for
museum records so that they are applicable
to nonindigenous species records. The
Darwin Core can be extended, or a new
schema can be created. NISbase is working
Select which
databases to search
Search by
state, taxonomic
group, common or
scientific name
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