Internet Gateway for Delivering Biodiversity Data ESRI User Conference July 2005

1. Internet Gateway for Delivering Biodiversity DataESRI User ConferenceJuly 2005

2. Connecting Science with Conservation Guiding Conservation Action Decision support systems Information access and delivery Conservation expertise and analysis Data management and analysis Field inventory & data recording Scientific standards and methods

3. NatureServe Information Products - Today • NatureServe Explorer • An online, searchable database of conservation information on more than 50,000 North American species and ecological communities • InfoNatura • Extensive conservation information on the birds, mammals, and amphibians of Latin America • Global Amphibian Assessment • An online, searchable database of the world's 5,743 known species of amphibians • Digital Range Maps • For all birds and mammals of the Western Hemisphere, available as downloadable ArcView shapefiles • Ecological Systems • Of the U.S. and Latin America, available as downloadable Access databases

4. Current Paper field surveys Manual data entry • Client-server architecture • ArcView 3.X technology • Shapefile data storage • Service Oriented Architecture • ArcGIS technology • Geodatabase Management • Manual taxon. reconciliation • Manual spatial data aggregation • Automated taxon. reconciliation • Automated geodatabase update Exchange • Manual custom data process • Summarized location data on Web • Automated web data delivery • Spatially-enabled website Delivery Evolution of Information Delivery Future • Handheld GPS/GIS unit • Automated data capture Collection

5. Internet GatewayWhy? • Improve the availability and use of biological and ecological information for informing conservation and land use decisions • Improve interoperability with international biodiversity networks (e.g., GBIF, NBII) • Improve the currency and quality of NatureServe data products

6. Published Services: NBII GAP Portal GBIF Data Portal

7. Internet Gatewayto What? • What is it? • Taxonomy & classification of species and natural communities (Elements) • Where is it? • Mapped locations of species populations and natural communities (Element Occurrences) • How is it doing? • Quality and condition of each element occurrence • Conservation status and trend of each element type

8. What is it?

9. Where is it? An Element Occurrence (EO) is an area of land and/or water in which a species population or natural community is, or was present. • Identity • Date • Location Boreal Toad, Bufo boreas boreas

10. L. Master Wood Stork, G4 N3 Eastern Prairie White-Fringed Orchid, G3 N3 How is it doing?NatureServe Conservation Status Ranks GX — Extinct GH — Possibly extinct G1 — Critically imperiled G2 — Imperiled G3 — Vulnerable G4 — Apparently secure G5 — Widespread, abundant and secure • N-rank and S-rank equivalents are used at National and Sub-national levels

11. Internet GatewayHow? • Build a menu of map and web services that: • Expose selected sets of data (defined by XML schemas) • Are directly accessible to other applications • Provide a custom user experience • Improve synchronization across Network nodes: • Separate record-level data updates from taxonomic reconciliation • On-demand data exchanges (change-driven, not time-driven) • More automated (XML, web-services-based process) • Share data, control who accesses it, and how they interact with it: • Local nodes set access control policies (not one size fits all) • Maximize level of access provided by each node

12. Architecture • Applications Layer – NatureServe Explorer, NatureServe Vista, and other custom applications submit XML-SOAP requests to web services. • Web-Application Services Layer – core functionality is implemented as web services and map services; security services provide authentication and authorization based on data provider policies; this layer interacts with the publishing database to retrieve information in response to user/application queries. • Database Layer – includes Biotics 4 source database, publishing geodatabase, and policy store.

13. Labor Intensive Data Exchange & Taxonomic Reconciliation NatureServe Enterprise Databases Local DB sub-national element & EO data Local DB sub-national element & EO data Local DB sub-national element & EO data Range-wide Element Data Aggregated EO Data NatureServe Explorer Self-serve, online data exploration & visualization Custom Data Analysis & Delivery Current Data Delivery Framework

14. Automated Data Exchange & Taxonomic Reconciliation Security Layer (authentication, access control) Biotics 4 Biotics 4 Custom Application Interfaces Local DB sub-national element & EO data Local DB sub-national element & EO data Enterprise Server Enterprise Geodatabase range-wide element & aggregated EO data Public Website User Commercial User Academic Researcher Website User Interface NatureServe Explorer Internet GatewayConceptual Approach Web Services Web Services Web Services

15. Access Control Approach • Problem • How to deliver the most precise level of spatial resolution to meet clients’ needs while honoring data providers’ access policies? • Our Current Approach • Present one public-facing map service to the user • Develop multiple map services that present different levels of spatial resolution to the same underlying dataset • Redirect users to the appropriate spatial resolution map service based on their access rights

16. Involving Stakeholders • Example stakeholders that have a vested interest in the outcome of this project: • NatureServe Network data providers • Academic Researchers • Federal Agencies • State & Local Government • Other Conservation Organizations • Industry/Commercial Partners • Data Contributors • Public Website Users • NatureServe is continuing to document stakeholder needs to determine the products and services the system should support

17. Example Web Services • Submit species name and retrieve detailed species information, including legal and conservation status • Submit a boundary, and retrieve a yes/no response indicator for threatened and endangered species in that area • Submit a boundary and legal or conservation status, and retrieve a list of the species known to occur in that area

18. Example Map Services • Submit species name and display all known population occurrences for that species in North America • Submit a species name and a boundary, and display all known population occurrences for that species within the provided area • Select a USGS 7.5’ quad and display all known species occurrences that intersect the quad boundary

19. Putting it all together Formatted XML Submit Query to Map Service XML Results

20. Internet GatewayTimeline • Year 1: • Data access workshop, November 2004 NatureServe Leadership Conference • Establish enterprise geodatabase and DiGIR registry • Hold user story workshops to gather requirements for data content and data access • Year 2: (getting underway now) • Development iterations begin for candidate releases • Web application interface to geodatabase content • Web services • Data synchronization process and tools • Year 3: • Development iterations continue for production releases • Implement web services at two member program pilot sites • Rollout plan for network-wide implementation

21. Resources • Project Contacts: • Lori Scott lori_scott@natureserve.org • Douglas Sellers douglas_sellers@natureserve.org • For More Information: • www.natureserve.org • www.gbif.net • Get involved: • Review XML schema • Beta test web services

22. Acknowledgements Financial support is provided by the National Science Foundation Biological Databases and Informatics program (grant # 0345400) and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Environmental Information Exchange Network Grant program, through a cooperative agreement with the Delaware Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control.