EMu and

Darwin Core
Ely Wallis, Museum Victoria
October 2004
 What is Darwin Core?
The Darwin Core 2 is a simple set of data
element definitions designed to support
the sharing and integration of primary
biodiversity data.
http://darwincore.calacademy.org/

Darwin Core is a specimen-level dataset of

approximately 90 elements that can be
used for data exchange. It is now used as
the basis for specimen data on many
websites.

EMu Users Group Meeting EMu and Darwin Core

20-21 October 2004 Ely Wallis, MV
 Who uses Darwin Core?
FishNet at http://speciesanalyst.net/fishnet/

at http://elib.cs.berkeley.edu/manis/

at http://iobis.org/index.html

EMu Users Group Meeting EMu and Darwin Core

20-21 October 2004 Ely Wallis, MV
 Stop press!
New version coming
Darwin Core V2 is currently in draft
form and was discussed at the
October 2004 meeting of TDWG in
New Zealand.
Darwin Core V2 contains fewer
elements than Darwin Core V1
See
http://darwincore.calacademy.org/

EMu Users Group Meeting EMu and Darwin Core

20-21 October 2004 Ely Wallis, MV
 Mapping KE EMu to Darwin
Core
Everybodys Catalogue is different so
some fields wont agree.
Mapped on MVs version of EMu.
Both V1 and V2 have been mapped.

EMu Users Group Meeting EMu and Darwin Core

20-21 October 2004 Ely Wallis, MV
EMu Users Group Meeting EMu and Darwin Core
20-21 October 2004 Ely Wallis, MV
 Summary: EMu Catalogue
Total number of fields map to
Catalogue = 26
Of these,
no available field for 10 elements
question on DateLastModified is
ISO8601 format supported?
question on Year, Month, Day
identified (V1) these 3 fields are not
separated in EMu client.
EMu Users Group Meeting EMu and Darwin Core
20-21 October 2004 Ely Wallis, MV
 Summary: EMu Taxonomy
Total number of fields map to
Taxonomy = 12
Of these,
no available field for 1 element
that element is HigherTaxon (V2) but
this can be built from other elements
in a report
ScientificName resides in Catalogue
not Taxonomy
EMu Users Group Meeting EMu and Darwin Core
20-21 October 2004 Ely Wallis, MV
 Summary: EMu Sites &
Collection Events
Total number of fields map to Sites
and Collection Events = 44
Of these,
no available field for 7 elements
questions over formatting in a
number of fields

EMu Users Group Meeting EMu and Darwin Core

20-21 October 2004 Ely Wallis, MV
 Summary: EMu Sites &
Collection Events
Latitude/Longitude must be expressed in
decimal degrees
Start and end latitude/longitude (V1) are
not discrete fields in EMu but are inferred
from rows in a table may create
difficulties with reporting
Determination Method field in Sites is
inapplicable for the element
CoordinateUncertaintyInMeters (V2)
/Coordinate Precision (V1)

EMu Users Group Meeting EMu and Darwin Core

20-21 October 2004 Ely Wallis, MV
 Summary: EMu Sites &
Collection Events
Year, Month, Day Collected exact
dates not stored; data inferred from
Date From field.
Year, Month, Day Collected 3 fields
not distinguishable in the client.
Is Julian Date format supported?

EMu Users Group Meeting EMu and Darwin Core

20-21 October 2004 Ely Wallis, MV
 What useful fields are
missing from DC?
Collection method
Species common name

EMu Users Group Meeting EMu and Darwin Core

20-21 October 2004 Ely Wallis, MV
 Web links

http://www.iobis.org/FAQschema1.shtml

Taxonomic Databases Working Group

http://darwincore.calacademy.org/

EMu Users Group Meeting EMu and Darwin Core

20-21 October 2004 Ely Wallis, MV