BIS TDWG Conference 28 October 2013, Florence Documenting data quality in a global network: the challenge for GBIF Éamonn Ó Tuama, Andrea Hahn, Markus Döring Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF)

Outline 1. The GBIF network and the Data Quality challenge 2. Current DQ processes in GBIF Portal 3. DQ and GBIF Nodes 4. Addressing DQ in GBIF work programme

GBIF is … - a connected community - an informatics infrastructure - a window on biodiversity - a tool for science and society

Addressing data quality Meeting the challenge of documenting data quality as the network and volume of data grow …

As of August 2013: >405,720,500 indexed records from 10,139 datasets from 493 publishers and spanning a wide range of geospatial, temporal and taxonomic coverages. Current GBIF Network Data Coverage

DQ processes in GBIF portal Minimum obligatory metadata Check geographic values Check taxonomic values

Packaging metadata with data

Verbatim data asserted to originate in USA as shared on the network Geographic attributes

Data following quality check Coastal regions recognised Offshore islands recognised Geographic attributes 85% (355/417 mil) georeferenced records 2.7% (9.4 million) georeferenced with issues 85% (355/417 mil) georeferenced records 2.7% (9.4 million) georeferenced with issues

Trochilidae (Hummingbirds) Using verbatim higher classification Taxonomic attributes

Trochilidae (Hummingbirds) Classification based on authoritative sources 56% of name usages also found in CoL

Authoritative checklists Fill gaps in the GBIF taxonomic backbone Increase list of known synonyms Increase the number of common names known to GBIF

New improved algorithm for GBIF backbone taxonomy Some taxa (mainly autonyms) do not have stable IDs Too many accepted species created because of lack of a good database of taxonomic synonyms

Working with Catalogue of Life GBIF backbone taxonomy Catalogue of Life Global Species Databases GBIF ChecklistBank DwC-A Checklists

GBIF backbone taxonomy Catalogue of Life Global Species Databases GBIF ChecklistBank DwC-A Checklists Working with Catalogue of Life 8188 names annotated 6825 rejected names 541 placed names (added to ILDIS) remaining have syntactical problems (CoL issue, not ILDIS) First backbone based on CoL feedback loop expected around December 2013 The first two GSDs have already provided annotations: International Legume Database & Information Service (ILDIS) Scarabs: World Scarabaeidae Database 1339 names annotated 0 rejected names

Data Quality issues Non-standardised values Example: dwc:country ( 29,052 distinct values for country names Of these, 18,704 (concerning 2.2 mil records) could not be mapped to an ISO country code. Typical issues: Variants: 126 different values for “Italy” Mismappings: taxon names instead of country names Incorrect level of detail: sub-national units, non- country geographical entities

Data Quality issues Non-standardised values Example: dwc:basisOfRecord ( ) values that cannot be interpreted at all (accounting for 13.3 mil records) Typical issues: Spelling variants / language variants Mismappings Misunderstanding definition 30 mil records with no value or “unknown” Interpretable values quite varied e.g. 31 values mapped to “observation”, 146 to “specimen”

DQ and GBIF Nodes Desirable improvements Better metadata Persistent IDs Controlled vocabularies Annotations Independently validated datasets Genetic validation of taxonomy

DQ and GBIF Nodes Implementing improvements Collate experiences of all Nodes and share best practices Build reusable DQ components (e.g., tools, vocabularies, workflows)

DQ and GBIF Nodes Next steps Expand Data Quality Interest Group Establish a collaboration platform

Addressing Data Quality in GBIF Work Programme

Ensure stable identifiers for datasets and records Provide a method for citation of data sets Enable annotation of data GBIF Work Programme GBIF Work Programme Essential Infrastructure to support Data Quality

Engagement of expert communities to form fitness- for-use working groups enhancements to data standards and classes of data in use in GBIF criteria and algorithms for evaluating data quality, fitness-for-use, coverage and completeness content mobilisation priorities (inc. improving already mobilised data) identification and curation of reference data sets GBIF Work Programme GBIF Work Programme

Guidelines and supporting tools to assess and improve metadata completeness for all data Evaluation and reporting on metadata completeness and quality Seeking to ensure that the basis of record is clear for each data record GBIF Work Programme GBIF Work Programme Criteria from fitness-for-use working groups

GBIF portal upgrades to report data quality and fitness-for-use for each data set and species  Standards compliance  Metadata completeness  Presence of key data elements  Automated checks for issues and outliers  Endorsements of data publishers and data sets by Nodes, fitness-for-use working groups and other stakeholders GBIF Work Programme GBIF Work Programme Criteria from fitness-for-use working groups

Thank you GBIF Secretariat Universitetsparken 15 DK-2100 Copenhagen Ø Denmark Phone: Fax: