Open AccessQuality issues in georeferencing: From physical collections to digital data repositories for ecological research
Author(s) -
Marcer Arnald,
Haston Elspeth,
Groom Quentin,
Ariño Arturo H.,
Chapman Arthur D.,
Bakken Torkild,
Braun Paul,
Dillen Mathias,
Ernst Marcus,
Escobar Agustí,
Fichtmüller David,
Livermore Laurence,
Nicolson Nicky,
Paragamian Kaloust,
Paul Deborah,
Pettersson Lars B.,
Phillips Sarah,
Plummer Jack,
Rainer Heimo,
Rey Isabel,
Robertson Tim,
Röpert Dominik,
Santos Joaquim,
Uribe Francesc,
Waller John,
Wieczorek John R.
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
diversity and distributions
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.918
H-Index - 118
eISSN - 1472-4642
pISSN - 1366-9516
DOI - 10.1111/ddi.13208
Subject(s) - georeference , geography , resource (disambiguation) , biodiversity , data science , ecology , natural resource , digital data , natural (archaeology) , computer science , environmental resource management , biology , physical geography , environmental science , computer network , telecommunications , archaeology , transmission (telecommunications)
Abstract Natural history collections constitute an enormous wealth of information of Life on Earth. It is estimated that over 2 billion specimens are preserved at institutions worldwide, of which less than 10% are accessible via biodiversity data aggregators such as GBIF. Moreover, they are a very important resource for eco‐evolutionary research, which greatly depends on knowing the precise location where the specimens were collected in order to characterize the environment in which they lived. Yet, only about 55% of the accessible records are georeferenced and only 31% have coordinate uncertainty information, which is critical for conducting rigorous studies. The awareness of this gap of knowledge which hinders the enormous potential of such data in research led to the organization of a workshop which brought together key players in georeferencing of natural history collections. The discussion and outcomes of this workshop are here presented.