Transcript Document
Integrated Taxonomic
Information System
Janet Gomon, Deputy Director, ITIS
Smithsonian Institution
Museum of Natural History
[email protected]
The Colour of Ocean Data - Palais des Congrès,
Brussels, Belgium, 25-27 November 2002
Presentation Topics
ITIS Overview
Technical Aspects
Benefits
Lessons Learned
Future Plans
What is ITIS?
An evolving standard reference for
taxonomic information on species
(biodiversity)
A partnership
US, Canadian, Mexican governmental groups
Non-governmental organizations
Developed in collaboration with
systematics community and other list
keepers
Goal
To provide quality taxonomic information
about organisms that meets needs of
partners and user public
Taxonomic coverage: all major groups; focus on
North America; world coverage where feasible
Service:
• data quality assurance system for taxonomic
identification
• common reference point for exchange of data
• capacity building in taxonomy (regional datasets,
etc.)
History
NODC Taxonomic Code, 7th ed. – ITIS roots
“VIMS Code” or “Taxonomic Code for the Biota of
the Chesapeake Bay” – NODC Tax. Code roots
1996 – 7 U.S. federal agencies sign MOU, along
with Smithsonian Natural History Museum
By 2002 – ITIS North America established;
Associate Member GBIF; joined with Species 2000
in “Catalogue of Life”
Partners
How many names?
Over 320,000 scientific names
186,000 valid/accepted species names
80,000 additional common names
Data Process & Tools
1. Are my species
names in ITIS?
2. Data submission
3. Data development
4. Data load (public
site)
5. Data access &
delivery
- 4 ITIS homepages
- master DB resides in US
- freely downloadable via FTP;
embed ITIS within
your system or tools
- Develop a script & generate
reports at your site
- machine-to-machine
interoperability
- XML output
Required Data Elements
Taxonomic Serial Number (TSN) – system assigned;
common reference point for exchange of data
Scientific Name
Author(s) – for records genus and below
Rank
Usage – current standing
Parent Scientific Name – link into hierarchy
Associated Accepted Name – synonym link
Unacceptability Reason
Reference(s) – experts, publications, other sources
Quality Indicators
for ITIS Metadata
Taxonomic Completeness - complete; partial;
unknown
Taxonomic Currency - year of revision; unknown
Update Date - date record modified
Taxonomic Credibility Rating - perceived level of
review and accuracy of taxonomic name and
attributes
ITIS Uses
Examples
End-to-end data management support
Cataloging applications – Specify, SMMS, mobile
computing units
Portal applications – BiOSC Gateway ITIS NA
Digital library applications – Congo Expedition
AMNH
Look-up reference
Linking point to other nomenclatures &
data sources
Users link to ITIS
ITIS Uses (cont.)
ITIS Compliant Marine Databases
Examples
Users
Scientists
Data managers
Natural resource
managers
General public,
hobbyists
Publishers
Educators, students
Journalists, writers
Private industry
Collections managers,
librarians
Policy analysts &
decision makers
Challenges &
Lessons Learned
1. Global vs. Regional Approach
2.
3.
4.
5.
Single Name vs. Multiple Classifications
Data Quality vs. Data Quantity
Current Names vs. All Names
Centralized vs. Decentralized
Future Plans
ITIS North America – 2003 meeting
Integration with other systems
Focus on sustainability of ITIS
Improved circumscription of taxa
Standard for taxonomic data exchange
Distributed node architecture; new tools
Distributed Node
Approach
Dissemination
User/Expert
(off-line)
ITIS
Node
Processing
Acquisition
User/Expert
(off-line
ITIS
CD
Mirroring
Off-line
Submission
ITIS Central
Server
ITIS
Node
Regional/
Multilingual
Dissemination
Regional
Acquisition
Final DB
Web
Net User/
Expert
Approved
Datasets
Incoming
Datasets
Harvesting
Direct
Submission
Net User/
Expert
Summary
ITIS is an evolving standard reference of
scientifically credible, quality-controlled
taxonomic information on species (biodiversity)
ITIS data are used in a variety of applications
Referencing biological datasets to ITIS brings
significant value to your data - an indicator of
QA/QC of species identifications
Contact Information
ITIS
homepage:
http://www.itis.usda.gov
Webmaster:
[email protected]