The IABIN PTN's goal is to develop a network of linked and integrated databases among major data sources and IABIN members that share critical content through a common set of data standards and exchange protocols. This will involve careful integration of the IABIN metadata standards and protocols and others that may specifically apply to the management of and metadata for pollinator information.

What is metadata and what are metadata standards?

Metadata Standards

Access to Biological Collections Databases (ABCD)
The Access to Biological Collections Data (ABCD) Schema is the product of a joint TDWG and CODATA initiative to develop a standard for distributed data retrieval from specimen collection databases. The schema supports data exchange for all kingdoms, and for both specimen and observation records (also known as primary biodiversity data). Read more...

Darwin Core
The Darwin Core (DwC) is a metadata profile describing the minimum set of standards for search and retrieval of natural history collections and observation databases. It includes only the core data elements that are likely to be available for the vast majority of specimen and observation records. Read more...

Dublin Core
Dublin Core is a standard which defines a basic set of metadata elements which may be used to describe digital resources. IABIN thematic networks will use this standard to create bibliographic metadata for digital resources including publications, projects, and images. Read more...

Plinian Core
The Plinian Core metadata standard is currently under development. It will define a minimum set of standards for search and retrieval of species or observation data. Read more...

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Protocols

Biological Collection Access Service for Europe (BioCASE)
The BioCASe protocol is derived from the DiGIR protocol (see below) and supports web-based searches for XML data. It has been used in particular for data exchange using the ABCD schema (see above). Read more...

Distributed Generic Information Retrieval (DiGIR)
DiGIR (Distributed Generic Information) is an XML-basNovember 16, 2009hich have been mapped to a common conceptual schema. Its original development was based on ideas derived from the z39.50 protocol. It is in use in a number of networks for sharing taxon occurrence data, particularly using DarwinCore metadata format as the conceptual schema. Read more...

eXtensible Markup Language (XML)
XML is a platform independent language for exchanging and validating data between heterogeneous systems. It provides good support for multilingual data exchange and is well-supported by freely-available cross-platform tools in a wide variety of programming languages. Direct support for XML is appearing steadily in database management software and other key tools. Read more...

TDWG Access Protocol for Information Retrieval (TAPIR)
The TAPIR protocol has been developed by TDWG to integrate the most successful features of the DiGIR and BioCASe protocols. Read more...

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