Georeferencing Workshop
University of the Western CapeCape Town, South Africa
04-08 Feb 2011
GEOLocate – Automated Georeferencing
Software & services for georeferencing of natural history collections data
Initially funded in 2002
locality description analysis
coordinate generation
batch processing
geographic visualization
data correction
error determinationcollaborative georeferencing
interoperable
multilingualkml export
google, bing, openstreet, wms
soap & rest api
Basic Georeferencing Process
• Data Inputo Data Correctiono Manual or file based data entry
• Coordinate Generationo Locality description parsing and analysis
• Coordinate Adjustmento Fine tuning the results on a visual map display
• Error Determinationo Assigning a maximum possible extent for a given
locality description
Coordinate Generation Pipeline
Navigable Waterway Query & Analysis
TRS Query & Analysis
Placenames Query & Analysis
Highway Name and Water body Name Query & Analysis
Water Body Query & Snapping
Standardize Locality String
Overview: Locality Visualization & Adjustment
Computed coordinates are displayed on digital maps
Manual verification of each record
Drag and drop correction of records
Caused by duplicate names, multiple names & multiple displacements
Results are ranked and most “accurate” result is recorded and used as primary result
All results are recorded and displayed as red arrows
Working on using specimen data to limit spread of results
Overview:Multiple Result Handling
Example
Eagle Lake, Warren County,Mississippi, USA
When a point just isn’t good enough…
Polygons within GEOLocate
Represented as a comma delimited array of vertices using latitude and longitude
User-defined maximum extent described as a polygon that a given locality description can represent
Next release will support auto-detection and generation of polygons
Multilingual Georeferencing• 3 millas al norte de Madrid• Extensible architecture for adding languages via
language libraries• Language libraries are text files that define various
locality types in a given language• Current support for:
o Spanisho Basqueo Catalano Galician
• May also be used to define custom locality types in English (example- adding alternative unit representations)
Taxonomic Footprint Validation
Taxa collected for a given locality
Uses point occurrence data from distributed museum databases to validate georeferenced data
Species A
Species B
Lepomis macrochirus
Notropis chrosomus
Notropis volucellus
Micropterus coosae
Lepomis cyanellus
Cottus carolinae
Hypentelium etowanum
Etheostoma ramseyi
Footprint for specimens collected at Little Schultz Creek, off Co. Rd. 26 (Schultz Spring Road), approx. 5 mi N of Centreville; Bibb County; White circles indicate results from automated georeferencing. Black circle indicates actual collection locality based on GPS. This sample was conducted using data from UAIC & TUMNH
www.museum.tulane.edu/taxonfootprint
-27.02033 32.302492
Barbus paludinosusMesobola brevianalis
Collaborative Georeferencing• Distributed community effort increases efficiency.• CoGe is a web-based portal/client for managing
multiple georeferencing communities each with multiple members.
• DiGIR / .CSV used for data input (other alternatives in development).
• Similar records from various institutions can be matched and georeferenced simultaneously.
• Georeferenced data can be returned to providers via portal (download as a comma delimited file).
• CoGe is entirely web-service based; can be plugged into any digitization workflow (e.g., TCN data management systems).
Collaborative Georeferencing
DiGIR Service
Record Processor
CoGe Client Application
(Desktop or Web)
Cache Update Web Service
CoGe Web Portal Application
Data Store
Georeferencing Web Service
Data Retrieval Web Service
Insert Correction Web Service
Remote Data Source
Users register for access with options for different levels of authority and privacy.
View Existing Communities
Create New Communities
Manage Community Data Sources
Shows data sources within Nelson’s test community, number of records and pace of correction of records.
Add new data sources via DiGIR or .CSV filesFour Steps
(Step 1)
Enter URL of DiGIR provider then click “Probe”.
Add new data source
(Step 2)
Select data source you would like to add then click “add”
Add new data source(Step 3)
Resolve conflicts in data schema.
Map them to default schema beforesource data added.
Add new data
source (Step 4)
Verify new concept mapping and approveit.
Update cache
Complete updateSync records
Alert data provider of data inconsistencies
1 possible duplicate record was skipped and emailed to data
provider.
Option to keep or drop records from
cache.
Save updated cache
A
Locality records automaticallygeoreferenced as they enter the data store.
System monitors progress of result verification/correction.
Collaborative aspect and record similarity matching maximizes efficiency of correction process.
View cache
Invite New Users to Join Community
Invite Sent
Invite Received
AdjustCommunity
Users Permissions
Manage Community Georeferencing assignments
Assign all records from Kenya toexperts on East African regions
Viewcorrections
Interoperability:
Questions?
University of the Western CapeCape Town, South Africa
04-08 Feb 2011