Georeferencing and data quality: SANBI’s story

Abstract

Georeferencing helps to fill in biodiversity information gaps, allowing biodiversity data to be represented spatially to allow for valuable assessments to be conducted. The South African National Biodiversity Institute has embarked on a number of projects that have required the georeferencing of biodiversity data to assist in assessments for redlisting of species and measuring the protection levels of species. Data quality in biodiversity information is an important aspect. Due to a lack of standardisation in collection and recording methods historical biodiversity data collections provide a challenge when it comes to ascertaining fitness for use or determining the quality of data. The quality of historical locality information recorded in biodiversity data collections faces the scrutiny of fitness for use as these information is critical in performing assessments. The lack of descriptive locality information, or ambiguous locality information deems most historical biodiversity records unfit for use. Georeferencing should essentially improve the quality of biodiversity data, but how do you measure the fitness for use of georeferenced data? Through the use of the Darwin Core coordinateUncertaintyinMeters, georeferenced data can be queried to investigate and determine the quality of the georeferenced data produced. My presentation will cover the scope of ascertaining georeferenced data quality through the use of the DarwinCore term coordinateUncertatintyInMeters, the impacts of using a controlled vocabulary in representing the coordinateUncertaintyInMeters, and will highlight how SANBI’s georeferencing efforts have contributed to data quality within the management of biodiversity information.