Hints for BSS data providers: how to publish your data through IPT

BSS - Facilitating bio data exchange across New Zealand

Vision: By 2016 New Zealand has developed and proofed (through a working demonstration) a “biodata services stack” (BSS). This stack ensures that:

• guidelines and procedures exist and are maintained so that (key elements of) primary biodata can be archived and published consistently in any organisation across New Zealand;
• support for national systems (e.g. vocabularies, standards) for archiving and publishing of primary biodata across New Zealand exist and is maintained; and
• published biodata is discoverable and accessible via standards-based web-services to enable data sharing and mobilisation.

Organisations across New Zealand collecting biodata have agreed to implement and adhere to the Biodata Services Stack in their biodata management and archiving processes and data publishing functions.

Goal of the TFBIS project “A national network for connecting and mobilising primary biodiversity data” is to work towards that vision by (i) defining use-cases for data mobilisation, (ii) specifying architecture and components the BSS needs to consist of, and (iii) implementing a working demonstration type connecting a limited number of data sources and providing solutions for some of the identified use-cases.  The project partners have agreed on focusing the project on Birds, Pest Plants, Invertebrate, and Fish occurrence observations.

BSS Project Partners

Landcare Research, Horizons Regional Council, NIWA, Auckland Council, Environment Southland, Hawkes Bay Regional Council, Department of Conservation, Te Papa

Key Information for BSS Project Partners

• Information about existing standards and tools for exchanging bio data
• Practical recommendations for improving institutional bio-data management and delivery infrastructure
• Bio data management in NZ: Current Practices and Options
• What will data users be able to do? For what can BSS be used? 

More Information about the BSS Project

• TFBIS scoping report
• Project overview / 2-pager
• BSS Presentation
• Project Plan
• Dataversity Interoperability Blog

BSS Project Phases and Outputs

• Phase 1: Use cases - identifying the use cases and BSS requirements.
  A first project phase will conduct a stocktake (through end user surveys and workshops) of use cases and BSS requirements.
  Output is a report documenting current NZ situation on questions including:
  How bio data is managed? How bio data is used? How should bio data be mobilized? 
• Phase 2: Infrastructure - Developing Infrastructure and testing implementation
  During the second project phase we are developing a draft BSS guideline for biodata publication, and we are working with a few project partners on setting up BSS conform services and clients and thereby demonstrate the feasibility of a federated biodata system. The final report can be found here.
• Phase 3: Implementation - Implement BSS with Project Partners
  Key goals of the BSS Phase Three work programme are (1) to continue the work with all BSS project partners to enable them publish some of their key bio-data sets in a BSS compliant way; and (2) to scope a BSS profile for bio-data federation based on OGC and linked data technologies. The final report on the project can be found here.

Contact

Project Director: Jochen Schmidt, Chief Scientist Environmental Information NIWA