Galapagos Knowledge Management Initiative Background Research Notes Dan Sherman Version 3, 5/24/11

Table of Contents About This Document ...... 3 Knowledge Management and Decision Support Systems (DSS) ...... 4 Introduction ...... 4 Definitions ...... 5 DSS Examples ...... 6 Knowledge Management Links ...... 7 New Zealand Land Use Planning Programs ...... 10 Introduction ...... 10 Creating Futures and Sustainable Pathways 2 ...... 11 Deliberation Tools (Creating Futures) ...... 13 Mediated Modeling (Sustainable Pathways 2) ...... 13 Ecuadorian Information Management ...... 15 Introduction ...... 15 Ecuadorian Geospatial Systems ...... 15 Galapagos Data Portals ...... 18 Species-related Databases and Efforts ...... 19 Introduction ...... 19 Taxonomy/Phylogeny ...... 19 Invasive Species ...... 23 Endangered Species ...... 24 Biodiversity Information Aggregation Services ...... 24 Collections/Specimen Aggregation Services ...... 29 Occurrence/Observations ...... 30 Citizen Science ...... 33 Introduction ...... 33 Examples ...... 33 Ecological, Socioeconomic, and Climate Information ...... 35 Introduction ...... 35 Ecological, Land Use, and Socioeconomic Information...... 35 Governance (Ecosystem Management, Governance, Endangered Species) ...... 40 Ecosystem Modeling...... 41 Climate ...... 42 Civic Resource Management ...... 43 Introduction ...... 43 Resources ...... 43 Technical Information and Resources ...... 45 Introduction ...... 45 Framework ...... 45

1 Visualization ...... 46 Standards for data exchange ...... 46 Database ...... 47 Geospatial ...... 47 Cloud computing ...... 48

2 About This Document

This document is an organized version of rough notes taken while researching examples and online resources for the Galapagos Knowledge Management Project. It is intended to be used as a framework for further investigations and is by no means a comprehensive summary of any of the topics covered. The amount of information presented for a particular topic does not necessarily reflect the importance of that topic, but instead may reflect the amount and accessibility of information available online, and/or the amount of time I spent researching that topic.

Note: Occasionally hyperlinks clicked in this document (especially links to pdf files) will not work properly. In these cases, copying the link and pasting directly into a browser should solve the problem.

3 Knowledge Management and Decision Support Systems (DSS)

Introduction

Knowledge Management (KM) refers to strategies and practices that aim to capture and distribute the knowledge inherent in an organization or process. The difference between Knowledge Management and Information Management is nicely summarized in a book by Dr. Randy J. Frid (link below): "Information Management delivers information; Knowledge Management helps manage what people do with the information."

So, while information management refers to the capture and management of information, it usually doesn't involve capture of what that information means or its utility. Knowledge management builds on information management and additionally includes the capture of explicit and/or tacit knowledge. Knowledge can be added by processing the information through computer models and (more commonly) through people. Care must be taken when considering the terms "knowledge management" and "information management," as even experts in those fields can define them somewhat differently.

For an excellent discussion of knowledge management versus information management, see this brief article by Alan Gillies, a professor of Information Management at the University of Central Lancashire. This is a must-read: http://www.brighthub.com/computing/enterprise-security/articles/66860.aspx

There are a number of terms used for computerized systems that implement knowledge management strategies, including Management Information System (MIS), Decision Support System (DSS), Executive Information System (EIS), and Expert System.

While all of these can be somewhat similar, Decision Support Systems (DSS) specifically support decision-making activities and are commonly used at the corporate and government levels. Many examples of DSSs include the use of computerized models to aid in the decision- making process. Some involve very specific decisions made by modeling uniform and predictive data, for example water release at dams based on water levels and weather forecasts. However, there are DSSs that are more complex and broad in scope and that incorporate human knowledge and expertise. Those used at the government level tend to be much more complex and can be narrow or broad in scope (e.g. financial system modeling based on currency values or land use planning based on socioeconomic, resource, and ecological data).

Implementation details for Knowledge Management projects and Decision Support Systems are difficult to find online. This may be in part because there is no incentive for those implementing the systems to spend the time and money to make their details publicly available. There may also be significant proprietary components to some of these systems.

KM is a fairly broad field with quite a sizable academic component. There are many ways of approaching the development of KM strategies (sometimes referred to as "models") and DSSs. There are many organizations (government and corporate) that have implemented these programs, but online details are scarce. Costs are high, and though no specific numbers are

4 available, I believe implementation of most significant DSSs requires a multi-year commitment and multiple millions, if not tens of millions, of dollars. Information Management Systems and Knowledge Management Systems that do not include a computer modeling component, on the other hand, may require much less funding and, if built with forethought, could be integrated into a DSS in the future. There are consultants who specialize in this field and it may be useful to seek out their expertise (especially regarding DSSs) .

Definitions

Knowledge Management http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Knowledge_management "Knowledge Management (KM) comprises a range of strategies and practices used in an organization to identify, create, represent, distribute, and enable adoption of insights and experiences. Such insights and experiences comprise knowledge, either embodied in individuals or embedded in organizational processes or practice."

Information Management http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Information_management "Information management (IM) is the collection and management of information from one or more sources and the distribution of that information to one or more audiences. This sometimes involves those who have a stake in, or a right to that information. Management means the organization of and control over the structure, processing and delivery of information."

Decision Support System http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Decision_support_system "A decision support systems (DSS) is a computer-based information system that supports business or organizational decision-making activities. DSSs serve the management, operations, and planning levels of an organization and help to make decisions, which may be rapidly changing and not easily specified in advance. " and from this paper: http://www.iioa.org/pdf/Intermediate-2004/khorshid.pdf MODEL-CENTERED GOVERNMENT DECISION SUPPORT SYSTEMS FOR SOCIOECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT IN THE ARAB WORLD BY MOTAZ KHORSHID Vice President for Graduate Studies and Research Cairo University The International Conference On Input-Output and General Equilibrium: Data, Modeling and Policy analysis September 2-4,2004 Brussels, Belgium "A computer-aided decision support system[DSS] is conceptually composed of four components; (i) Database management capabilities with access to internal and external data, information and knowledge; (ii) Modeling functions accessed by a model management system; (iii) A powerful yet simple user interface design that enables interactive queries, reporting, and graphing functions; and (iv) A decision-maker’s own insights. By integrating various modeling capabilities, a DSS can be successfully used to support problem solving, policy testing, scenario simulation and strategic planning."

5

DSS Examples

An interesting paper about a prototype DSS in New Zealand (2009): *Creating Futures Development of an integrated spatial decision support system (ISDSS) for Local Government in New Zealand (2009) http://www.creatingfutures.org.nz/assets/Uploads/Further-Resources-Files/MODSIM2009- Creating-Futures-paper.PDF "A key output is to develop an integrated spatial decision support system (ISDSS) (Densham, 1991) to explore future scenarios of development and evaluate the consequences of different policies and actions."

They partnered with RIKS, a supplier of ISDSS software based in The Netherlands (http://www.riks.nl/products/geonamica ). http://www.creatingfutures.org.nz/ The system has a number of models that allow the user to investigate changes in land usage and environmental impacts based on policy changes and assumptions. Very powerful as a land use planning and decision making tool. They have posted a video to YouTube video that gives an overview and demo of the system: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RgEABCz1RrI

*Sustainable Pathways 2 http://www.sustainablepathways.org.nz/ Builds on the Creating Futures program. Started 2009 and goes until 2015. Also in collaboration with (using services of?) RIKS. $4M (NZD?) project. “The output will be an integrative (economic, social, environmental) scenario modelling capacity in NZ to enable planners and communities to more fully appreciate options for the future of their cities and regions.”

* For more detailed information about Creating Futures and Sustainable Pathways 2, see the main section titled “New Zealand Decision Support Systems”.

A thorough review of DSSs used in governments of the "Arab World" with analysis (2004). There's a nice discussion about socioeconomic data for government DSSs: http://www.iioa.org/pdf/Intermediate-2004/khorshid.pdf MODEL-CENTERED GOVERNMENT DECISION SUPPORT SYSTEMS FOR SOCIOECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT IN THE ARAB WORLD BY MOTAZ KHORSHID Vice President for Graduate Studies and Research Cairo University The International Conference On Input-Output and General Equilibrium: Data, Modeling and Policy analysis September 2-4,2004 Brussels, Belgium

Many example DSSs tend to be very focused. Controlling water release at dams, managing

6 cutting and planting of forests, using data to model land use. Here are examples for land use and forest management:

BRIDGE DSS http://www.bridge-fp7.eu/ "The BRIDGE programme (sustainaBle uRban planning Decision support accountinG for urban mEtabolism) is a joint effort of 14 European Organizations aiming at incorporating sustainability aspects in urban planning processes, accounting for some well recognised relations between urban metabolism and urban structure. BRIDGE was launched in order to assist urban planners to present and evaluate planning alternatives towards a sustainable city." BRIDGE DSS http://www.bridge-fp7.eu/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=62&Itemid=68 Seems to be specific for urban planning. Uses models and data for water, energy, carbon and air pollution.

Forest management is a good example of DSS in use. For example: Forest Management Decision Support Systems (FORSYS) http://fp0804.emu.ee/ Which in turn has a link to a ton of other forest decision support systems: http://fp0804.emu.ee/wiki/index.php/Category:Decision_support_system This paper from 1997 compares 24 DSSs for forest management. Not relevant here, but an example of how many DSSs there were in 1997.

Knowledge Management Links

Johannah asked about a Canadian government KM program. Nothing specific came up via searching, but here are come links to Canadian KM projects:

Here's some info about the Canadian govt. Information Management Strategy http://www.tbs-sct.gc.ca/im-gi/index-eng.asp

Canadian ecosystem-based approach to forest management. This report includes a review of other Canadian resource management efforts. I haven’t had a chance to review this information to find out if it is relevant. http://dsp-psd.tpsgc.gc.ca/collection_2008/nrcan/Fo4-21-2008E.pdf (Linked from here: http://canadaforests.nrcan.gc.ca/article/ecosystembasedmanagement )

Here's something about a KM institute opening up in Canada, but this looks like a private business focused on companies: http://www.financialpost.com/markets/news/Knowledge+Management+Institute+Canada+Launc hed/4103701/story.html

2003 report of KM practices in Canada in 2001 (focus on companies, not government) http://www.statcan.gc.ca/pub/88f0006x/88f0006x2003007-eng.pdf

7

A potentially interesting book, although very academic: Frid FrameworkTM for Enterprise Knowledge Management: A Common KM Framework for the Government of Canada by Dr. Randy J Frid The introduction is available via Google Books (link below) and has some interesting tidbits, like this, regarding information management and knowledge management: http://books.google.com/books?id=9igYFPsEK24C&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_atb "Information Management delivers information; Knowledge Management helps manage what people do with the information"

Government of Alberta KM http://www.im.gov.ab.ca/index.cfm?page=imtopics/Knowledge.html http://www.pao.gov.ab.ca/Practitioners/?file=learning/knowledge/knowledge-mgmt&cf=9

Here are some additional Knowledge Management-related links:

UN Public Administration Programme work area in Knowledge Management http://www.unpan.org/DPADM/AboutUs/OurWorkAreas/KnowledgeManagement/tabid/517/Defa ult.aspx

Knowledge Management blogs http://sites.google.com/site/stangarfield/kmblogs

More KM blogs ( "Top 50" ) http://managementdegrees.org/2010/top-50-knowledge-management-blogs/

More KM blogs & websites, etc. http://www.gurteen.com/gurteen/gurteen.nsf/id/km-websites

Association for Information and Image Management (AIIM) http://www.aiim.org/ AIIM is the community that provides education, research, and best practices to help organizations find, control, and optimize their information. **Could this be a good resource? Seems very corporate focused …

related … AIIM document about "What is Enterprise Content Management?" (ECM) http://www.aiim.org/What-is-ECM-Enterprise-Content-Management

Technical info: Interesting bit from one of the blogs - see comments for a discussion about frameworks: http://www.durantlaw.info/steep-knowledge-management-framework

8

UK Government's Knowledge Network Programme http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_UK_Government%27s_Knowledge_Network_Programme

Public Sector Knowledge Management (Mostly UK-based info, but some links to others as well) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Public_sector_knowledge_management

Another UK KM link … could be interesting http://www.library.nhs.uk/KnowledgeManagement/

9 New Zealand Land Use Planning Programs

Introduction

The New Zealand government has funded several research programs that aim to improve decision making in the areas of land use planning and resource management. Two recent programs are Creating Futures (2006-2010; Waikato Region) and Sustainable Pathways 2 (2009-2015; Auckland and Wellington regions).

While the focus of these programs on land use planning and resource management is relevant to only one aspect of the proposed Galapagos Knowledge Management System, there are other elements of these programs that are more broadly relevant - the decision making tools developed in the Creating Futures program, for example.

Spatial Decision Support Systems Both programs include the objective to create a spatial decision support system (SDSS) which will be used for urban planning and policy decisions. The now completed SDSS for the Creating Futures program is the WISE spatial decision support system and modeling tool. This is a computer-based system that can be used to investigate future development scenarios in the Waikato Region. Sustainable Pathways 2 will build on this system and focus on the Auckland and Wellington regions. A short video introduction to the WISE tool can be found here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RgEABCz1RrI . Both Creating Futures and Sustainable Pathways 2 have partnered with Research Institute for Knowledge Systems (RIKS), a company based in The Netherlands, for development of the SDSS.

Deliberation and Decision Making Other significant outputs of these programs include tools for deliberation and decision making. Creating Futures used, in part, a series of workshops to develop deliberation tools based on the work of Martin O'Connor at Université de Versailles. The deliberation process uses a decision matrix to facilitate evaluations by multiple stakeholders. Sustainable Pathways 2 will use mediated modeling in stakeholder-attended workshops to "capture the unique characteristics of urban systems in Auckland and Wellington from decision maker’s, visionary perspectives". See below for more information about deliberation tools and mediated modeling.

Indicators for Community Outcomes (a.k.a. Model Attributes) The Creating Futures program made use of a set of indicators for community outcomes (elsewhere called "model attributes") that was developed by the Choosing Futures Waikato initiative. The indicators and supporting information can be found here: http://www.choosingfutures.co.nz/Tracking-on-progress/ . The indicators are segregated into 5 thematic areas: sustainable environment, quality of life, sustainable economy, culture and identity, and participation and equity. A core group of 75 indicators was selected from the initial group of over 200. Selection was not necessarily based on availability of data, but importance to decision making, so one of the ongoing tasks of Choosing Futures Waikato is the expansion of data collection to include more of the core indicators. While some indicators are not relevant to Galapagos, many are and this is a very good starting point when thinking about those that are relevant to policy decisions in Galapagos.

Envirolink http://www.envirolink.govt.nz/New-and-Events/

10 A funding scheme that doles out funds to regional councils for environmental research needed for decision making. Allocates $1.6 million per year. There may be items of interest on the web site (the Envirolink tools section?).

Creating Futures and Sustainable Pathways 2

Creating Futures http://www.creatingfutures.org.nz Note: This program was originally titled "Choosing Regional Futures." Creating Futures was a 4 year research program (2006-2010) funded by FRST (now MSI) with $1.6 million. Led by Environment Waikato, the program focused on environmental and socioeconomic data across the Waikato Region.

Creating Futures had two main objectives:

"Spatial Modelling - develops a spatial decision support system that integrates data across layers of information that represent the 4 well beings [social, economic, environmental and cultural] in a way that allows interrogation of the impacts of alternative futures. This tool will allow for testing of proposed policies in a spatially explicit way, and to undertake "what-if" testing as part of policy development."

"Deliberation Processes - provides tools and processes for evaluation, deliberation and choice of alternative futures towards sustainability, including the development of scenarios for the Waikato Region."

The output of the spatial modeling objective of Creating Futures is the Waikato Integrated Scenario Explorer (WISE), which is a spatial decision support tool that can be used to "expire future scenarios of regional development and to evaluate the consequences of policy options." There is a video with an overview of WISE on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RgEABCz1RrI

The output of the deliberation processes objective is a set of deliberation tools, developed and tested, in part, through a series of stakeholder-attended workshops. The final reports and reports from the individual workshops can be downloaded from this page: http://www.creatingfutures.org.nz/deliberation-tools/ My note: A nice set of documents. The workshop reports give a nice view of the process - what worked well and what didn't.

An important note regarding the WISE spatial decision support tool: When stakeholders who participated in the workshops were asked about it, WISE was very highly regarded. However, while the stakeholders were very interested in the output of the tool, they felt it was too complex for them to use themselves.

Another output of the Creating Futures program are "Waikato Scenarios." These are plausible stories about possible futures. They are not predictions, but "what if" scenarios about the future if it develops in ways that are very different than what is currently predicted. They are intended to encourage stakeholders to think broadly about all possible futures. More details here:

11 http://www.creatingfutures.org.nz/waikato-scenarios/

Sustainable Pathways 2 http://www.sp2.org.nz/ Sustainable Pathways 2 is a 6 year (2009-2015) research program funded by the New Zealand government to "enable better decisions in Spatial Planning." It is a $4 million program with funding from the NZ Ministry of Science and Innovation (MSI) , formerly the Foundation for Research, Science and Technology (FRST). The Sustainable Pathways 2 program has been contracted to Ecological Economics Research New Zealand (EERNZ) at Massey University.

Sustainable Pathways 2 builds on two previous research programs: 1) the 6 year (2003-2009) Sustainable Pathways program which, in part, developed non-spatial land use models (Note: I have been unable to find any details of this program online.) 2) the 4 year (2006-2010) Creating Futures program, which developed a spatial decision support system (SDSS) for the Waikato region (more below).

One major goal of Sustainable Pathways 2 is to create a spatial decision support system (SDSS) for the Auckland and Wellington regions using the models developed in the Sustainable Pathways program and the SDSS developed as part of the Choosing Futures program.

The other major goals of Sustainable Pathways 2 are the creation of models using mediated modeling (model building with stakeholders), and the integration of the modeling tools being developed into urban planning practice.

From the EERNZ web site : "The aim is of this programme is to develop an integrative (economic, social, environmental) scenario modelling capacity in NZ to enable planners and communities to more fully appreciate options for the future of their cities and regions. Auckland and Wellington are our two case study regions, with linkages into other cities/regions.

We build on the successful Sustainable Pathways programme, by introducing two ‘State of the Art’ modelling methods - ‘Mediated Modelling’, which combines the best of ‘participatory and consensus based approaches to decision-making’ with the best of ‘dynamic systems modelling’; and Spatial-Dynamic Modelling, which puts the non-spatial models that we developed in ‘SP1’ into a fully spatial modelling framework where crucial variables can be modelled spatially and dynamically.

We collaborate with Dr Garry McDonald from Market Economics Ltd; staff from Auckland Regional Council, Environment Waikato, Greater Wellington Regional Council; and the Research Institute for Knowledge Systems [RIKS] in the Netherlands. "

The Sustainable Pathways 2 program is nicely summarized on the program web page: http://www.sustainablepathways.org.nz/about-the-project/ and in this presentation from Feb. 2011: http://www.sustainablepathways.org.nz/assets/Uploads/SP2-presentation-National-Advisory- Group-17-Feb.pdf

12 Deliberation Tools (Creating Futures)

Deliberation Matrix From: http://www.creatingfutures.org.nz/deliberation-tools/ "The Deliberation Matrix is a community process tool that has been developed by Professor Martin O'Connor at Université de Versailles Saint Quentin-en-Yvelines. It allow for stakeholder groups to evaluate the outcomes of policy decision and deliberate the suitability of these outcomes from their perspective." Here is a summary of the deliberation matrix process with a nice example: http://www.creatingfutures.org.nz/assets/Uploads/Project-Outputs-Files/1282365-v1- StakeholderinputfordevelopmentoftheDeliberationMatrixprocess.pdf

Deliberation Process The deliberation process that was used through the 3 Creating Futures workshops is outlined here: http://www.creatingfutures.org.nz/assets/Informing-decision-making-through-deliberative- approaches-A-procedural-guideline.pdf Here is an excerpt describing the process: "The deliberation process employed was designed by Martin O'Connor of the Université de Versailles. The process involves six stages: 1. Identify the problem - What is the problem, at what scale does it occur, who is it a problem for, why is it a problem? 2. Organise the problem - What are the options/strategies to address the problem, who are the stakeholders/actors in regards to the problem and the strategies, what are the value issues involved (the criteria by which problem and strategy are evaluated)? 3. Identify and mobilise tools for representation (e.g. maps, models of processes and systems) 4. Deliberate the consequences of the proposed strategy with regard to the identified stakeholders and the identified value criteria. 5. The preparation, validation and communication of the results and recommendations. 6. Return to step one (the deliberation process is iterative)."

Mediated Modeling (Sustainable Pathways 2)

Mediated Modeling Sustainable Pathways 2 is using mediated modeling to assist in the development of the models used for the spatial decision support system (SDSS) being developed. Here, mediated modeling is defined as computer-based interactive modeling with stakeholders as participants.

Here is a description of how they are using mediated modeling: From: http://www.sustainablepathways.org.nz/assets/Documents/Mediated-Modelling-in- Auckland-Nov-17-2010.pdf "In the MM workshops representative stakeholders are brought together for several workshops to interactively build a conceptual model for a particular topic. This is a scoping model, not spatially explicit. Stakeholders identify and build their understanding and mutual appreciation of the key model attributes, (such as population density and land use, amongst others) and the dynamic interaction between these variables. The model with linkages and feedbacks can then

13 be run over-time to illustrate long-term intended and unintended consequences of decisions. The participatory process, and the collaborative learning that takes place, are intended to facilitate buy-in for the development of and guide the more complex and data-intensive SDSS models.

MM is a tool that offers a consensus building process in a short timeframe with fewer resources than many participatory processes as well as a transparent way to identify strategic opportunities and constraints. The MM methodology is highlighted as an integrative tool by the European Union Water Framework Directive and by the US Environmental Protection Agency."

Note the reference to the US EPA as a user of mediated modeling methodology. I haven't been able to find much about this online (maybe Bryan Milstead knows more), however it appears that mediated modeling is a common approach used in environmental management and ecological economics, so it would make sense that it is in use at the US EPA.

Not New Zealand, but here’s a paper exploring the use of mediated modeling to address sustainability issues in the Ria Formosa area of Portugal that has a lot of tourism-related pressures and a complicated management structure: http://www.uvm.edu/~mvandenb/MPA308spring07/Antunes.pdf See the section on page 47, “The Ria Formosa Experience” for some background on Ria Formosa. A number of parallels to Galapagos.

14 Ecuadorian Information Management

Introduction

The Ecuadorian government has recently (at least the last 5 years) been working on initiatives to make geospatial social science data easily available. The government created the Consejo Nacional de Geoinformática (CONAGE; or National Council of Geoinformatics) to provide the management for this effort. CONAGE-led initiatives are quite advanced and a significant amount of information is available on the web via the Sistema Nacional de Información (SNI) data portals. There are some excellent geographical information tools that have been developed as part of these initiatives (especially Sistema Nacional de Información Terrotorial (SNIT), see below). I have not investigated thoroughly, but it appears that data pertaining to Galapagos is underrepresented in this system.

Here is a video introduction to SNI (in Spanish): http://sni.gov.ec/index.php?option=com_seyret&Itemid=118&task=videodirectlink&id=7 More videos linked below, near the end of the SNI section.

There are already some Galapagos-centric databases and data portals created by CDF (CDF Datazone) and INGALA (INFOGALAPAGOS). Others will be listed in the Galapagos Data Portals section.

Ecuadorian Geospatial Systems

Secretaría Nacional de Planificación y Desarrollo - SENPLADES National Secretariat of Planning and Development http://www.senplades.gov.ec/ "Manage and coordinate the National System of Participatory Planning as a means of development of the country at the sectoral and territorial, establishing strategic objectives and policies, grounded in information processing, research, training, monitoring and evaluation to guide public investment and promoting the democratization of the state, through active citizenship, contributing to a transparent and efficient governance."

SENPLADES is working with Amazon Special Planning District (CTEA) to create an information subsystem that will be linked to the national information system. This news article is about the original agreement to form a commission to create this agreement. http://sni.gov.ec/index.php?option=com_k2&view=item&id=131:sni-ecorae

Consejo Nacional de Geoinformática - CONAGE National Council of Geoinformatics - CONAGE - "In order to regulate the development and use of geospatial information from different regions, by Executive Decree No. 2250 published in Official Gazette No. 466 of 22 November 2004 creates the National Council of Geoinformatics (CONAGE) and body Technical Office of the President of the Republic.

15 With the creation of CONAGE is to provide efficient and coordinated to support the economic and social activities focused on the development of the country, why the priority is the integration of producers and users of geographic information in a decentralized infrastructure, current and homogeneous. Council management will prevent duplication of effort, material, financial and human, as well as overlapping roles and responsibilities between actors."

Infraestructura Ecuatoriana de Datos Geoespaciales - IEDG Ecuadorian Geospatial Data Infrastructure - IEDG "The IEDG is the set of policies, laws, agreements, standards, organizations, plans, programs, projects, human resources, technological and financial properly integrated to facilitate the production, access and use of national geo-information, regional or local level to support social, economic and environmental development of the villages (CONAGE). OBJECTIVES The key objectives of the IEDG are: a) Ensuring the orderly production of geospatial information; b) Facilitating access to and use of geospatial information, and, c) Implement management means or instruments (clearinghouse), shared databases (nodes) or other to allow exchange, access, use and updating of geospatial information IDE's INSTITUTIONAL METADATA At the time several institutions have already taken their first steps in the structuring of spatial data infrastructure - SDI - through the development of geoportals, where in addition to visualize geographic information through WMS, WFS ,or WCS, you can access the metadata for each geographic products generated."

Nice overview of IEDG: http://www.cp-idea.org/documentos/IDEs/PONENCIA%20IEDG.doc translated version: http://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=auto&tl=en&u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.cp- idea.org%2Fdocumentos%2FIDEs%2FPONENCIA%2520IEDG.doc

Sistema Nacional de Información (SNI) http://sni.gov.ec/ "The National Information System, enables designers and evaluators of public policy, access to aggregate information, relevant, containing the various government databases in order to expand citizen access to the knowledge of the national reality"

SNI has 3 portals:

Sistema Nacional de Información Terrotorial (SNIT) -- http://territorial.sni.gob.ec/ NOTE: Here are some very nice geographical tools. This may be the system most relevant to the Galapagos KM initiative. “GENERAL OBJECTIVE: Generate and disseminate data and spatial information in accordance with the principles that guide the geographic and cartographic activity, to facilitate decision making, planning and land in the country. SPECIFIC OBJECTIVES: ▪ Technical support for the prioritization of investment projects that generate spatial information. ▪ Coordinate the dissemination of geo-information generated by different public

16 institutions. ▪ Proposing general standards for the generation, structuring, documentation and use of geoinformation. ▪ Manage the generation, exchange and use of data and spatial information in the central and autonomous governments."

Sistema Nacional de Información Estadística (SNIE) -- http://estadistico.sni.gob.ec/ "The statistical information system contains demographic figures and economic order that show the reality of the country at a point in time. These data are collected through population and housing censuses and surveys continuously raised by the National Institute of Statistics and Census and the Central Bank of Ecuador. Users can get information broken down according to criteria pre-established in each statistical tool."

Sistema Nacional de Información Sectorial (SNIS) -- http://sectorial.sni.gob.ec/ "It is a component that feeds the SNI, based primarily on administrative records of the different providers of public services and information subsystems of different entities. Whose main objective is transparent public action and support decision making at various levels of government, as well as to serve all people the relevant information to the evaluation and follow in building the society of the good life " .

News brief about creation of SNI: http://www.dicyt.com/noticias/ecuador-creara-un-sistema-nacional-de-informacion

SNI site has some videos showing usage of the online tools to retrieve information (under publications/multimedia), here: http://sni.gov.ec/index.php?option=com_seyret&Itemid=118 Here's another one: http://infdigital.sni.gob.ec/?p=233

Some of these SNI documents are interesting: http://infdigital.sni.gob.ec/?p=1239 Here are a couple of those: Information Report on the Consejo Nacional de Geoinformatica (CONAGE) - This is an overview of CONAGE. http://translate.googleusercontent.com/translate_c?hl=en&langpair=es|en&u=http://infdigital.sni. gov.ec/wp- content/uploads/2009/09/20090909_conage.pdf&rurl=translate.google.com&usg=ALkJrhg25jfO- QaJFIHqZmONxaXEcr1oOg INFRAESTRUCTURA ECUATORIANA DE DATOS GEOESPACIALES (IEDG) http://translate.googleusercontent.com/translate_c?hl=en&langpair=es|en&u=http://infdigital.sni. gov.ec/wp- content/uploads/2009/07/2009006_iedg.pdf&rurl=translate.google.com&usg=ALkJrhhJBo7Qnhu yyUctNEOKxQdxbHp5Ug

Note: the abbreviation IDE in some of these documents refers to Infraestructuras de Datos Espaciales (Spatial Data Infrastructure).

17 Galapagos Data Portals

CDF Datazone http://www.darwinfoundation.org/english/pages/interna.php?txtCodiInfo=23 Includes the CDF species checklist, weather database, and collections database.

INFOGALAPAGOS http://infogalapagos.ec/ Set up by INGALA as a way to make social science data available. General information about Galapagos and a large collection of documents organized by category. Does not appear that it is actively maintained as the most recent documents appear to be from 2008.

University of Wisconsin-Madison Galapagos Collection http://uwdc.library.wisc.edu/collections/Zoology/Galapagos Specimen collection, scanned publications, photos.

Others?

18 Species-related Databases and Efforts

Introduction

In the last decade, there have been major efforts to consolidate species-related information and make this information globally available. Many of these can be roughly grouped into three categories: primary data sources, data aggregation services, and species description efforts. For example, eBird is a primary source of bird observation data. Data from eBird is part of the Avian Knowledge Network (AKN), a service that aggregates bird monitoring data from over 50 databases and datasets. A subset of AKN data is also sent to other data aggregation services, including ORNIS and GBIF. One example of a species description effort is the Encyclopedia of Life, which intends to create a rich web page describing every species on Earth. As one might expect, there are a number of efforts that fall in more than one of these categories. FishBase, for example, has a species description component and a primary data component (FishWatcher). Species description efforts, almost by definition, aggregate species information from multiple sources (published references, observation databases, etc.).

What is relevant to the Galapagos Knowledge Management Project? Any species-related component of the project would be well served by taking advantage of many of these existing efforts. Some of these may be suitable repositories for existing and future Galapagos primary species-related data. In some cases, it might be useful to find ways to filter species data in the relevant datasets to those specifically relevant to Galapagos. It would be useful to explore integration with the CDF Galapagos Species Checklist (http://www.darwinfoundation.org/datazone/checklists/ ).

Taxonomy/Phylogeny

Taxonomic Databases Working Group http://www.tdwg.org/ Includes a catalog of "Biodiversity Information Projects of the World" - over 600 entries presently. Not completely up-to-date, for example includes Avian Knowledge Network, but not eBird. Looks like new entries can be submitted. Also "Biodiversity Information Networks" - includes GBIF, NBII, DataONE, and the like. This is a good place to start to find more of these types of projects.

Encyclopedia of life (EOL) http://www.eol.org/ An effort to catalog every species on Earth (>1.9M). Basically a rich web page for every species w/ references, links to external sources, occurrence data, etc., etc. Takes data from GBIF, etc., etc. Big effort to scan manuscripts, etc. Led by Smithsonian Institution. Started with $24M seed funding and $50M commitment. Started in 2008. Estimate 10 years to have a page for every species, ongoing work after that to keep updated and add new.

Has an API (Application Programming Interface) to pull EOL data into other applications. "Field Guides" show examples of limiting EOL species to a geographic area.

19

EOL draws information from many other sources, including Catalogue of Life, Tree of Life Project, and many other species databases.

Catalogue of Life http://www.catalogueoflife.org/ The Species 2000 & ITIS Catalogue of Life “The Species 2000 & ITIS Catalogue of Life is planned to become a comprehensive catalogue of all known species of organisms on Earth. Rapid progress has been made recently and this edition of the Catalogue of Life contains 1,333,403 species. Please note that this is probably just about 2/3 of the world's known species. This means that for many groups it continues to be deficient, and users will notice that many species are still missing from the Catalogue. The present Catalogue is compiled with sectors provided by 95 taxonomic databases from around the world. Many of these contain taxonomic data and opinions from extensive networks of specialists, so that the complete work contains contributions from more than 3,000 specialists from throughout the taxonomic profession. Species 2000 and ITIS teams peer review databases, select appropriate sectors and integrate the sectors into a single coherent catalogue with a single hierarchical classification. It is planned to introduce alternative taxonomic treatments and alternative classifications, but an important feature is that for those users who wish to use it, a single preferred catalogue, based on peer reviews, will continue to be provided.” The Catalogue of Life partnership “In June 2001 the Species 2000 and ITIS organisations, that had previously worked separately, decided to work together to create the Catalogue of Life, now estimated at 1.9 million species (Chapman, 2009). The two organisations remain separate and different in structure. However, by working together in creating a common product, the partnership has enabled them to reduce duplication of effort, make better use of resources, and to accelerate production. The combined Annual Checklist has become well established as a cited reference used for data compilation and comparison. For instance, it is used as the principal taxonomic index in the GBIF and EoL data portals and recognised by the CBD.” About ITIS “The Integrated Taxonomic Information System (ITIS) is a partnership of federal agencies and other organisations from the United States, Canada, and Mexico, with data stewards and experts from around the world (see http://www.itis.gov ). The ITIS database is an automated reference of scientific and common names of biota of interest to North America . It contains more than 596,000 scientific and common names in all kingdoms, and is accessible via the World Wide Web in English, French, Spanish, and Portuguese ( http://itis.gbif.net ). ITIS is part of the US National Biological Information Infrastructure ( http://www.nbii.gov ) and an associate member of GBIF ITIS is managed by Gerald Guala (Director), Thomas Orrell (Deputy Director), Michael Ruggiero (Senior Scientific Advisor), David Nicolson (Data Development Leader), Mike Frame (Information Technology Leader), Roy McDiarmid (Taxonomy Leader), Guy Baillargeon (ITIS- Canada Director), and Patricia Koleff (SIIT-Mexico Director). They are advised and supported by the ITIS Steering Committee and ITIS Data Stewards.” About Species 2000 “Species 2000 ( http://www.sp2000.org ) is an autonomous federation of taxonomic database custodians, involving taxonomists throughout the world. Its goal is to collate a uniform and validated index to the world's known species. It is a not-for-profit company limited by guarantee (registered in England No. 3479405) with six directors and taxonomic database organisations from around the world as members. It is sponsored by CODATA, IUBS and IUMS; is an

20 associate participant in GBIF; and is recognised by UNEP and the CBD. The Phase II Programme is establishing a number of regional/national hubs of which the European Hub, the Species 2000 China Node ( http://www.sp2000.cn ), the Brazilian Hub (El Catalogo da Vida Brazil) and the N America Hub are the first to appear.”

Tree of Life Project http://www.tolweb.org/tree/ Now with EOL project, ToL is focusing on the phylogeny and will start serving its species ("leaf") pages from EOL. Note - no news posted on ToL web site since Feb. 2009. Current status uncertain. "The Tree of Life Web Project (ToL) is a collaborative effort of biologists and nature enthusiasts from around the world. On more than 10,000 World Wide Web pages, the project provides information about biodiversity, the characteristics of different groups of organisms, and their evolutionary history (phylogeny). Each page contains information about a particular group, e.g., salamanders, segmented worms, phlox flowers, tyrannosaurs, euglenids, Heliconius butterflies, club fungi, or the vampire squid. ToL pages are linked one to another hierarchically, in the form of the evolutionary tree of life. Starting with the root of all Life on Earth and moving out along diverging branches to individual species, the structure of the ToL project thus illustrates the genetic connections between all living things."

Integrated Taxonomic Information System (ITIS) http://www.itis.gov/ "Here you will find authoritative taxonomic information on plants, animals, fungi, and microbes of North America and the world. We are a partnership of U.S., Canadian, and Mexican agencies (ITIS-North America); other organizations; and taxonomic specialists. ITIS is also a partner of Species 2000 and the Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF). The ITIS and Species 2000 Catalogue of Life (CoL) partnership is proud to provide the taxonomic backbone to the Encyclopedia of Life (EOL)."

Species 2000 http://www.sp2000.org/ Partners with ITIS to make the Catalogue of Life. Publishes an annual checklist of species drawn from many databases (77 for 2010).

Consortium for the Barcode of Life (CBOL) http://www.barcodeoflife.org International Barcode of Life (IBOL) http://ibol.org/ IBOL: "The International Barcode of Life project (iBOL) is the largest biodiversity genomics initiative ever undertaken. Hundreds of biodiversity scientists, genomics specialists, technologists and ethicists from 25 nations are working together to construct a richly parameterized DNA barcode reference library that will be the foundation for a DNA-based identification system for all multi-cellular life. In the first phase of operations (2010-2015), iBOL collaborators will barcode five million specimens representing 500,000 species. During construction of the barcode library, iBOL participants will also be building the infrastructure needed to use it in real-world situations such as conservation, ecosystem monitoring, forensics

21 and control of agricultural pests and invasive species." CBOL: "The Consortium for the Barcode of Life (CBOL) is an international initiative devoted to developing DNA barcoding as a global standard for the identification of biological species. Established in 2004 through support from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, CBOL promotes barcoding through Working Groups, networks, workshops, conferences, outreach, and training. CBOL has 200 Member Organizations from 50 countries and operates from a Secretariat Office located in the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of Natural History in Washington, DC."

CBOL works with the International Barcode of Life project to: ▪ Lead iBOL's Working Group for Outreach and Collaborations ▪ Facilitate iBOL's communications with other barcoding projects and with the broader biosciences community; ▪ Promote participation in iBOL's Working Groups; and ▪ Represent barcoding to international biodiversity initiatives such as the Convention on Biological Diversity. IBOL tools: Barcode of Life Data Systems (BOLD) http://www.boldsystems.org "The Barcode of Life Data Systems (BOLD) is an online workbench that aids collection, management, analysis, and use of DNA barcodes. It consists of 3 components (MAS, IDS, and ECS) that each address the needs of various groups in the barcoding community. " MAS = Management & Analysis (Repository for braces and analytical tools.) IDS = species identification tool ECS = external connectivity (services allowing access to sequence and specimen data)"

WoRMS (World Register of Marine Species) database http://www.marinespecies.org/ "The aim of a World Register of Marine Species (WoRMS) is to provide an authoritative and comprehensive list of names of marine organisms, including information on synonymy. While highest priority goes to valid names, other names in use are included so that this register can serve as a guide to interpret taxonomic literature. The content of WoRMS is controlled by taxonomic experts, not by database managers. WoRMS has an editorial management system where each taxonomic group is represented by an expert who has the authority over the content, and is responsible for controlling the quality of the information. Each of these main taxonomic editors can invite several specialists of smaller groups within their area of responsibility to join them. "

FishBase http://www.fishbase.org Information pages on virtually all fish species. Get occurrence data from GBIF and OBIS. There's a component where one can add observation data "FishWatcher" (http://www.fishbase.us/FishWatcher/Menu.php ), which I believe is then shared with GBIF (via OBIS?). Search has a separate geographic location for "Galapagos Islands" Could also be categorized under Aggregated Biodiversity Information Services and Occurrence/Observation

22 AmphibiaWeb http://www.amphibiaweb.org/ "AmphibiaWeb is an online system that provides access to information on amphibian declines, conservation, natural history, and taxonomy. "

Invasive Species

Global Invasive Species Database (GISD) http://www.issg.org/database/welcome/ "The Global Invasive Species Database (GISD) aims to increase awareness about invasive alien species and to facilitate effective prevention and management activities. It is managed by the Invasive Species Specialist Group (ISSG) of the Species Survival Commission of the IUCN- World Conservation Union. The GISD was developed as part of the global initiative on invasive species led by the Global Invasive Species Programme (GISP) and is supported through partnerships with the National Biological Information Infrastructure, Manaaki Whenua-Landcare Research, the Critical Ecosystem Partnership Fund, the University of Auckland and private donations. " "The ISSG is part of the Species Survival Commission of the World Conservation Union (IUCN) and deals with invasive species that cause biodiversity loss across the globe. They created the Global Invasive Species Database as a resource for policy makers, conservation practitioners, and the public." (from NBII web site)

Some great stuff here - has Galapagos stuff, but at least some outdated. For example, goat eradication on Santiago seems to be from a 2005 report, as goats are still listed as "Present/Controlled". http://www.issg.org/database/species/distribution_display.asp?si=40&ri=18540&pc=*&sts=sss& status=Alien&lang=EN#Alien

Invasive Species Specialist Group (ISSG) - part of IUCN http://www.issg.org/ "The ISSG promotes and facilitates the exchange of invasive species information and knowledge across the globe and ensures the linkage between knowledge, practice and policy so that decision making is informed. The three core activity areas of the ISSG are policy and technical advice, information exchange and networking." The ISSG manages the Global Invasive Species Database (GISD)

Global Invasive Species Programme (GISP) http://www.gisp.org/ "GISP mission is to conserve biodiversity and sustain livelihoods by minimising the spread and impact of invasive species. Working primarily at international and regional levels, GISP aims to build partnerships, provide guidance, develop a supportive environment and build capacity for national approaches towards the prevention and management of invasive species by pursuing three key objectives: • Facilitating information exchange; • Supporting policy and governance; and • Promoting awareness among key public and private sector decision makers

23 The primary objective of GISP is to facilitate and assist with the prevention, control and management of invasive species throughout the world."

What are the relationships between the various Invasive species organizations? From the NBII Invasive Species Information Node (ISIN) "International Perspective" web page: http://invasivespecies.nbii.gov/international.html "The Invasive Species Information Node has formed partnerships with international organizations such as the Global Invasive Species Programme (GISP) and The World Conservation Union's Invasive Species Specialist Group (IUCN-ISSG), and provides the US lead for the Invasives Information Network of the Inter-American Biodiversity Information Network, I3N"

Endangered Species

CITES http://www.cites.org/eng/resources/species.html "CITES (the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora) is an international agreement between governments. Its aim is to ensure that international trade in specimens of wild animals and plants does not threaten their survival." Species database is an end-product of the work of the CITES program, but maintenance of the database itself is a minor portion of the program. Funded by member countries (~175). Approx. $5M per year total program expenses. Administered by United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP). Secretariat based in Geneva.

IUCN Red List http://www.iucnredlist.org/ "The IUCN Species Programme maintains the information behind the IUCN Red List in a centralized database as part of the Species Information Service(SIS)."

WildTrack http://www.wildtrack.org/ Track individual animals (endangered mammal species) based on footprints. Use SAS and JMP to store, analyze, and visualize data. Citizen Science section on web site. Developing a database and methods for collecting more data. Appears that this program is partially supported by SAS and volunteer time of SAS employees. (Learned about this one from SAS website) Could also file under Occurrence/Specimen and Citizen Science

Biodiversity Information Aggregation Services

GBIF - Global Biodiversity Information Facility http://www.gbif.org/ Data portal: http://data.gbif.org/ "The Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF) is the world's premiere source for

24 information on biological specimen and observational data, providing on-line access to more than 135 million data records from around the world. GBIF is providing range maps for the EOL species pages." - from EOL (eol.org) web page

An informatics infrastructure that allows storage and sharing of biodiversity info. by linking interoperable databases.

GBIF offers the infrastructure to link databases containing biodiversity info - basically observations of species in the wild and also where specimens in collections came from. An attempt to link all by using a central species database which is key to the linkages. Everything is linked by species. Many, many institutions participating. Galapagos area data includes observations from eBird, specimens from the Smithsonian and others.

Note that not necessarily all info. is sent from participating institutions to GBIF. "Sensitive" observation data (like endangered species) is often excluded. GBIF only has basic data - metadata is kept in participating institution's database and is not sent to GBIF.

Avian Knowledge Network http://www.avianknowledge.net/ Gets data from eBird, among others. Based at Cornell University - Cornell Lab of Ornithology. NSF funded. "The goal is to educate the public on the dynamics of bird populations, provide interactive decision-making tools for land managers, make available a data resource for scientific research, and advance new exploratory analysis techniques to study bird populations." "First, we are developing new ways to discover these data by displaying metadata in the bird monitoring data registry (BMDR). Second, we are expanding existing data schemas to organize these data through the bird monitoring data exchange (BMDE). Third, we are building the technical infrastructure to allow access to these data through a federated data grid environment."

Send data to GBIF & ORNIS

AKN has a very useful web site w/ loads of info. about architecture, etc. One of the most transparent and easy to navigate resources in this regard.

AKN is very well set up back-end to ornithology data. Integrates datasets from many, many places (eBird and 50+ others). Impressively well set up back-end architecture. Many levels of data availability, so organizations can store their data with AKN and have it not shared or shared at various levels. Data owners maintain control of their data. AKN stores data + metadata. Only a data subset is sent to GBIF and ORNIS (Darwin Core scheme) - doesn't include metadata.

This system should theoretically be able to accommodate ANY species observation data, not just birds. I imagine they don't have the desire to do so, but it seems like they've solved many of the problems someone would have building a species observation database and making it accessible.

Example of use of AKN data: (via: http://www.avianknowledge.net/content/features/archive/akn-featured-node-application- modeling-bird-distribution-responses-to-climate-change )

25 Modeling Bird Distributions Responses to Climate Change http://data.prbo.org/cadc2/index.php?page=climate-change-distribution The California Avian Data Center has created a mapping tool to assist land managers and scientists in California. California's terrestrial ecosystems are particularly vulnerable to future changes in the global climate, including increased temperatures, changing precipitation patterns, and changes in human infrastructure and development. Information on the potential effects of climate change on bird communities can help guide effective conservation and informed land management decisions. CADC and its partners are using climate models and multi-source bird data networked for the first time thanks to the Avian Knowledge Network to predict current and future species distributions for over 80 species. These California Partners in Flight (CalPIF) focal species represent the major habitat types found within California including riparian, oak woodland, scrub, conifer, and grassland. Currently, 60 species available for viewing, organized into 5 different habitat types.

This (above) is a very cool example of combining species observation data with climate and habitat data to model the effects of climate change on species distribution.

NatureServe http://www.natureserve.org/ "NatureServe Explorer provides conservation status, taxonomy, distribution, and life history information for more than 70,000 plants, animals, and ecological communities and systems in the United States and Canada. " [Also Latin America & Caribbean]

"NatureServe is a non-profit conservation organization whose mission is to provide the scientific basis for effective conservation action. NatureServe and its network of natural heritage programs are the leading source for information about rare and endangered species and threatened ecosystems. NatureServe represents an international network of biological inventories-known as natural heritage programs or conservation data centers-operating in all 50 U.S. states, Canada, Latin America and the Caribbean. Together we not only collect and manage detailed local information on plants, animals, and ecosystems, but develop information products, data management tools, and conservation services to help meet local, national, and global conservation needs. The objective scientific information about species and ecosystems developed by NatureServe is used by all sectors of society-conservation groups, government agencies, corporations, academia, and the public-to make informed decisions about managing our natural resources."

So, NatureServe collects the data and integrates data from "programs." Data is available via their online NatureServe Explorer. Integrated with IUCN & CITES status. Data is sent to GBIF (technical info here: http://www.natureserve.org/getData/gbif.jsp ).

They have approx. $11M annual budget.

InfoNatura is the subset of the data for Latin America: http://www.natureserve.org/infonatura/ Includes Galapagos species (Galapagos Penguin, for example, but many, many, many others)

NBII - National Biological Information Infrastructure http://www.nbii.gov/ Run by the USGS Biological Informatics Office

26 "The National Biological Information Infrastructure (NBII) is a broad, collaborative program to provide increased access to data and information on the nation's biological resources. The NBII links diverse, high-quality biological databases, information products, and analytical tools maintained by NBII partners and other contributors in government agencies, academic institutions, non-government organizations, and private industry." International activities: "The NBII International Program participates in worldwide biological informatics activities that promote information sharing and infrastructure development across borders. Taking part in these activities helps us highlight and share information, standards, and tools developed through our national initiatives. NBII partners with governments and public sector organizations from many countries, as well as non-governmental, inter-governmental, and multinational organizations, academia, and private sector enterprises." NBII is the United States node for GBIF.

OBIS - Ocean Biogeographic Information System http://www.iobis.org/ "With our evolving OBIS database repository, users can identify biodiversity hotspots and large- scale ecological patterns, analyze dispersions of species over time and space, and plot species' locations with temperature, salinity, and depth. "

"The Ocean Biogeographic information System (OBIS) seeks to absorb, integrate, and assess isolated datasets into a larger, more comprehensive pictures of life in our oceans. The system hopes to stimulate research about our oceans to generate new hypotheses concerning evolutionary processes, species distributions, and roles of organisms in marine systems on a global scale. The abstract maps that OBIS generates are maps that contribute to the ‘big picture’ of our oceans: a comprehensive, collaborative, world-wide view of our oceans. OBIS provides a portal or gateway to many datasets containing information on where and when marine species have been recorded. The datasets are integrated so you can search them all seamlessly by species name, higher taxonomic level, geographic area, depth, and time; and then map and find environmental data related to the locations. OBIS aims to be: authoritative, professional, and credible concise, easily read and understood, and use minimal jargon user friendly with a logical consistent design and flow regularly updated."

OBIS data is published through GBIF. GBIF recommends publishing marine data to OBIS and not to GBIF directly, since there's more metadata recorded in OBIS and OBIS takes care of publishing to GBIF.

OBIS created by Census of Marine Life (COML), but OBIS is now part of the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (IOC) of UNESCO, under its International Oceanographic Data and Information Exchange (IODE) program.

Census of Marine Life (COML) http://www.coml.org/ Created OBIS, but OBIS is now part of the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (IOC) of UNESCO, under its International Oceanographic Data and Information Exchange (IODE) program. "The Census of Marine Life is a global network of researchers in more than 80 nations engaged in a 10-year scientific initiative to assess and explain the diversity, distribution, and abundance of life in the global ocean. The world's first comprehensive Census of Marine Life - past, present, and future - will be released in 2010. "

27 "Permanent legacies of the first Census of Marine Life are a publicly accessible database, OBIS, the Encyclopedia of Life, and the Barcode of Life that ensure that the means for future marine life research efforts." ****Looks like COML is done with its primary goal as of 2010. "Efforts are currently underway to structure another such collaborative initiative for 2010 and beyond."

International Oceanographic Data and Information Exchange (IODE) http://www.iode.org/index.php Part of the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (IOC) of UNESCO. http://www.ioc- unesco.org/ "The programme "International Oceanographic Data and Information Exchange" (IODE) of the "Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission" (IOC) of UNESCO was established in 1961. Its purpose is to enhance marine research, exploitation and development, by facilitating the exchange of oceanographic data and information between participating Member States, and by meeting the needs of users for data and information products." "The IODE network has been able to collect, control the quality of, and archive millions of ocean observations, and makes these available to Member States. Whereas in the past IODE data centers focused mainly on physical oceanography data, the IODE Programme now gives attention to all ocean related data including physical oceanography, chemical, biological, etc." links to main ocean data sources developed and maintained by IODE National Oceanographic Data Centres: World Ocean Database (global) http://www.nodc.noaa.gov/OC5/WOD/pr_wod.html "World Ocean Database 2009 (WOD09) is a scientifically quality-controlled database of selected historical in-situ surface and subsurface oceanographic measurements produced by the Ocean Climate Laboratory (OCL) at the National Oceanographic Data Center (NODC), Silver Spring, Maryland, USA. WOD09 updates and expands on an earlier version of our product, World Ocean Database 2005 (WOD05) by including new data and implementation of the ISO 3166-1 country code standards in the cruise identifier." IODE Ocean Data Portal (global) http://www.oceandataportal.org "The Ocean Data Portal (further, ODP) aims at providing seamless access to collections and inventories of marine data from the NODCs (National Oceanographic Data Centres) of the IODE network and allows for the discovery, evaluation (through visualization and metadata review) and access to data via web services. The system architecture use Web-oriented information technologies to access non-homogeneous and geographically distributed marine data and information." SeaDataNet data access (regional) http://www.seadatanet.org/data_access "The SeaDataNet infrastructure links 40 national oceanographic data centres and marine data centres from 35 countries riparian to all European seas. The data centres manage large sets of marine and ocean data, originating from their own institutes and from other parties in their country, in a variety of data management systems and configurations. A major objective and challenge in SeaDataNet is to provide an integrated and harmonised overview and access to these data resources, using a distributed network approach."

28

Collections/Specimen Aggregation Services

VertNet http://vertnet.org/ "VertNet is a global museum database of vertebrate natural history collections. Four distributed database networks (MaNIS, HerpNET, ORNIS and FishNet) have been the result of a massive, collaborative effort within the museum and bioinformatics communities to make specimen data interoperable, mappable and publicly available. VertNet was formed as an umbrella project to meet the common needs of the participants, maintain the existing networks, add new members and develop integrated online technologies." Here's another description: "HerpNET, ORNIS, MaNIS and FishNet2 are taxon-based web portals that now serve georeferenced data on vertebrates from over 71 global institutions. Together these comprise VertNET, a cooperative project working to maintain and expand these distributed database projects. Future plans include biodiversity informatics workshops, enhancement of the portal design, better searching capabilities, and a dynamic cloud-based platform to expand performance, sustainability, annotation and analytic features." Note the focus on cloud computing: "The proposed VertNet architecture will be based on cloud computing, which will provide fast response times and eliminate the need for servers."

ORNIS http://www.ornisnet.org/ Bird specimens and observations. Aggregates data from many providers. Avian Knowledge Network sends data to ORNIS (eBird does via AKN). ORNIS in turn sends data to GBIF. ORNIS also "involves development of a suite of online software tools for data analysis and error-checking." ORNIS "expands on existing infrastructure developed for distributed mammal (MaNIS), amphibian and reptile (HerpNet), and fish (FishNet) databases" NSF funded, Two of the main institutions are UC Berkeley and University of Kansas.

HerpNET http://www.herpnet.org/ Reptile and amphibian specimens Has a link to "Resources En Espanol" ( http://herpnet.org/herpnet/Gazetteer/GeorefEspanol.html). Mostly about georeferencing? Also interesting georeferencing guidelines linked here.

FishNet http://www.fishnet2.net/ Icthyology specimens

MaNIS http://www.manisnet.org/ Mammalian specimens

29

Occurrence/Observations (Many of these may also be categorized under Citizen Science) eBird http://ebird.org/ "eBird documents the presence or absence of species, as well as bird abundance through checklist data. A simple and intuitive web-interface engages tens of thousands of participants to submit their observations or view results via interactive queries into the eBird database. eBird encourages users to participate by providing Internet tools that maintain their personal bird records and enable them to visualize data with interactive maps, graphs, and bar charts. All these features are available in English, Spanish, and French." eBird has Galapagos visitor sites integrated (by name) Capacity to create location-specific websites. For example, California eBird (http://ebird.org/content/ca/ )

USA National Phenology Network (USA-NPN) http://www.usanpn.org/ “The USA National Phenology Network brings together citizen scientists, government agencies, non-profit groups, educators and students of all ages to monitor the impacts of climate change on plants and animals in the United States. The network harnesses the power of people and the Internet to collect and share information, providing researchers with far more data than they could collect alone.” “The USA National Phenology Network (USA-NPN) monitors the influence of climate on the phenology of plants, animals, and landscapes. We do this by encouraging people to observe phenological events like leaf out, flowering, migrations, and egg laying, and by providing a place for people to enter, store, and share their observations. We also work with researchers to develop tools and techniques to use these observations to support a wide range of decisions made routinely by citizens, managers, scientists, and others, including decisions related to allergies, wildfires, water, and conservation.”

The USA-NPN is a very impressive program with an impressive web site. Very informative web site with one of the better geographical visualization tools that allows display of climate data in addition to species observation data, plus the ability to graph phenology data. Definitely a good model for several aspects of the Galapagos KM initiative. Program budget is complicated, as multiple agencies are involved, including some pass-through funding for special projects. Estimated ongoing cost of operations: $1.6M to $2.2M per year.

World Wildlife Fund http://www.worldwildlife.org/ Wildfinder database http://gis.wwfus.org/wildfinder/ "WildFinder is a map-driven, searchable database of more than 26,000 species worldwide, with a powerful search tool that allows users to discover where species live or explore wild places to find out what species live there. Containing information on birds, mammals, reptiles, and amphibians, WildFinder is a valuable resource for scientists, students, educators, travelers,

30 birdwatchers and nature enthusiasts alike. " This is more of a species range map tool as opposed to a database of observation data. Unclear where the data comes from or how/if it is updated. Has described 825 terrestrial "ecoregions" (also freshwater and marine). For example, the terrestrial ecoregion for Galapagos: http://www.worldwildlife.org/wildworld/profiles/terrestrial/nt/nt1307_full.html

National Wildlife Federation (NWF) Wildlife Watch http://www.nwf.org/wildlifewatch/ "National Wildlife Federation’s Wildlife Watch is a national, nature-watching program created for people of all ages. Through the program you can share details that help National Wildlife Federation track the health and behavior of wildlife and plant species nationwide. In return, the Wildlife Watch website keeps you up-to-date on wildlife news and facts, and new ideas for attracting wildlife to your backyard and community." Not clear what NWF does with the data - I don't know if it is shared with other organizations. Does not appear to be shared with GBIF. Website does data in, but not very good data out. Some map-based stuff. Records name, email, zip, species, but zip isn't necessarily where the sighting is, so the person from Lafayette, CA recording sightings of marine mammals, etc. - the sightings are linked to Lafayette location, not the location of the sighting. Print out checklists. Not much here worth building on.

REEF (Reef Environmental Education Foundation) http://www.reef.org The Reef Environmental Education Foundation is a grass-roots, non-profit organization of recreational divers who regularly conduct fish biodiversity and abundance surveys during their dives. These surveys are conducted as part of REEF's Fish Survey Project, and become part of a database that is publicly-accessible via this Website.

Several project regions, mostly around north and central America (plus Hawaii), but also includes Galapagos as the southern-most part of the "Tropical Eastern Pacific" region. Seems like most active in Florida and surrounding area where a big focus is on controlling/eradicating the invasive Lionfish.

Appears to be a well curated database. Divers fill out observation forms and send them into the HQ, where they are validated, scanned, and added to the database. You can log into the web site to see your own data. Also generate reports. Also online data entry. Listed species w/ species common to region (curated list). Also unlisted species with a tool to help you find the species. Abundance, etc. Data reviewed by a person before being added to the database. See: http://www.reef.org/dataentry/information.htm

Full time staff. About $500,000 in annual revenue/expenses. Non-profit.

Cool feature is the use of zone codes to pinpoint specific locations. Hierarchical. See: http://www.reef.org/db/zonecodes

Participants ranked based on experience. Done by number of surveys. Novice level 1,2,3. Also have an Expert levels which requires passing a test and minimum number of surveys. Tests are administered carefully - see "Quizzes" here: http://www.reef.org/programs/volunteersurvey/experience

31

I can't find any reference to them sharing data with any of the international databases, like OBIS or GBIF.

WildObs http://wildobs.com/ Community site for recording wildlife observations with location, photos, comments, etc. Site designed, built, and maintained independently by software consultant Adam Jack (http://www.neukadye.com ). Seems like a well done hobby project that in part helps him showcase his skills to help get consulting work. Nicely done - navigation a bit confusing, but lots of neat features. Integration to Twitter, etc. There are now apps for iPhone and Android. "is proud to be a partner with NWF Wildlife Watch and participate in its Wildlife Watch program" I think this means that stuff entered in WildObs is automatically sent to the NWF Wildlife Watch Database.

California Roadkill Observation System http://www.wildlifecrossing.net/california/ Observations entered by observers. Data visualized on Google Maps. Links to species, etc. Very simple database and interface, but very nice, somewhat sophisticated web page to record observations - nice fetching of species, multiple ways to specify location (Google maps based - find location on map, use address, GPS coords., etc.). Ability to put in "rabbit" if exact species not known, etc.. Not sure about curation.

Mojave Desert Tortoise iPhone App http://www.deserttortoise.gov/ http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/mojave-desert-tortoise/id400806083?mt=8 Take photo - sends photo w/ GPS coords to Govt. agency involved in protection of the Mojave Desert Tortoise. Sighting can be confirmed via photo. "The Mojave Desert Ecosystem Program and Desert Managers Group then collect and map the data using the iPhone’s location service."

32 Citizen Science

Introduction

Citizen Science refers to projects where work performed by volunteers without specific scientific training can be used to answer scientific questions. Such projects range from volunteers transcribing dates and climate observations from historical, written ship logs to recording species occurrence to counting craters on the Moon. In addition to addressing scientific questions, citizen science projects can be important in engaging and educating interested individuals and can become a type of community outreach.

For Galapagos, species-related citizen science projects may be the most relevant, as most visitors are drawn to Galapagos for the unique flora and fauna. Some existing species-related efforts already allow recording of observations in Galapagos (eBird, for example). It is important to keep an open mind, however, as important contributions can be made in non-species-related areas. Note that Galapagos residents will also contribute to citizen science projects and in some cases may be more qualified to do so. Residents may also be able to contribute in ways that visitors cannot.

Since the main point of citizen science projects is science, it may be best to leave the creation of such projects to the scientists whose work will be supported, offering assistance (technical, financial, community outreach, etc.) as necessary. Recruiting scientists to help design and run citizen science projects is certainly an option.

Examples

See the "Species-related Databases and Efforts" section: "Occurrence/Observation" for some relevant examples.

Citizen Science Central http://www.birds.cornell.edu/citscitoolkit/projects Maintained by the Cornell Lab of Ornithology - a huge list of projects in the sciences.

ScienceForCitizens.net http://www.scienceforcitizens.net/ A very nicely designed site that connects interested people with citizen science projects. A huge number of projects listed, nicely organized by subject. Isn’t yet, but it appears that this will be an ad supported site, based on the “For Advertisers” link at the top.

U of Cincinnati project U of Cincinnati had a group of honor's students go to Galapagos for spring break, 2010. One reason was to explore the possibility of a citizen science project in Galapagos. http://www.uc.edu/News/NR.aspx?id=11516

33 Just a placeholder on that page now (as of 2/11): http://www.uc.edu/galapagos/ Faculty were Ken Petren (PhD UCSD '94; recent publications with Peter & Rosemary Grant) and Eric Maurer No more information I can find on the web about this project, but it may be useful to contact Ken Petren.

34 Ecological, Socioeconomic, and Climate Information

Introduction

Many ecological and socioeconomic information management efforts are region-specific. The amount of information that is publicly accessible varies, and often only summary map-based data, not raw data, is available. This may reflect the nature of the data itself. Dealing with this type of information may require specialized software and the raw data may be difficult to interpret on its own. There is a historical aspect as well. Many efforts have been ongoing for a long time and software options were limited when they began or when they were last transitioned to a "modern" system. The technology used in the efforts described in this section does not define the limits of possibilities in this area.

Socioeconomic (and sometimes ecological) information can be politically sensitive, which could be another reason that the information one finds is often in the form of reports, as raw data is easy to misinterpret, especially by those who are not familiar with the context in which the data was collected. In general, government entities who collect this type of data have had little incentive to make it publicly available and when mandated to make data available have no incentive to make it easy to find or understand.

A number of ecosystem modeling software applications are currently available and under active development. Most of these appear to be modeling tools that work on data stored in existing systems. There is potential crossover between ecosystem modeling software and special decision support systems (SDSS) used for land use and geographical socioeconomic decision making.

What is relevant to Galapagos depends on what is needed. It is difficult to make specific recommendations without knowledge of the type of data available for Galapagos and knowing how that data needs to be used. Ecological, land use and socioeconomic data are often most useful when viewed with a map-based interface, but this is not always the case. The E-atlas for the Great Barrier Reef is worth investigating for the way it handles different types of datasets, both map-based and non-map-based.

Ecological, Land Use, and Socioeconomic Information

Sistema de Información Territorial Estatal en Línea (SITEL) http://sitel.jalisco.gob.mx/portal/ Site set up to share geographical info. between government agencies of Jalisco, Mexico. Tons of map-based info. "The State Land Information System Online - SITEL, has an objective to integrate across the Internet, information, metadata and Web services that are produced in Jalisco, a state, regional and municipal levels, giving users access to these resources, within this portal." [Translation via: http://www.spanishdict.com/translation (slightly modified)] Site 100% in Spanish. Open in Google Chrome for real-time translation to English. Could be a great example of some types of GIS data that governments care about, although technologically inferior to many newer and better funded initiatives.

35 Found on PostGIS site: http://postgis.refractions.net/documentation/casestudies/sitel/

Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute (STRI) http://www.stri.si.edu/index.php “The Smithsonian Tropical Research Institution (STRI) in Panama, is a bureau of the Smithsonian Institution based outside of the United States, is dedicated to understanding biological diversity.” Based in Panama, but research throughout the tropics. Bioinformatics site: http://biogeodb.stri.si.edu/bioinformatics/en/ Research, databases, conservation, biodiversity monitoring, GIS (uses ArcGIS, I think), etc. Very relevant to the Galapagos KM initiative, especially the bioinformatics efforts.

Landcare Research – New Zealand http://www.landcareresearch.co.nz/ “Landcare Research is New Zealand’s leading provider of solutions and advice for sustainable development and the management of land-based natural resources.” “Our research focuses on three key outcomes: ▪ Protection and restoration of biodiversity ▪ Sustainable land environments ▪ Sustainable business & living underpinned by three cross-cutting themes: • Climate change mitigation & adaptation • Sustainable M āori futures • Weeds, pests and diseases”

A Crown Research Institute (CRI), which means it’s owned by the government, but functions as an independent company. Staff of 380 in 9 locations. They do a lot. Lots of research programs. Collections. Databases online (flora, fauna, soils, GIS, etc., etc., including historical data). Extensive website – worth spending time exploring.

It appears that much of what Landcare Research does is relevant to Galapagos and I imagine their expertise would be extremely helpful for the Galapagos KM initiative.

E-atlas for the Great Barrier Reef http://e-atlas.org.au/ "The e-Atlas is a partnership between many research providers in order to develop a portal to information about Australia’s tropical terrestrial and marine environments. By providing the means to share and access data, maps and information on topics relevant to the region, the ATLAS aims to promote collaboration and support the work of management agencies, researchers, reef-based industries and community groups. Decades of research have generated a large amount of data and information on the Great Barrier Reef and the terrestrial tropical ecosystems. Until now this information has generally been under-used. The objectives of the e-Atlas are to: provide a ‘one-stop shop’ for accurate, up-to-date and comprehensive information, maps, reports, scientific papers and data; to produce interactive maps of environmental conditions, biodiversity, risks and hotspots of environmental concern;

36 provide high capacity storage, custom-developed open-source software for data processing and display as well as data access to the public and/or registered users; provide the platform for data integration and collaboration across institutions; display the results of statistical and process models, to synthesize and interpret data and to inform management about contemporary ecological and environmental issues with an emphasis on risk, resilience and response. The e-Atlas is based entirely on an open source philosophy and uses a moderated wiki style approach in order to grow through contributions from a wide range of users. Partners gain access to the technology and tools to process and display their data spatially, and a forum to explain and interpret their data and findings. The pages are written by users who are experts in their fields and who will be responsible for their accuracy; all contributions will be screened before publication. The e-Atlas has a sister product, the Ningaloo Atlas, http://ningaloo- atlas.org.au/ which is based on the same philosophy and technology." Part of the Marine and Tropical Sciences Research Facility (MTSRF) http://www.rrrc.org.au/mtsrf/theme_1/project_1_1_5.html One nice feature is that datasets are organized by topic. Each dataset has a page describing the study and data with links to pdf reports and, if applicable, link to an interactive map and/or kml file for viewing in Google Earth, as well as info. for how to get raw data (especially important if data comes from a 3rd party). Quite flexible, as it allows organization of disparate data sets in a unified manner. Site has some details of technical implementation - mostly open source + custom software (although maps use Flash). A bit about using R tools for data analysis ( http://e- atlas.org.au/content/r-tools-generating-maps-and-spatial-modelling ).

Marine and Tropical Sciences Research Facility (MTSRF) http://www.rrrc.org.au/mtsrf/index.html "The MTSRF's unique engagement framework, in which researchers and end users collaboratively define and supervise research projects addressing specific environmental issues, is already enabling the MTSRF to help solve some of North Queensland's environmental problems." 4 year program, completed June 2010; A$40 million funding for 4 years, now A$2 million ongoing E-atlas for the Great Barrier Reef is a project of MTSRF

MTSRF is administered by: Reef & Rainforest Research Centre http://www.rrrc.org.au/about/index.html “The RRRC is a not-for-profit consortium of research providers, industry and community organizations organizations” that focuses “on engagement with key sectors to deliver solutions based on good science that address key tropical environmental management issues.” “Another important feature is the RRRC's role as a knowledge broker, ensuring the effective delivery of research results and tools to end users. The aim is for end users to be aware of new research, to understand the implications, and then apply the new knowledge towards increasingly sustainable outcomes. This results in the maximum possible return on investment in public-good research, and the best possible benefit for the North Queensland region.”

National Ecology Observatory Network (NEON) http://www.neoninc.org/ "The National Ecological Observatory Network (NEON) will collect data across the United States

37 on the impacts of climate change, land use change and invasive species on natural resources and biodiversity. NEON is a project of the U.S. National Science Foundation, with many other U.S. agencies and NGOs cooperating. NEON will be the first observatory network of its kind designed to detect and enable forecasting of ecological change at continental scales over multiple decades. The data NEON collects will be freely and openly available to all users." Collecting ecosystem data (organisms, atmosphere, soil, water) About 50 universities involved Early stages. Approx. $25M start-up, funded by NSF Among other things, NEON administers Project Budburst , a citizen science project affiliated with the USA National Phenology Network (USA-NPN).

A potentially interesting paper regarding integrating Social Science into environmental observatories: Rising to the Challenge: Integrating Social Science into NSF Environmental Observatories http://www.rff.org/rff/News/Features/NSF_Report.cfm

World Resources Institute http://www.wri.org/ "WRI is an environmental think tank that goes beyond research to find practical ways to protect the earth and improve people’s lives." Climate Protection Governance Markets & Enterprise People & Ecosystems

WRI EarthTrends environmental information database http://earthtrends.wri.org/ "EarthTrends is a comprehensive online database, maintained by the World Resources Institute, that focuses on the environmental, social, and economic trends that shape our world. " Results are country-based reports. Very basic interface. Interesting information, but relevance to Galapagos is unclear – presumably there’s a lot more behind the scenes that may be of interest.

Center for International Earth Science Information Network (CIESIN) http://www.ciesin.org/ "The Center for International Earth Science Information Network (CIESIN) is a center within the Earth Institute at Columbia University. CIESIN works at the intersection of the social, natural, and information sciences, and specializes in on-line data and information management, spatial data integration and training, and interdisciplinary research related to human interactions in the environment. " "The Center for International Earth Science Information Network (CIESIN) was established in 1989 as an independent non-governmental organization to provide information that would help scientists, decision-makers, and the public better understand the changing relationship between human beings and the environment. In 1998, CIESIN became a center within the Columbia University Earth Institute. From its offices at Columbia’s Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory campus in Palisades, New York, CIESIN continues to focus on applying state-of-the-art information technology to pressing interdisciplinary data, information, and research problems

38 related to human interactions in the environment." "CIESIN has four divisions that reflect the organization's focus in the areas of Internet-based data and information management, spatial data integration and training, and interdisciplinary research related to human interactions in the environment. Respectively, these branches are: Geospatial Applications, Information Services, Information Technology, and Science Applications. Each division has professionally trained staff who bring together distinct sets of capabilities." **Check out this cool population estimation tool: http://sedac.ciesin.columbia.edu/gpw/wps.jsp

CIESIN is part of: The Earth Institute http://www.earth.columbia.edu/ Probably some cool examples on the site, for example a new iPhone app [iOS app] for viewing map-based land features: http://www.earthinstitute.columbia.edu/articles/view/2755

Baltimore Ecosystem Study http://www.beslter.org/frame4-page_2_1.html Ecological monitoring in the Baltimore area. Includes social and demographic datasets. Poor organization - big long list (searchable) of datasets for download. A part of the Long Term Ecological Research Network Unique in that it includes social science and demographic data

Long Term Ecological Research Network (LTER) http://www.lternet.edu/ Established by the NSF to study ecological systems over long time periods. Huge collection of datasets. Doesn't appear to be any integration. User downloads datasets individually. "Network Mission: To provide the scientific community, policy makers, and society with the knowledge and predictive understanding necessary to conserve, protect, and manage the nation's ecosystems, their biodiversity, and the services they provide."

International Long Term Ecological Research Network (ILTER) http://www.ilternet.edu/ "International Long Term Ecological Research (ILTER) is a 'network of networks', a global network of research sites located in a wide array of ecosystems worldwide that can help understand environmental change across the globe. ILTER's focus is on long-term, site-based research. " About 40 or so member networks - links on site. No links to data from site.

Some member networks have pretty decent database set-ups, like UK Environmental Change Network http://www.ecn.ac.uk/

One could categorize LTER and associated (Baltimore Ecosystem Study, etc.) as: Ecological Data Information Management (Baltimore includes social science/demographic - not

39 sure if others do.)

Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) http://www.fao.org/ AEZ - Agro-ecological Zoning System http://www.fao.org/nr/land/databasesinformation-systems/aez-agro-ecological-zoning-system/it/ "The main system for land resource assessment is FAO’s agro-ecological zoning (AEZ) methodology and supporting software packages for application at global, regional, national and sub-national levels. AEZ uses various databases, models and decision support tools."

Not much detail on that. Databases area has links to various land use maps. http://www.fao.org/nr/land/databasesinformation-systems/en/

Land use information is interesting on a large scale, and their AEZ software may be interesting (no public info, so maybe just internal use?) but I don't think this really has immediate relevance or utility to Galapagos

Field guide to the Future: Four Ways for Communities to Think Ahead http://www.asb.cgiar.org/ma/scenarios/field-guide.asp Published by ASB , a global partnership devoted to research on tropical forest margins. This publication addresses techniques communities can use to plan for the future. Some good ideas here that are broadly applicable, not just for tropical forest margins. Focus is on small communities.

Governance (Ecosystem Management, Governance, Endangered Species)

International Union for Conservation of Nature http://www.iucn.org/ "IUCN, International Union for Conservation of Nature, helps the world find pragmatic solutions to our most pressing environment and development challenges. It supports scientific research, manages field projects all over the world and brings governments, non-government organizations, United Nations agencies, companies and local communities together to develop and implement policy, laws and best practice." Publishes "Red List of Threatened Species"

United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) http://www.unep.org "UNEP is the designated authority of the United Nations system in environmental issues at the global and regional level." Administers CITES database among others. 5 main thematic areas, including Ecosystem Management: Supporting balanced responses to natural resource management to meet future ecological and human needs. Environmental Governance: Promoting informed decision-making to enhance

40 global and regional environmental cooperation.

Their Latin America & Caribbean regional office: http://www.pnuma.org/english/index.php

Ecosystem Modeling

This is a fairly extensive topic. Much more information can be found via Google searches for: ecosystem modeling ecosystem modeling software

Ecopath with Ecosim (EwE) http://www.ecopath.org/ "Ecopath with Ecosim (EwE) is an ecological modeling software suite for personal computers that has built and extended on for almost twenty years. The development is centered at the University of British Columbia’s Fishery Centre, while applications are widespread throughout the world. EwE is the first ecosystem level simulation model to be widely and freely accessible." Galapagos fisheries model http://www.ecopath.org/model/33

ARIES (ARtificial Intelligence for Ecosystem Services) http://www.ariesonline.org/ "ARIES is a web-based technology offered to users worldwide to assist rapid ecosystem service assessment and valuation (ESAV). Its purpose is to make environmental decision making easier and more effective. ARIES helps discover, understand, and quantify environmental assets and what factors influence their values, for a geographical area and based on its users’ needs and priorities." "ARIES is a federally funded project aiming to provide intelligent support to Ecosystem Service Assessment and Valuation (ESAV); it started on April 1, 2007 thanks to a $925,000 grant from the National Science Foundation to the Ecoinformatics Collaboratory at University of Vermont, Earth Economics, and Conservation International. Partners from Madagascar to Puget Sound are providing case studies, data and knowledge to inform the ARIES algorithms. Demonstration, proof-of-concept, and test releases were made available starting in summer 2008. A fully functional portal will be available to the public in the Spring of 2011." "ARIES encodes relevant ecological and socioeconomic knowledge to map ES provision, use, benefit flows – all of which are built according to our latest understanding of ecosystem services. This is done through an automated data integration from extensive globally available online database." This is a work in progress.

Natural Capital Project http://www.naturalcapitalproject.org/ "A joint venture among Stanford University's Woods Institute for the Environment, University of Minnesota's Institute on the Environment, The Nature Conservancy, and World Wildlife Fund." Many other partners as well.

41 "Our first tool, InVEST, models and maps natural capital: the delivery, distribution, and economic value of ecosystem services (life-support systems). We also model and map biodiversity because it is a traditional target of conservation projects and can drive the provision of many ecosystem services." InVEST (Integrated Valuation of Ecosystem Services and Tradeoffs) http://invest.ecoinformatics.org/ InVEST is a suite of models and software tools under development by the Natural Capital Project - runs in ArcGIS.

Envision http://envision.bioe.orst.edu/ "ENVISION is a GIS-based tool for scenario-based community and regional planning and environmental assessments."

Climate

International Environmental Data Rescue Organization http://www.iedro.org/ Collect historical environmental data esp. from 3rd world countries. Scan, digitize, then send to: NOAA’s National Climatic Data Center (NCDC) … These data are then available to anyone in the world community for research, educational, and operational purposes at a nominal charge. ...

Ocean Data Portal http://www.oceandataportal.org/ "The Ocean Data Portal (further, ODP) aims at providing seamless access to collections and inventories of marine data from the NODCs (National Oceanographic Data Centres) of the IODE network and allows for the discovery, evaluation (through visualization and metadata review) and access to data via web services. The system architecture use Web-oriented information technologies to access non-homogeneous and geographically distributed marine data and information." This is for temperature, salinity, etc. data, from a dozen or so data providers, including NOAA Technical comment: Datasets reside at their respective locations - the system has an "integration server" that queries each of the datasets and integrates the results. Great diagram here: http://www.oceandataportal.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=16&Itemid=67&c atid=4

42 Civic Resource Management

Introduction

Municipalities need to manage resources, keep track of services, and manage citizen requests and complaints (e.g. 311 systems in some major US cities). There are many software packages available that do this. Many fall under the "customer relationship management" ("CRM") umbrella and are used by businesses as well as governments. The information collected from such a system can be useful in understanding a community and can give insight into resource use and social interactions. See the article in Wired Magazine (linked below) for some urban- focused examples of what can be learned from mining this type of data.

There are very active open source software efforts supporting an open standard for these systems. This standard is being embraced by at least one of the larger for-profit software providers (Lagan) and is supported by some service-oriented companies.

How is this relevant to Galapagos? Certainly tracking and managing resources is important to the individual municipalities and the archipelago as a whole. Doing so in a manner that collects data for later analysis could be extremely useful for the decision makers in government organizations.

Resources

Wired Magazine (Nov, 2010) has an interesting article about the 311 system in New York - a single place for people to call to access city services and file complaints/reports. [Similar system in other cities.] The article focus on what can be learned by mining the data. http://www.wired.com/magazine/2010/11/ff_311_new_york/

The Wired article links to:

Open311 http://open311.org/ An effort to create an open standard for 311 services. The intent is to make it easy for software applications built around the specification to be used anywhere the Open311 framework is used. Open311 is managed by OpenPlans.

Open311 leads to:

Civic Commons initiative http://civiccommons.com/ Includes OpenPlans, Code for America, District of Columbia Office of CTO (OCTO) and others "Civic Commons is just starting as an organization, however, we are committed to the following: Facilitating the sharing of code among government entities, with an eye towards developing an

43 “Open Civic Stack.” Connecting governments throughout all phases of technology procurement, and building systems for more transparent & informed technology choices. Developing and supporting Open Data and Open Standards as foundations of an “Open Civic API.” Spreading government technology best practices. Building a community of “civic hackers” and give them clear opportunities to assist in the development of government technology."

OpenPlans http://openplans.org/ "OpenPlans is a non-profit technology organization focused on civic engagement and open government. We use journalism and open source software to turn data into accessible, useful information. This work engages the average person in shaping their community." Focus is on big cities, like New York, SF, etc. especially the journalism aspects of stuff, but frameworks could be very useful for pretty much any location.

Code for America http://codeforamerica.org/ "Code for America helps city governments become more transparent, connected and efficient by connecting the talents of cutting-edge web developers with people who deliver city services and want to embrace the transformative power of the web to achieve more impact with less money. Inspired in part by Teach for America, CFA works with city officials and leading web development talent to identify and then develop web solutions that can then be shared and rolled out more broadly to cities across America."

Some links from Civic Commons: One thing they're doing is collecting info. on civic software. Listed here: http://wiki.civiccommons.com/Civic_Software

Here's a list of data platforms (linked on the Civic Software list): http://wiki.civiccommons.com/Data_Platform

The City of San Francisco uses software from Lagan ( http://www.lagan.com/ ).

44 Technical Information and Resources

Introduction

There are many technical resources that are relevant to this project and only a few are listed here. Some, like DataONE, are worth exploring at very early stages of the project. Others, like those under the Database or Geospatial sections, may not be as immediately relevant, although some may contain excellent examples of future possibilities.

Framework

DataONE https://www.dataone.org/ "DataONE is poised to be the foundation of new innovative environmental science through a distributed framework and sustainable cyberinfrastructure that meets the needs of science and society for open, persistent, robust, and secure access to well-described and easily discovered Earth observational data. Supported by the U.S. National Science Foundation, DataONE will ensure the preservation and access to multi-scale, multi-discipline, and multi-national science data. DataONE will transcend domain boundaries and make biological data available from the genome to the ecosystem; make environmental data available from atmospheric, ecological, hydrological, and oceanographic sources; provide secure and long-term preservation and access; and engage scientists, land-managers, policy makers, students, educators, and the public through logical access and intuitive visualizations." "DataONE initially emphasizes observational data collected by biological (genome to ecosystem) and environmental (atmospheric, ecological, hydrological, and oceanographic) scientists, research networks, and environmental observatories."

EpiCollect http://www.epicollect.net/ Mobile data collection application infrastructure. System that allows creation of custom data collection projects. Includes iPhone and Android clients which can capture data, including photo and GPS info, and sync. with the project website. Note that the EpiCollect phone app can load multiple projects. You can use the EpiCollect site for data collection (based on Google App Engine) or you can use your own server. Developed by the Department of Infectious Disease Epidemiology, Imperial College London as an open-source project. Basically, anyone can create their own data collection project and associated form for data collection. That project can then be loaded via the EpiCollect client software on compatible phones. Collected data can be visualized on the phone or via the project website. Here’s a demo project website: http://www.epicollect.net/project.html?name=demoproject

The Ecosystem Management Decision Support system (EDMS) http://www.spatial.redlands.edu/emds/Default.aspx “The Ecosystem Management Decision Support system is an application framework for

45 knowledge-based decision support of ecological assessments at any geographic scale.” Hosted by Redlands Institute ( http://www.spatial.redlands.edu/redlandsinstitute/ ). They have an extensive list of projects on their site. Several land usage systems set up for government organizations.

Research Institute for Knowledge Systems (RIKS) http://www.riks.nl/ RIKS, a Dutch company, developed the SDSS used in New Zealand’s Creating Futures and Sustainable Pathways initiatives. More about RIKS:

“RIKS develops computer based systems that support planners. These are user friendly tools, used as a spatial decision support system (SDSS) by strategic planners from the metropolitan to international scales in a wide range of regions and countries. Our systems are based on a solid scientific foundation and we continuously do research to improve our products and expand our modeling toolbox. The core of our products is the Geonamica software environment, which RIKS has developed in house. It is the engine that has been driving our applications for almost 20 years now. This software environment is particularly suited to build integrated systems that include spatial and dynamic models. As such it can very well be applied to model complex processes like land use changes. Our main product is Metronamica , designed for urban and regional planning. It comprises a dynamic land use model, a socio-economic model, a transport and a regional migration model that can be used for the analysis of different socio-economic scenarios like population growth or an increase in consumer purchasing power and the assessment of alternative policy options like restrictive zoning plans or per-kilometer car levies. Sometimes spatial problems are too complex to be captured by a standard SDSS. In these cases we develop tailor made systems in close collaboration with our users that suit their context better. We have made systems that focus on coastal zone management, ecosystems services, river basin management and economic and demographic planning.”

Visualization

SciencePipes http://sciencepipes.org/ A website set up by Cornell Lab of Ornithology for creation of visualizations based on biodiversity data. Very cool.

Standards for data exchange

Taxonomic Databases Working Group http://www.tdwg.org/ "Biodiversity Information Standards (TDWG), also known as the Taxonomic Databases Working Group, is a not for profit scientific and educational association that is affiliated with the International Union of Biological Sciences. TDWG was formed to establish international collaboration among biological database projects. TDWG promoted the wider and more effective dissemination of information about the World's heritage of biological organisms for the

46 benefit of the world at large. Biodiversity Information Standards (TDWG) now focuses on the development of standards for the exchange of biological/biodiversity data. " Mission to: "Develop, adopt and promote standards and guidelines for the recording and exchange of data about organisms" … Includes a catalog of "Biodiversity Information Projects of the World" - over 600 entries presently. Not completely up-to-date, for example includes Avian Knowledge Network, but not eBird. Looks like new entries can be submitted.

Database

Google Fusion Tables https://sites.google.com/site/fusiontablestalks/ "You can easily upload data sets from CSV, KML and spreadsheets, and visualize the data using a variety of tools. Users can merge data from multiple tables and conduct detailed discussions about the data (on rows, columns and even cells). You can easily visualize large data sets on Google Maps and embed visualizations on other web pages. " State of CA has a number of data sets available in Google Fusion Tables: http://data.ca.gov/state_data_files.asp

A major limitation of Google Fusion Tables is that it's a single table dataset. It is possible to merge tables based on columns of keys, but tables aren't linked - that just creates a static merged table. Great for creating quick examples, though.

Google Fusion Tables example gallery has some great examples, like these (and many others):

Here's a tutorial for how to download and visualize Chicago crime data: http://blog.apps.chicagotribune.com/2010/03/04/quickly-visualize-and-map-a-data-set-using- google-fusion-tables/ Caterpillar collection records: http://tables.googlelabs.com/DataSource?snapid=34801 Tennessee Traffic Count History - cool because it uses Google Chart Server to display charts in map balloons. http://www.google.com/fusiontables/DataSource?snapid=65503

Geospatial

OpenGeo http://opengeo.org/ Geospatial division of OpenPlans Collection of open source packages supported by the OpenPlans people to make integration easy. Note: "open" does not mean "free." "The OpenGeo Suite solves critical geospatial IT issues facing governments, businesses, transit agencies and other enterprises worldwide. This fully-integrated open source platform makes web mapping easier, more robust, and accessible by web applications, mobile devices, and desktop clients. The OpenGeo Suite can run as a complete open source stack, or can be

47 integrated with an existing geospatial infrastructure. OpenGeo combines the power of open source plus the reliability and support of a single, stable vendor behind a full stack of software. OpenGeo core developers work directly with enterprise users, providing customization and product support." You can buy their package as a download, or do everything virtual using Cloud Computing services supplied by SkyGone ( http://www.skygoneinc.com/ ).

Great summary of architecture of geospatially enabled web applications. Specific example used by OpenGeo http://opengeo.org/publications/opengeo-architecture/

OpenGeo Google integration and other info - some integration ideas here http://opengeo.org/products/suite/learn/integration/ - google

PostGIS http://postgis.refractions.net/ "PostGIS adds support for geographic objects to the PostgreSQL object-relational database. In effect, PostGIS "spatially enables" the PostgreSQL server, allowing it to be used as a backend spatial database for geographic information systems (GIS), much like ESRI's SDE or Oracle's Spatial extension."

OpenLayers http://openlayers.org/ "OpenLayers makes it easy to put a dynamic map in any web page. It can display map tiles and markers loaded from any source"

Also see GeoServer, GeoWebCache, GeoExt as other technologies for geo web apps

OpenStreetMap http://www.openstreetmap.org/ Maps with no restrictions - can use on mobile devices, etc. No satellite images.

USGS portal for geospatial data http://cumulus.cr.usgs.gov/

CloudMade http://cloudmade.com/ Very cool sets of FREE tools for integrating maps into applications (web, iPhone, etc.). Uses OpenStreetMap map data. Everything is free, but they sell packages of points of interests as a service to developers in their Data Market Place in the order of $300-500 per year.

Cloud computing

48 OpenStack http://www.openstack.org/ Open source cloud computing.

SkyGone http://www.skygoneinc.com/ A firm that specializes in deploying GIS-based software in the cloud. "Skygone has a highly-skilled group of Professional Services and Support consultants strictly focused on Geographical Information Systems (GIS) technology implementations." "We have been designing, hosting, and maintaining GIS applications based on popular technologies such as ESRI® ArcGIS® Server, MapServer, and GeoServer for many years. We have incorporated serious, scalable infrastructure and streamlined business processes centered around the goal of helping you get GIS applications and web services up and running quickly and efficiently." They also run a "marketplace" to simplify deployment of a number of "pre-packaged" software solutions into the SkyGone cloud: http://thegismarketplace.com/

Google App Engine http://code.google.com/appengine/ Run web applications using Google’s infrastructure. Free for light use then billable based on storage and bandwidth. No relational database – just data objects with property values, searchable based on values and properties. Plans for hosted SQL database with their business offering “later this year.”

49