Home | Community | FAQ | Issues | Twitter | Edit documents
en hu

Introduction

The objectives of the OpenBioMaps project

  • Supporting the management of biodiversity data so that it can be used more effectively to conserve nature

  • To maintain a free and openly accessible biological map database service

  • Develop open source and freely usable biodiversity data management software tools

  • Support biodiversity education and research

Main properties

  • All OpenBioMaps services are free of charge.

  • OpenBioMaps is designed to record the occurrence and associated data (biotic data) of living organisms (of conservation importance or useful for biodiversity research).

  • OpenBioMaps has the explicit aim of supporting higher education and strengthening the links between research and conservation.

  • OpenBioMaps is a decentralised database and framework of sub-databases based on open source applications, with minimal cost and no central control.

  • The primary target audience for OpenBioMaps is the natural science and conservation profession, as well as those preparing plans, strategies and decisions affecting the environment.

  • Users can create and manage databases with any structure and rules they wish.

  • Easy uploading of data from different file formats (ods, xls, xlsx, gpx, shp, csv …).

  • Repeatable and quotable queries.

  • Use of persistent identifiers (DOI) for both databases and queries.

  • Data can be downloaded in various formats (shp, csv, gpx, json, …)

  • Data can be accessed from remote databases or desktop applications (e.g. R, QGIS).

  • Integrable services.

  • Data links with other databases.

  • Create customizable data upload interfaces.

  • Field mobile data collection application.

  • Community-edited documentation.

  • Interface translatable into any language (currently Hungarian, English, Romanian, Spanish and partly Russian)

  • Community feedback based development.

OpenBioMaps overview

OBM tries to provide support for the entire data lifecycle, from data collection to organisation and use.

OBM Workflow

Query scheme (pdf) Query scheme (odp)

Getting started

To create your own database you will need a server. This can be your own server, a rented server, or a server already maintained by someone else to serve OpenBioMaps.

It is easiest to create a new database on an existing OpenBioMaps server. Check the list of known servers to see if you have access to one of them. There are dedicated public servers that host many different databases.

If you need more capacity or you want to control access to the entire server, you can install a dedicated server. It’s not that complicated. Here is a tutorial: https://openbiomaps.org/documents/en/server_install.html

If you want to create your own database project on an existing server, you must have access to a database on that server. Once you have this, you can easily set up your own database project there, the steps for which you can see here: https://openbiomaps.org/documents/en/tutorials.html#new-project and here: https://openbiomaps.org/documents/en/new_project.html

OpenBioMaps Consortium

OpenBioMaps Consortium Document