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Sunday, 20 March 2016

Mapping information from Paleobiology and Global Biodiversity databases in OpenWebGIS




This article tells about working with Databases Paleobiology Database (PaleoBioDB) and The Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF) using an open source Geographic information system OpenWebGIS. This is a brief description of the databases (DBs) from these projects websites:
«The Paleobiology Database (PaleoBioDB) is a non-governmental, non-profit public resource for paleontological data. It has been organized and operated by a multi-disciplinary, multi-institutional, international group of paleobiological researchers. Its purpose is to provide global, collection-based occurrence and taxonomic data for organisms of all geological ages, as well data services to allow easy access to data for independent development of analytical tools, visualization software, and applications of all types. The Database’s broader goal is to encourage and enable data-driven collaborative efforts that address large-scale paleobiological questions.» 

«The Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF) is an international open data infrastructure, funded by governments. It allows anyone, anywhere to access data about all types of life on Earth, shared across national boundaries via the Internet. By encouraging and helping institutions to publish data according to common standards, GBIF enables research not possible before, and informs better decisions to conserve and sustainably use the biological resources of the planet. GBIF operates through a network of nodes, coordinating the biodiversity information facilities of Participant countries and organizations, collaborating with each other and the Secretariat to share skills, experiences and technical capacity.
GBIF's vision: "A world in which biodiversity information is freely and universally available for science, society and a sustainable future."»

The data selecting from these DBs and mapping the results using OpenWebGIS was discussed in the following articles: "The information tools (data base and GIS) to help paleontologists in their scientific researches", "New feature of OpenWebGIS - mapping data from GBIF, and new Contributor".  From the article "200 million years of the dinosaurs life (sauropods) in a few seconds on the map" the following conclusion can be made, that in OpenWebGIS it is possible not only to visualize on the map data from these databases but also analyze it without using other software.

Currenlly OpenWebGIS team continues to optimize and increase the convenience to users of selecting and mapping this information. Previously only few fields were sampled from the Paleobiology Database, but now all fields are selected (See Figure 1). 
Figure 1 - Selection option from Paleobiology Database, result of mapping and attribute table of the result layer
In the resulting attribute table of layer from GBIF there are now photos of species (See Figure 2).
Figure 2 - Selection option from Global Biodiversity Information Facility, result of mapping and attribute table of the result layer

The sampling process has become more flexible (e.g. it is not necessary to insert the scientific name of species). Using the peculiar features (they use CORS technology) of these DBs, now in OpenWebGIS you have an opportunity to work with them, not only in the online (web) version but also in the local version and Android OpenWebGIS (of course in case your Internet connection is alive). 
OpenWebGIS team would like to express our clear positive attitude to these databases. They make it possible to select and work with information that is interesting for professionals, scientists and for a wide range of people. Perhaps many of you will be excited by the touch of real and understandable information about the biological past and present of our world. We urge all to use these databases and help them in their development and contributing data.

From the programmers' point of view, PaleoBioDB and GBIF have a very convenient, simple and easy-to-use application programming interface (API). Please see information about PaleoBioDB API and GBIF API.

We would like to thank PaleoBioDB and GBIF teams. We appreciate their efforts and we are grateful to the creators and participants of these projects.
We would like also to mention some new updates in OpenWebGIS. In Android version the opportunity has recently appeared to test the new interface and now it is more convenient to use attribute tables (its size is adaptive now) of the layers.

We remind that the last new version app for your mobile devices is always available for downloading at itch.io and at Google Drive. But as a rule there are some older versions at mobango.com, aptoide.com, getjar.com. OpenWebGIS app is not published at Google Play so far, but we are planning to do it.
The OpenWebGIS blog and a full list of articles about OpenWebGIS provide a lot of information about possibilities and specific features of OpenWebGIS.


Yours sincerely, OpenWebGIS team.

Sunday, 13 March 2016

Customizing of OpenWebGIS interface to create your own workspace


Working in OpenWebGIS now you can create your own workspace by adding images, videos, texts, websites on the page, changing the color, size and position of the interface blocks. Then you can save your workspace on OpenWebGIS server, in the local storage of your browser or in text file for further use at any time convenient for you. So you will always have at your fingertips in one place the Geographic information system (GIS) and your any additional information from any source in the form of videos, images and websites. This can greatly improve your efficiency.
Earlier in the articles "New and old interface of OpenWebGIS" (January 2015), "Developing the new interface design of OpenWebGIS" (February 2016) and some others it was told about OpenWebGIS interface features and how it can be customized by the user. In this article, we suggest you to consider one more possibility to change the interface and adjust it to your needs. This feature already exists for some time, but it has not been told about it in detail, moreover, it has been redesigned and improved recently. 

Thursday, 10 March 2016

New feature of OpenWebGIS - mapping data from GBIF, and new Contributors


OpenWebGIS team has started developing the new feature. You, our users and contributors inspire us on constant improvement of OpenWebGIS. Thanks to our new contributors info from Canada and ANDREA ANSELMI from Italy. Now you can use selecting and mapping data from The Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF). GBIF is an international open data infrastructure, funded by governments. «The data accessible through GBIF relate to evidence about more than 1.6 million species, collected over three centuries of natural history exploration and including current observations from citizen scientists, researchers and automated monitoring programmes». More about GBIF read here. You can make your selections and put them automatically on the map using the menu item of OpenWebGIS "GeoDataBase-> Global Biodiversity". After that a popup (see Figure 1, 2) window will appear with options for your query.
Figure 1 - Popup window for GBIF in the old interface of OpenWebGIS
Figure 2 - Popup window for GBIF in one of variants of a new interface of OpenWebGIS
Insert the scientific name of the species. Please write this name like it is described in GBIF Backbone Taxonomy. Option "limit" -controls the number of results. The more the limit is — the selection and mapping are slower. Уou can specify a geographic Region like a rectangle based on coordinates: lower left longitude, lower left latitude and upper right longitude, upper right latitude. You can insert it by clicking on the map or typing manually. Coordinates are inserted after clicking on the map if this value is equal to zero or empty.

The example of mapping result you can see on Figure 3.
 
Figure 3 - The mapping result of data from GBIF
It is only the beginning and we will add the new options for sampling and mapping. Of course there are many sites and programs with which you can select data from GBIF, but may be it is better for you to do it with the help of OpenWebGIS - because you can set your own data style on the map and your base layers, use analytic functions for working with data and exporting it to other formats, and more.

Please support the crowdfunding campaign of OpenWebGIS and repost this information among your friends.

Read more information about crowdfunding campaign and our plans on Digital-geography.com, Geoawesomeness.com and Indiegogo.
Best regards, OpenWebGIS team.

Wednesday, 9 March 2016

Thanks to our Contributors, join them, support an open source project OpenWebGIS!



The crowdfunding campaign of OpenWebGIS on Indiegogo is continuing and today the new contributor Robertsonhl from Australia has supported this open source project. We would like to express our appreciation and this name will be on our site of OpenWebGIS.
Follow us on Facebook, Facebook group for interesting news in the field of GIS and Geospatial industry, on the Twitter, Google+, Tumblr.

OpenWebGIS is an open source online/offline geographic information system for work in web browser or mobile app. Since its foundation (2014), a great number of users have benefited from using this system functions. The site and the blog have been visited tens of thousands of times. Over this time the system was worth mentioning in respectable professional information resources.

Now OpenWebGIS needs funds for a qualitative leap in its development!
This system has been and will always be free and open, but the time has come when your support is needed in the form of financial assistance, in order that the system would continue to exist, evolve and help you in your work and life with new useful features. By means of funding you give thanks for the work on the creation of the existing functions and help in the creation of new ones. Share our plans and be part of the process! Be involved with other users who believe in us and share our vision!

Please support the crowdfunding campaign of OpenWebGIS and repost this information among your friends.

Read more information about crowdfunding campaign and our plans on Digital-geography.com, Geoawesomeness.com and Indiegogo.

Yours sincerely,
OpenWebGIS team.