Hello. I have downloaded data from several plant species. Where can I find what all the columns are exactly? Such as: how do I know which country belongs to which country code?

gbif-portal commented 6 years ago

Hello. I have downloaded data from several plant species. Where can I find what all the columns are exactly? Such as: how do I know which country belongs to which country code?

User provided contact info: rosanne.beukeboom@gmail.com System: Chrome 64.0.3282 / Windows 10.0.0 User: See in registry Referer: https://www.gbif.org/occurrence/datasets?has_coordinate=true&has_geospatial_issue=false&taxon_key=3152520 Window size: width 1366 - height 662 API log&_a=(columns:!(_source),index:'prod-varnish-',interval:auto,query:(query_string:(analyze_wildcard:!t,query:'response:%3E499')),sort:!('@timestamp',desc))) Site log&_a=(columns:!(_source),index:'prod-portal-',interval:auto,query:(query_string:(analyze_wildcard:!t,query:'response:%3E499')),sort:!('@timestamp',desc))) System health at time of feedback: OPERATIONAL

MattBlissett commented 6 years ago

I think this is a perfect example for the type of detail needed for #531.

MattBlissett commented 6 years ago

It falls between informatics and comms. I'll make a quick start here, who should continue?

gbifid — a number for the occurrence record in the GBIF portal, this is usually kept constant even when the record details change datasetkey — identifies the dataset, as registered in GBIF.org. https://www.gbif.org/dataset/ shows the dataset's page occurrenceid — identifier provided by the data provider for this occurrence kingdom phylum class order family genus species infraspecificepithet taxonrank scientificname countrycode — ISO 3166-1 two-letter country code locality publishingorgkey — GBIF publishing organization key, https://www.gbif.org/publisher/ decimallatitude decimallongitude coordinateuncertaintyinmeters coordinateprecision elevation elevationaccuracy depth depthaccuracy eventdate day month year taxonkey — taxon/name key in the GBIF backbone specieskey basisofrecord — from Darwin Core terms https://terms.tdwg.org/wiki/dwc:basisOfRecord institutioncode — https://terms.tdwg.org/wiki/dwc:institutionCode collectioncode — https://terms.tdwg.org/wiki/dwc:collectionCode catalognumber — https://terms.tdwg.org/wiki/dwc:catalogNumber recordnumber — https://terms.tdwg.org/wiki/dwc:recordNumber identifiedby license rightsholder recordedby typestatus establishmentmeans lastinterpreted — the date the record was last interpreted by GBIF. Sometimes records are interpreted because they have been updated by the provider, other times because GBIF improves our processing and reinterprets all records mediatype issue — possible problems detected by GBIF's interpretation processes.

Some explanation is in the API documentation: https://www.gbif.org/developer/occurrence#parameters , but I don't know of any other resource. @timrobertson100, did we have a page for this type of information?

Rosanne3 commented 6 years ago

Missing: Infraspecificepithet, coordinateprecision (how calculated?), coordinateuncertaintyinmeters, elevationaccuracy, depthaccuracy

dnoesgaard commented 6 years ago

If someone in Informatics provides the documentation, i.e. a description of every field contained in the occurrences.txt file, I'll be happy to edit, review, format and publish somewhere useful.

kcopas commented 6 years ago

This would represent comprehensive detail laying behind the brief explanation @andersfi suggests including in email...

Suggestion: rather than reproducing all, aren't we better off highlighting/curating key terms while pointing to TDWG index for comprehensive list?

andersfi commented 6 years ago

@kcopas: Yes, this is more or less exactly what I think there should be easy findable links to. Explaining the key terms and then linking up to the TDWG index for a comprehensive overview should be both easily done and very useful - instead of filling up the download mail with a lot of links, maybe it could be better to link to a page giving an overview - possible in the form of a type of cheetsheet (i.e. more or less as the FAQ but with a graphical sorting of potential issues)

One note: Be aware that GBIF does not always follow or support the definitions in the TDWG index. e.g. eventDate where for example GBID does not handle intervals at the moment. GBIF needs to communicate clearly at points where there are deviations from the DwC definitions and GBIF interpretation as well as non DwC terms used. I guess this require joint efforts from communication and informatics.

jhnwllr commented 9 months ago

@MattBlissett closing this? https://techdocs.gbif.org/en/data-use/download-formats

gbif / portal-feedback

Hello. I have downloaded data from several plant species. Where can I find what all the columns are exactly? Such as: how do I know which country belongs to which country code? #1230