Miguel Araújo participated in the group of experts tasked with helping to improve the usefulness of GBIF-mobilized data for distribution modelling research. The report has just been published.
The report summarizes survey results drawn from the distribution modelling research community and the group’s own views. ‘Frontiers of Biodiversity Informatics and Modelling Species Distributions’, a symposium and panel discussion hosted in November by the Center for Biodiversity and Conservation at the American Museum of Natural History in New York City, provided essential input to the report.
The task group’s recommendations call for GBIF to:
Provide users with known indicators about data precision, quality and uncertainty
Include features that enable users to annotate data errors or issues
Help train and guide users on the appropriate uses and interpretations of the data
“Initiatives like GBIF demonstrate clearly the huge value of open access to primary data, both for science and policy making. However, there is room for improvement,” said Jorge Soberón, the task force chair. “Our group has made suggestions for data publishers, users and for GBIF, and we hope the ideas will contribute to improvements in the GBIF infrastructure for biodiversity modelling.”