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| More Details | Cluster I:
Co-ordinating activities The co-ordinating activities constitute the basic and central work packages of ENBI to make sure that the collation and dissemination of biodiversity information and expertise in Europe is well organized, and is placed in an appropriate legal and financial context. These activities may not finish after the life time of this EU Thematic Network. Mechanisms are developed to support the continued involvement of the ENBI members and end-users, and of relevant Member State and EU bodies, with the objective to promote continuity and sustainability of the network. Cluster II: Maintenance, enhancement and presentation of biodiversity databases Biodiversity datasets are fragmented and dispersed in heterogeneous systems established by diverse organisations. A number of horizontal aggregations and interoperable systems have already been started by the EC and others, but there remains a major need for co-ordination and standards for content, and the creation of a common access system that may bring all together with vertical integration in a European gateway. It is against this background that ENBI starts to co-ordinate common access to the various layers of knowledge, to assist with data standards within these layers, and to assess and plan remedies for both gaps and disparities in coverage for all organisms. As in other areas, it is important that ENBI uses and builds on what is already being done at the European level. Each work package deals with issues within the database layer, such as assessing coverage of organisms, evolving data standards and 'best practice' for management, strategies for sustainable enhancement, and the remedying of gaps and disparities. They also deal with horizontal integration, calling on assistance from work packages 8, 9 and 10 (cluster III) in pilot projects, and building on existing projects to create a common access for the layer. Cluster II brings together the main players in three fundamental layers of biodiversity datasets. Cluster III: Data integration, interoperability and analysis The work plan aims to promote the exchange of knowledge, know-how and ideas that are currently available and to achieve a common code of practice, (meta) data standards and generic communication protocols to facilitate access to, and interoperability between, various 'layers' of biodiversity information sources on the Internet. Since the amount and variety of data stored and managed within the bio-diversity community is very large, and since IT tools for analysis, identification and geographic presentation require computationally-intensive processing, the demands for performance, robustness and scalability for the communication framework and ICT facilities are high. The work in cluster III deals with generic applications of information and communication technologies enabling Internet access to the network of biodiversity databases and tool providers in the framework of the desired interoperable functionality and direct practical use of the information (analysis, information products and services). Cluster IV: Products and e-services The work plan is focused on user needs, and on making European biodiversity information available for the end-users. The users include government agencies, decision makers, legislators, scientists, companies, and citizens. Also non-European users are very dependent on access to European information, because many data in European repositories originate from non-European (often developing) countries. Understanding the needs of all these kinds of users is paramount for the dissemination of biodiversity knowledge resources, and common access, with attention to multi-lingual access (WP 11), is a key issue.
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European Network for
Biodiversity Information
Global
Biodiversity
Information Facility
FishBase: A
Global Information System on Fishes
Expert Center for
Taxonomic Identification
Catalogue of Life
Programme
Biodiversity and
Biological Collections
