GBIF MAPA

GBIF MAPA is the Global Biodiversity Information Facility Mapping and Analysis Portal Application.

Description

MAPA consists of a website which allows users to query the GBIF cache using names obtained through the Catalogue of Life and to map and analyse the resultant record set, and Web services that implement the SGA and SRA analyses.1

The analysis options available through MAPA are:2

• Survey Gap Analysis (SGA) - This tool helps you design a biodiversity survey that will best complement the existing survey effort by identifying those areas least well surveyed in terms of environmental conditions.
• Species Richness Assessment (SRA) - Use this tool to provide an estimate, from GBIF data, of the number of species in an area; and to gain insight into the adequacy of sampling based on abundance distributions for those species.
• Environment Values Extraction (EVE) - Query a range of environmental layers (eg climate) using GBIF species record point data to create a table showing the environmental values at those points. This data can then be used in your own statistical analyses.

MAPA has been developed through a collaboration between the Australian Museum (AM), University of Colorado (UC), and the New South Wales Department of Environment and Conservation (DEC). Principal Investigators for the project are Paul Flemons (AM) and Rob Guralnick (UC).3

Function

• Visualisation tools
  • Maps
• Analysis tools
  • Complex
• Non-biological data
  • Environmental data
• User interface
  • Personal and institutional use
  • Visual presentation

Why use this tool?

• To be able to analyse and map biodiversity factors through the one portal

Biodiversity surveys are expensive undertakings requiring careful planning, and specialized resources in terms of personnel skills and equipment. It is essential then that the data obtained through new surveys complements existing data and maximizes the usefulness of the new data for conservation planning purposes. Many, if not all, museum collections are characterized by biased sampling resulting from either ad-hoc collection techniques or from planning that is based on ease of access and which only considers geographic, rather than environmental, coverage when locating survey sites. Survey Gap Analysis can be instrumental in reducing bias and thereby more effectively answering the question "If one is interested in obtaining an overall knowledge of the biodiversity (or of a taxon) of an area, and if there are insufficient data, then where should survey data be gathered?" Funk et al 20054.5

Who will use this tool?

• Data users
  • Expert
  • Interest groups
• Special skills required

How will the tool be used?

• Online application
• User input required
• GBIF MAPA uses large numbers of specimen records for its modelling and analysis

Where in the data chain could this tool be used?

• User’s machine

When could this tool be used?

• At the time of a user request

Availability

• GBIF MAPA: http://gbifmapa.austmus.gov.au/mapa/
• Help and FAQ: http://gbifmapa.austmus.gov.au/mapa/help.jsp
• Contact: Paul Flemons paul.flemons@austmus.gov.au

Comments

Maps can take up to several minutes to load.

See: Paul Flemons, Robert Guralnick, Jonathan Krieger, Ajay Ranipeta and David Neufeld, A web-based GIS tool for exploring the world's biodiversity: The Global Biodiversity Information Facility Mapping and Analysis Portal Application (GBIF-MAPA), Ecological Informatics Volume 2, Issue 1, 1 January 2007, Pages 49-60.