LifeMapper

LifeMapper is building a species diversity map of the world.1

Description

LifeMapper uses online geospatial species occurrence data to create distribution maps and, notably, goes one step further to predict where an individual species should exist based on where it is documented to live. LifeMapper does this by combining species occurrence data with global climate, terrain and land cover information, to identify environmental correlates of species ranges.2

Lifemapper comprises two primary goals: the construction and maintenance of an extensive predicted species habitat map archive, and the exposure of spatial data and analysis services based on this archive.3

The architecture of the Lifemapper project consists of three independent elements. Lifemapper implements the openModeller species niche modeling platform on a cluster of 64 Intel computer nodes with 128 processors and a museum data pipeline to build a global geospatial data archive of predicted species distributions.

The second element of LifeMapper is the workhorse of the project - the data pipeline. The pipeline assembles niche modeling experiments, dispatches them to the openModeller webservice, retrieves the results, and catalogs them. This is the element that builds and maintains our archive.

The third element of Lifemapper is the Spatial Data Library (SDL). This is not only an archive of all the input spatial data used in creating the habitat maps, but also a catalog of the resulting niche model maps. Data in the SDL is publicly available via REST webservices for the metadata and OGC services for the spatial data. The website provides a mechanism for browsing the archive and exploring environmental data, species occurrence points, and niche model maps while webservices built on the archive are targeted at researchers who would like to programmatically query, analyse, and download the data produced.4

These elements make up the Lifemapper project. They can operate in tandem or independently: each element could be replaced by a comparable service or application for a similar output, or incorporated into a new application with unique objectives.

Web Services5

Lifemapper will connect existing computational efforts in environmental biology by providing open access network interfaces for web service integration with client applications and other biodiversity web servers.

LifeMapper is funded by US NSF and has partners: CRU, GBIF, IPCC, Morphbank, openModeller 6

Function

• Visualisation tools
• Maps
• Analysis tools
• distribution
• Taxonomy
• Identification tools, keys
• User interface
• Personal and institutional use
• Raw data and visual presentation

Why use this tool?

• For species distribution maps

Who will use this tool?

• Data users
• Expert
• Interest groups

How will the tool be used?

Lifemapper exposes web services that return xml documents or spatial data from a simple URL query. These services can be used by any application, one of which is the Lifemapper website. The Lifemapper project will initially offer some basic web services to the public.

• list environmental scenarios and their layers
• query for environmental scenarios by keywords or spatial extent
• query for layers by keywords or spatial extent

• list Occurrence Sets and their points
• query for Occurrence Sets by taxonomic name or spatial extent

• list models
• query for models by taxonomic name or algorithm

• list predicted habitat maps
• query for predicted habitat maps by taxonomic name, algorithm, scenario, or spatial extent

• render or download spatial data for any of the above using OGC standards WFS or WCS

• request modeling or projection services using user-provided or Lifemapper cached data

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

• LifeMapper: http://www.lifemapper.org/
• Contact: Jim Beach – Director – beach @ku.edu
• Experimental

Comments

From the LifeMapper website there does not appear to be much life happening at LifeMapper. Maybe it isn’t quite there yet.