MaNIS Georeferencing Calculator

The MaNIS Georeferencing Calculator determines the error associated with given latitude and longitude coordinates and offsets.

Description

The MaNIS Georeferencing Calculator is a Java applet created as a tool to aid in the georeferencing of descriptive localities such as those found in museum-based natural history collections. It was specifically designed for the Mammal Networked Information System (MaNIS) Project and has been adopted as well by HerpNet and ORNIS. The application makes calculations using the methods described in the Georeferencing Guidelines.1

The results can be copied onto the system clipboard using standard copy and paste key combinations. There is also a tab-delimited record of the data for the current calculation. These data can be copied all at once and pasted into an Excel spreadsheet or into a record in Access that has the same field order.2

This application was originally written by John Wieczorek. Later versions benefited from contributions from Qinghua Guo, Carmen Boureau, and Craig Wieczorek.3

Function

• Data cleaning and manipulation
  • Georeferencing
• Provider interaction
  • Data preparation
• Non-biological data
• User interface
  • Personal use
  • The output is visually presented, and in a form that can be copied directly

Why use this tool?

• To determine uncertainty associated with a specified location.

 Who will use this tool?

• Data creation
• Data capture
  • Curators
• Data providers
  • Institutions
  • Private collections
  • Casual users

 How will the tool be used?

• Needs latitude and longitude. Degrees/minutes/seconds or decimal degrees.
• Online
• No apparent batch mode
• User input required

 Where in the data chain could this tool be used?

• Data source

 When could this tool be used?

• Before data is made available to ALA

Availability

• MaNIS Georeferencing Calculator: http://manisnet.org/gci2.html
• Georeferencing Calculator Manual: http://manisnet.org/CoordCalcManual.html
• MaNIS/HerpNet/ORNIS Georeferencing Guidelines: http://manisnet.org/GeorefGuide.html
• MaNIS Georeferencing: http://manisnet.org/search.shtml
• BioGeomancer: http://www.biogeomancer.org/
• Guide to Best Practices for Georeferencing (GBIF publication)

  http://www.gbif.org/prog/digit/Georeferencing

• Latest version: Revision 25 April 2007
• Copyright: Regents of the University of California
• Licence: Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 License

  http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

Comments

A good knowledge of the limitations of the data increases the value of that data. This calculator addresses that in an objective manner, and gives a single unqualified value for the error distance.