Finding ecosystem data made easier by TERN’s revamped Data Discovery Portal
The TERN Data Discovery Portal (TDDP) provides a single point of entry for ecosystem data users to search metadata from multiple diverse ecosystem science disciplines, and link through to the open-access datasets for download and re-use.
By enabling users to access a single platform to discover diverse ecosystem science data stored in multiple repositories, the TDDP plays a novel, integrative role for Australian ecosystem science and the efficiency gains are obvious—yet another example of how TERN’s infrastructure is catalysing better returns on investment in ecosystem science for Australia.
Over 2200 data collections from a wide range of ecosystem discipline are open to search and access via the TDDP including soils, terrain, flora, fauna, coastal ecosystem, water quality, gridded climate variables, satellite remote sensing data products, and ecological monitoring and survey data and species observation records. In support of the Australian Government’s move towards open information access, TERN has adopted the Creative Commons 4.0 International suite of the licences. The fundamental principle behind the new policy is to make TERN data as openly accessible as possible and provide attribution to the data creators.
Recent updates to TDDP means that users can now conduct faceted searches based on licence types; view analytics on the number of views and downloads for each record; share records via Twitter and LinkedIn; and export records to EndNote. The datasets can now also be searched based on Terrestrial Ecoregions of the world.
Significant architectural changes to the TDDP have improved the search performance to enabled more accurate, quicker searches. Some of the key technical changes to the portal have been the migration to a Google AngularJS framework and upgrades of OpenLayer open-source maps and Google APIs.
The TDDP is yet another example of how our national ecosystem data infrastructure is delivering efficiency gains, increasing effectiveness and increasing integration across disciplines for Australia’s ecosystem scientists and managers.
- The TDDP has been operational since October 2012 and was developed in association with the Australian National Data Service (ANDS) and Queensland Cyber Infrastructure Foundation (QCIF). It harvests metadata records from all the TERN Facility repositories and has a capability to harvest metadata records from wide range of repositories and make them searchable from both text and map based interface.
- For further details on the TDDP please contact Dr Siddeswara Guru, TERN’s Data Integration and Synthesis Co-ordinator.
Original article published in TERN newsletter July 2016
