Georeferencing Procedure Outline - a guest blog by Michael Yost, Macrofungi Collection Consortium (MaCC) Project Assistant at the Denver Botanic Gardens
Greetings, fellow georeferencers!
My name is Mike Yost, Macrofungi Collection Consortium (MaCC) Project Assistant at the Denver Botanic Gardens.
I am currently georeferencing specimens for the University of Montana Herbarium (MONTU) and the Fort Lewis College Herbarium (FLD). I would like to share what I have learned working through these two collections.
In this blog, I will outline my georeferencing process, cultivated from the training I received here in Denver as well as the instructions provided in the MaCC manual. (Additional information regarding Georeferencing Best Practices can be found here on the Global Biodiversity Information Facility website: http://www.gbif.org/resource/80536)
Although the MaCC manual provides basic georeferencing procedures, I began to have additional questions as I was working through the MONTU and FLD collections.
For example, what are the parameters when georeferencing specimens found along creeks, rivers, or trails? Where do I set the uncertainty radius for those specimens when using the point-radius method? What if I want to batch georeference numerous specimens collected in the same location? How do I consolidate specimens collected in identical locations, but with varying locality verbiage?
My hope is that this blog will answer those questions and assist other project assistants as they work through their own collections. Keep in mind that I’m using a single location as example, and that this blog is not intended to be an all-encompassing outline for georeferencing protocols.
With that said, I also hope to build a platform for dialogue between other project assistants who would like to post their own georeferencing procedures and questions, sharing what they have learned through their own georeferencing process.
Let’s begin! Georeference Procedure Outline from the MaCC and Denver Botanic Gardens
From Deb Paul: Thanks Michael Yost. You'll find more Georeferencing Community Procedures on the GWG Resources wiki pages, and please add yours! Help the community make georeferencing faster, and more accurate with your contributions to kick-start the process. Please join us in the GWG working group - get fast answers to your georeferencing quesitons - and add your expertise to this community!
