Issues in the design of GIS databases for biodiversity assessments

Abstract

National and international organizations are developing spatial databases to assess the distribution of Biodiversity using geographic information systems (GIS). Currently, there are no guidelines or standards for building GIS databases for biodiversity assessment because database design is discipline-dependent and most biodiversity disciplines lack spatial traditions. The present research analyzes the conceptualization of biodiversity information at the spatial level and discusses its relationship to the modeling and structuring of data in GIS databases. The relevant findings of this research are: 1) the degree of data processing in the original sources has to be acknowledged in the design of the spatial model and data structure of the biodiversity database theme, and 2) the spatial uncertainty of biodiversity data is related to the georeferencing method, the classification label (taxonomic, physiognomic,etc) and the ecological context

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