Conservation GeoPortal Decommissioned
Last Updated on Wednesday, 01 July 2009 12:21 Written by Frank Biasi posted by R McKeon
News
For Immediate Release:6/31 The article that was here yesterday listing the news about the Conservation GeoPortal becoming decommissioned tomorrow has been temporarily removed - due to some last minute work by many to save it!
Stay tuned... OK we're back.
July FIRST: Frank Biasi oks sad message below.
For Immediate Release: 7/1/09
We regret to inform you that the Conservation GeoPortal (conservationmaps.org) will be decommissioned tomorrow (July 1, 2009) due to a lack of funds needed to maintain the site and to migrate it to an updated platform and long term home.
This experiment, which started in 2006, produced an online catalog of conservation-related GIS data sets, maps, and map services from organizations across the conservation community. The catalog contained metadata records describing and linking to these resources. It allowed users to search for data by keyword, category, geography, and timeframe. It included a map viewer allowing users to view, query, and mashup live map services published through standard map servers.
Other resources that provide similar content and functionality include:
DataBasin – www.databasin.org
GeoNetwork – www.fao.org/geonetwork
Geospatial One Stop – www.geodata.gov
GEOSS – www.earthobservations.org
INSPIRE GeoPortal - www.inspire-geoportal.eu
NBII Metadata Clearinghouse - mercdev3.ornl.gov/nbii
Lessons Learned
During its three years of existence, the GeoPortal registered 800 users and collected over 4,000 metadata records. Most of this metadata was obtained by harvesting other metadata catalogs and centrally creating metadata. Although the GeoPortal was visited frequently by people to search for data, very few people posted their own metadata.
Here are the Top 10 lessons learned from this initiative, which could be applied to similar efforts:
1. Outreach and promotion through various means is essential
2. Data/metadata publishing should be required and supported by managers and funders
3. In-kind support is great, but funds for maintenance, upgrades, curation, and marketing are essential
4. Centralized metadata creation is effective and efficient if funds are available
5. Portals should allow filtering by organizations, including branded sub-portals
6. Portals should support organizations’ internal and external publishing needs
7. Without dedicated stewards, browse “channels” should be populated automatically, not manually
8. Usability and simplicity in finding and posting content is essential
9. Map viewers should be simple and usable for non-technical staff
10. The concept of sharing data is much more advanced than the practice
History and Acknowledgments
The Conservation GeoPortal was created and managed collaboratively by a group of conservation organizations on a shoestring budget. We gratefully thank the following organizations who committed significant funds and in-kind resources to the effort:
Environmental Systems Research Institute
National Geographic Society
The Nature Conservancy
UNEP-World Conservation Monitoring Center
Other groups that participated in the GeoPortal design and editorial teams included:
American Museum of Natural History
Bird Studies Canada
Conservation International
NASA
NatureServe
Smithsonian Institution
Texas A&M University – Harte Research Institute
University of Maryland – Global Land Cover Facility
USGS - National Biological Information Inventory
Wildlife Conservation Society
World Resources Institute
World Wildlife Fund
Thanks to everyone who contributed their metadata!
Finally, the 4,000 metadata records have been archived and could be made available. Please contact me if you are interested in reviving the Conservation GeoPortal or in other efforts to achieve similar goals.
Sincerely,
Frank Biasi
Director, Conservation Projects
National Geographic Maps
1-202-857-7248
fbiasi at ngs.org
