9 Other Resources

In this section we highlight useful resources created by collaborators and other community members.

9.1 MBON Pole to Pole Tutorial

This tutorial was created by the MBON Pole to Pole project to help guide people through the process of transforming datasets to Darwin Core using tools MBON Pole to Pole has developed.

9.2 IOOS Darwin Core Guide

This book contains a collection of examples and resources related to mobilizing marine biological data to the Darwin Core standard for sharing though OBIS. This book has been developed by the Standardizing Marine Biological Data Working Group (SMBD). The working group is an open community of practitioners, experts, and scientists looking to learn and educate the community on standardizing and sharing marine biological data.

9.3 EMODnet Biology

Contributing Datasets to EMODnet Biology is a course hosted on Ocean Teacher Global Academy (OTGA), developed by members of the European Marine Observation and Data Network. The course prepares users to format, publish, and perform quality control checks on datasets according to Darwin Core standards. While targeted at EMODnet Biology users, this course has significant overlap in how to prepare datasets for OBIS and is useful for those unfamiliar with OBIS standards. Note, an account with OTGA is required to access the course.

9.4 Template Generators

There is an Excel template generator developed by Luke Marsden & Olaf Schneider as part of the Nansen Legacy project. It allows the creation of Event or Occurrence core templates, with an optional eMoF extension. Note this template generator is aimed at GBIF users, so make sure to account for and include required OBIS terms.

There is also an Excel to Darwin Core macro tool developed by GBIF Norway that you can download for use in Microsoft Excel. This macro can help you set up Event, Occurrence, and eMoF tables by selecting all relevant DwC fields from a list, or by importing data from another spreadsheet. It allows for auto-generation of identifiers (e.g. eventID, occurrenceID) if macros are enabled, and can also auto-populate the eMoF when measurement fields in the Occurrence table are populated.