Darwin Core

Darwin Core

The Darwin Core is body of standards. It includes a glossary of terms (in other contexts these might be called properties, elements, fields, columns, attributes, or concepts) intended to facilitate the sharing of information about biological diversity by providing reference definitions, examples, and commentaries. The Darwin Core is primarily based on taxa, their occurrence in nature as documented by observations, specimens, and samples, and related information. Included are documents describing how these terms are managed, how the set of terms can be extended for new purposes, and how the terms can be used. The Simple Darwin Core [SIMPLEDWC] is a specification for one particular way to use the terms - to share data about taxa and their occurrences in a simply structured way - and is probably what is meant if someone suggests to "format your data according to the Darwin Core".

Record-level Terms [1]

dcterms:type | dcterms:modified | dcterms:language | dcterms:rights | dcterms:rightsHolder | dcterms:accessRights | dcterms:bibliographicCitation | dcterms:references

institutionID | collectionID | datasetID | institutionCode | collectionCode | datasetName | ownerInstitutionCode | basisOfRecord | informationWithheld | dataGeneralizations | dynamicProperties

Occurrence (dwc:Occurrence) [2]

occurrenceID | catalogNumber | occurrenceRemarks | recordNumber | recordedBy | individualID | individualCount | sex | lifeStage | reproductiveCondition | behavior | establishmentMeans | occurrenceStatus | preparations | disposition | otherCatalogNumbers | previousIdentifications | associatedMedia | associatedReferences | associatedOccurrences | associatedSequences | associatedTaxa

Event (dwc:Event) [3]

eventID | samplingProtocol | samplingEffort | eventDate | eventTime | startDayOfYear | endDayOfYear | year | month | day | verbatimEventDate | habitat | fieldNumber | fieldNotes | eventRemarks

dcterms:Location [4]

locationID | higherGeographyID | higherGeography | continent | waterBody | islandGroup | island | country | countryCode | stateProvince | county | municipality | locality | verbatimLocality | verbatimElevation | minimumElevationInMeters | maximumElevationInMeters | verbatimDepth | minimumDepthInMeters | maximumDepthInMeters | minimumDistanceAboveSurfaceInMeters | maximumDistanceAboveSurfaceInMeters | locationAccordingTo | locationRemarks | verbatimCoordinates | verbatimLatitude | verbatimLongitude | verbatimCoordinateSystem | verbatimSRS | decimalLatitude | decimalLongitude | geodeticDatum | coordinateUncertaintyInMeters | coordinatePrecision | pointRadiusSpatialFit | footprintWKT | footprintSRS | footprintSpatialFit | georeferencedBy | georeferencedDate | georeferenceProtocol | georeferenceSources | georeferenceVerificationStatus | georeferenceRemarks

GeologicalContext (dwc:GeologicalContext) [5]

geologicalContextID | earliestEonOrLowestEonothem | latestEonOrHighestEonothem | earliestEraOrLowestErathem | latestEraOrHighestErathem | earliestPeriodOrLowestSystem | latestPeriodOrHighestSystem | earliestEpochOrLowestSeries | latestEpochOrHighestSeries | earliestAgeOrLowestStage | latestAgeOrHighestStage | lowestBiostratigraphicZone | highestBiostratigraphicZone | lithostratigraphicTerms | group | formation | member | bed

Identification (dwc:Identification) [6]

identificationID | identifiedBy | dateIdentified | identificationReferences | identificationVerificationStatus | identificationRemarks | identificationQualifier | typeStatus

Taxon (dwc:Taxon) [7]

taxonID | scientificNameID | acceptedNameUsageID | parentNameUsageID | originalNameUsageID | nameAccordingToID | namePublishedInID | taxonConceptID | scientificName | acceptedNameUsage | parentNameUsage | originalNameUsage | nameAccordingTo | namePublishedIn | namePublishedInYear | higherClassification | kingdom | phylum | class | order | family | genus | subgenus | specificEpithet | infraspecificEpithet | taxonRank | verbatimTaxonRank | scientificNameAuthorship | vernacularName | nomenclaturalCode | taxonomicStatus | nomenclaturalStatus | taxonRemarks

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Auxiliary Terms

ResourceRelationship

resourceRelationshipID | resourceID | relatedResourceID | relationshipOfResource | relationshipAccordingTo | relationshipEstablishedDate | relationshipRemarks

MeasurementOrFact

measurementID | measurementType | measurementValue | measurementAccuracy | measurementUnit | measurementDeterminedDate | measurementDeterminedBy | measurementMethod | measurementRemarks

Darwin Core vocabulary of terms

Properties		Values
Name	rdfs:label	Darwin Core
Namespace	rdfs:isDefinedBy	http://rs.tdwg.org/dwc/terms/
Identifier	dc:identifier	http://rs.tdwg.org/dwc/2011-10-26/terms/
Title	dc:title	Darwin Core Terms
Description	dc:description	The Darwin Core is body of standards. It includes a glossary of terms (in other contexts these might be called properties, elements, fields, columns, attributes, or concepts) intended to facilitate the sharing of information about biological diversity by providing reference definitions, examples, and commentaries. The Darwin Core is primarily based on taxa, their occurrence in nature as documented by observations, specimens, and samples, and related information.
Contributor	dc:contributor	John Wieczorek (MVZ), Markus Döring (GBIF), Renato De Giovanni (CRIA), Tim Robertson (GBIF), Dave Vieglais (KUNHM)
Creator	dc:creator	Darwin Core Task Group
Rights holder	dcterms:rightsHolder	Biodiversity Information Standards (TDWG)
Rights	dc:rights	This document is governed by the standard legal, copyright, licensing provisions and disclaimers issued by the Taxonomic Databases Working Group.
License	dcterms:license	http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/us/
Type	rdf:type	skos:ConceptScheme
Namespace	vann:preferredNamespaceUri	http://rs.tdwg.org/dwc/terms/
Prefix	vann:preferredNamespacePrefix	dwc
Home page	foaf:homepage	http://rs.tdwg.org/dwc/
See also	rdfs:seeAlso	http://code.google.com/p/darwincore/