GBIF has released the Guide for publishing biological survey data to GBIF, developed through a collaborative peer-review process in consultation with an expert committee led by Scientific Officer Kate Ingenloff.
This guide supports practitioners in ecology, biological monitoring, environmental assessments and data management prepare and and publish biological survey and monitoring data to GBIF in line with Darwin Core (DwC) data standard and the FAIR data principles—findability, accessibility, interoperability and reproducibility. It includes step-by-step instructions for mapping data as a DwC Event class dataset, with details on DwC Events, the Humboldt Extension for ecological inventories and assembling a DwC Archive for publication to GBIF.
"The co-authors appreciate the positive and energetic community response received to the survey and monitoring data publishing guide,” said Kate Ingenloff, GBIF Science Officer. “It also illuminated to GBIF the need to provide detailed support in the process of establishing a dataset structure that meaningfully captures survey design. The new, longer guide features updated text, new figures and will hopefully meet the data publishing needs of those generating biological survey data, most importantly of ecologists and monitoring professionals.”
Updates based on community feedback include clearer guidance on dataset structure, stepwise suggestions for data mapping, refreshed examples and figures, and minor revisions to the Survey and Monitoring Data Quick-Start Guide: A how-to for updating a Darwin Core dataset using the Humboldt extension which was released in February 2025.
The publication was produced under the BioDT project, which received funding from the European Union’s Horizon Europe research and innovation programme. It is the latest in the series of GBIF's technical documents, to provide consistent, reliable and accessible resources for the use by the global biodiversity community.