Affiliations: [a] Department of Biological Sciences, PMB 351634, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN 37146, USA | [b] Museum of Vertebrate Zoology, University of California at Berkeley, 3101 Valley Life Sciences Building, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA. E-mail: tuco@berkeley.edu | [c] Berkeley Natural History Museums, University of California at Berkeley, 1001 Valley Life Sciences Building, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA. E-mail: jdeck@berkeley.edu | [d] Arnold Arboretum of Harvard University, 1300 Centre St., Boston 02131, USA. E-mail: cw@camwebb.info
Abstract: The Darwin Core vocabulary is widely used to transmit biodiversity data in the form of simple text files. In order to support expression of biodiversity data in the Resource Description Framework (RDF), a guide was created as a non-normative addition to the Darwin Core standard. This paper describes the major issues that were addressed in the creation of the guide, particularly problems related to adapting terms designed to have literal values for use with IRI references. By making it possible to express millions of existing records as RDF, the guide is an important step towards enabling the biodiversity informatics community to participate in broader Linked Data and Semantic Web efforts.
