ABCD2Concepts

ABCD2Concepts

This page provides an overview of the most commonly used ABCD elements with short explanations and sample values. If you're looking for a complete list of ABCD elements, please refer to the full documentation at the ABCD Wiki.

Mandatory fields are marked with an asterisk. If you don't provide them, the element - and potentially non-mandatory sibling/parental elements - will be removed from the ABCD document.

Metadata

Metadata describe the dataset as whole - as opposed to individual specimens/observations.

General metadata

Group	Element	Example	Remark
ContentContact*	Name*	John Doe	Contact information for the curator of the dataset.
	Address	Botanic Garden and Botanical Museum Berlin. Königin-Luise-Str. 6-8; 14195 Berlin, Germany
	Email	john.doe@acme.com
	Phone	+49 30 838 99999
TechnicalContact*	Name*	John Doe	Contact information of the person that is responsible for the BioCASe installation - in most cases, this will be the IT department.
	Address	Botanic Garden and Botanical Museum Berlin. Königin-Luise-Str. 6-8; 14195 Berlin, Germany
	Email	john.doe@acme.com
	Phone	+49 30 838 99999
Metadata	IconURI	http://ww3.bgbm.org/providerResources/BGBM.jpg	Link to an image that represents the dataset.
Metadata/RevisionData*	DateCreated	2018-07-19	Date when the dataset has been first published (DateCreated) and of the last changes/additions/removals (DateModified).
	DateModified*	2018-09-27
Metadata/Version	DateIssued	2018-09-27	If you keep track of dataset versions, the info can be specified in this section.
	Major*	3
	Minor	1
Metadata/Description/Representation*	Title*	Herbarium Berolinense	Short description of the dataset (preferrably in english), consisting of a title, a 2-3 sentences long description and an optional URL.
	@language*	en
	Description	The herbarium of the Botanic Garden and Botanical Museum Berlin-Dahlem (herbarium acronym: B) is ...
	URL	https://www.bgbm.org/en/herbarium
Metadata/Owners/Owner	Addresses/Address	Botanic Garden and Botanical Museum Berlin. Königin-Luise-Str. 6-8; 14195 Berlin, Germany	Institution that owns the dataset.
	EmailAddresses/EmailAddress	john.doe@acme.com
	TelephoneNumbers/TelephoneNumber	+49 30 838 99999
	URIs/URL	https://www.bgbm.org
	LogoURI	http://ww3.bgbm.org/providerResources/BGBM.jpg
	Organisation/Name/Representation/Text*	Botanic Garden and Botanical Museum Berlin-Dahlem
	Organisation/Name/Representation/Abbrevation	BGBM

IPR Statements

The section Metadata/IPRStatements contains several sub-sections that allow to provide IPR (intellectual property rights) statements. Each sub-section contains the mandatory element Text for the statement and the optional elements Details and URI for delivering more details and/or a link to a web page mit more information. The seven sections are as follows:

Section	Example	Remark
Acknowledgements	The project was funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF)	A free text acknowledging support for the dataset (e.g. grant money, help, permission to reuse published material, etc.).
Citation	Röpert D. (ed.) 2000+ [continuously updated]: Digital specimen images at the Herbarium Berolinense. - Published at http://ww2.bgbm.org/herbarium/default.cfm [accessed dd Mmm yyyy].	Citation guidline for using the data in publications.
Disclaimer	No responsibility is accepted for the accuracy of the information in this database.	A disclaimer statement for the dataset (e. g. concerning responsibility for data quality or legal implications).
License	Creative Commons 1.0 Public Domain Dedication waiver	The license for using the data; we suggest one of the Creative Commons licenses that can be found at here.
TermsOfUse	Textual metadata on specimens from the Herbarium Berolinense (B) are released under the Creative Commons 1.0 Public Domain Dedication waiver.	Terms for using the published data.

Note: If you publish your data to GBIF, you are required to specify a license in the License node with the language attribute and the elements Text and URI. The latter should contain a link to a well-defined license, for example https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/. More details on GBIF licensing can be found here.

Specimen Data

In ACBD terminology, a single specimen/observation is called a Unit; for each specimen, one Units/Unit will be created. Below you'll find the most commonly used ABCD elements in this sub-tree.

General unit data

ABCD element	Example	Remark
SourceID*	Herbarium Berolinense	The name or code of the data source.
SourceInstitutionID*	B	The unique identifier (code or name) of the institution holding the original data source.
UnitID*	B -W 08738 -01 0	A unique identifier for the unit record within the data source.
UnitGUID	http://herbarium.bgbm.org/object/BW08738010	A globally unique identifier for the unit record.
CollectorsFieldNumber	765/10	The original number assigned to the unit by the collector or observer.
RecordBasis	LivingSpecimen	An indication of what the unit record describes; needs to comply with a controlled vocabulary.
KindOfUnit	Seed; (whole) plant	Part(s), physical state, or class of materials represented by this specimen.
Sex	Male	Sex of the unit.
RecordURI	http://herbarium.bgbm.org/object/BW08738010	The web address of the page where more information on this particular unit record can be found.
Notes	Specimen examined in a review of the genera of the tribe Eupatorieae, R. M. King & H. Robinson 1968-1969	A free text description of the unit. Any notes that do not fit elsewhere.
DateLastEdited	2009-030-7	The date of the creation of or last change to this unit record.
LastEditor	John Doe	The name or other indication of the person or team that created or last edited this record.

Gathering event

The Gathering subsection of ABCD covers all details about the gathering site and the gathering agents. All the follwing groups and elements are located in Units/Unit/Gathering.

Group	Element	Example	Remark
Agents	GatheringAgentsText	Scholz, Sipman	A free text representation or concatenated version of those responsible for collecting or recording. In case of a gathering team, it is advised not to provide a concatenated text of the collectors, but individual gathering agents (see below).
	GatheringAgent/AgentText	Sipman	Name of an individual gathering agent. The element GatheringAgent is repeatable, so it can be provided several times in case of a gathering team.
Altitude	MeasurementOrFactText	1500-1600m	Use this element if you have the altitude stored as a free text, that is as a single, concatenated text. If the boundaries of a range are stored as separate values in your database, use the MeasurementOrFactAtomised elements below.
	MeasurementOrFactAtomised/LowerValue*	1500	The lower or only value of the gathering site altitude.
	MeasurementOrFactAtomised/UpperValue	1600	The upper value for the measured gathering site altitude, if there is a range.
	MeasurementOrFactAtomised/UnitOfMeasurement	m	The unit of measurement used to measure the gathering site altitude.
Country	ISO3166Code	US	ISO code of the country where the voucher was collected/observed.
	Name*	United States of America	Name of the gathering country.
DateTime	DateText	August 2012	Date when voucher was collected if it doesn't conform to a specific date format and is stored just as a freet text.
	ISODateTimeBegin	2012-08-17	Gathering date in ISO format. If you want to provide a time span, this will be the start of the time span.
	ISODateTimeEnd	2012-08-19	End datetime (in ISO format) if the gathering covers a time span.
	LocalityText	Landkreis Neustrelitz, Feldberger Seengebiet, Carwitz, ca. 1 km SW von Carwitz.	The original gathering locality data as appearing on a label or in an original entry, as a text string. This field should be transcribed verbatim from the specimen label.
NamedArea	AreaName	Europe	Any geographic term that is neither a country (use Country element) nor the exact locality description (use LocalityText).
	AreaClass	Continent	Type of geographic term provided in AreaName
Biotope	Text	Amongst rocks and stones, calcareous soil and screes	Gathering site biotope description.
-	AreaDetail		A free text description of further details pertaining to the observation, sampling, or collection locality which which did not fit into the one of the other elements.
SiteCoordinateSets/ SiteCoordinates/ CoordinatesLatLong	../CoordinateMethod	Inferred map reference	Method of coordinates determination (GPS vs. inferred from description).
	LatitudeDecimal	52.49179	Latitude in decimal degrees.
	LongitudeDecimal	13.23589	Longitude in decimal degreed.
	CoordinatesText	52°30' N 13°23' E	An alternative concatenated text representation of the lat/lon coordinates if they can't be provided as separate lat/lon values.
	SpatialDatum	WGS 84	A mathematical surface on which the mapping and coordinate system used for the geocodes of the gathering site are based.
	CoordinateErrorDistanceInMeters	500	An estimate of how tightly the collecting locality was specified, expressed as a distance in meters corresponding to a radius around the lat/long coordinates.
	AccuracyStatement	Coordinates rounded to 2 decimal places.	A free text statement of the degree of accuracy of the latitude and longitude coordinates.
	CoordinateErrorMethod	Maximum error defined by dimensions of original ordinance survey map.	Verbatim statement of how the Coordinate Error was determined.
-	Notes		Further text relating to the gathering event that does not fit one of the specified elements.

Identification history

Most specimen databases record the complete determination or identification history of a single specimen. ABCD allows to provide this complete history; each determination becomes an Identifications/Identification subtree.

Group	Subgroup	Element	Example	Remark
-	-	PreferredFlag	1	The currently preferred determination should be marked with 1 or True, historic determinations with 0 or False.
Date	-	DateText/ISODateTimeBegin	2018-08-17	Date of the unit identification event. If in ISO format, use ISODateTimeBegin, DateText otherwise.
Identifiers	-	IdentifiersText	Humboldt & Bonpland	Text indicating the person, person team, or organisation that made the identification. If it is a team, individual Identifier subtrees should be provided, if possible (see below).
	Identifier/PersonName	FullName	Humboldt	Person that made the identification.
Result/TaxonIdentified	HigherTaxa/HigherTaxon	HigherTaxonName*	Asteraceae	Name of the higher taxon. Please have a look at the BioCASE Wiki for how to prepare your database for the repeatable elements
		HigherTaxonRank	familia	Rame of the higher taxon.
	ScientificName	FullScientificNameString*	Aaronsohnia factorovskyi Warb. & Eig. var. factorovskyi	Complete name of the taxon including Authors (and years for animals).
	ScientificName/NameAtomised/Botanical	GenusOrMonomial	Aaronsohnia	ABCD has several container for NameAtomised, it depens on your sampes which one to choose (Botanical or Zoology etc.)
		FirstEpithet	factorovskyi
		InfraspecificEpithet	factorovskyi
		Rank	var.
		AuthorTeam	Warb. & Eig.
	-	NameComments		Free text comments related to the name identified for the unit.
References/Reference	-	TitleCitation	Ralfs, J: The British Desmidieae, London 1848	A reference (e.g. an article or monograph) that was used as the base for the identifier's taxon identification (e.g. by means of providing a key or a description of the taxon).
		CitationDetail	p. 22 + 226, 35 pl.
-	-	Notes	Invalid publication as: Echinella rotata Greville in W.J. Hooker 1833: British Flora Vol II, pp. 432, London, p.398	Supplementary remarks about the unit identification.

Botanical Garden Unit

ABCD element	Example	Remark
AccessionStatus	C	The current status of the accession in the garden. Possible values are C (current accession in the living collection) D (non-current due to death) T (non current due to transfer to another record system, normally another garden) S (stored in a dormant state) O (other accession status - different from those above)
Cultivation		Allows for cultivation information to be passed as free text in order to help the receiving garden care for the transferred accession or to record the garden's experience made with this accession.
DonorCategory	E	A code to indicate the type of the immediate donor from which the accession was obtained. This may not necessarily be the original collector of wild material. One or more of the following characters: E, G, B, R, S, U, H, M, N, I, O, U. For a description of these values, please refer to https://www.bgci.org/files/Databases/itf2.pdf, section E.5 (donor type flag). Gardens4Science data providers should also see the note below.
Hardiness	1	A flag indicating that the accession is grown outdoors in the botanical garden.
HybridFlag	x	Indicates the type of hybrid (if appropriate), according to no hybrid: <empty> named hybrid: x (Unicode U+00D7) graft chimaera: + any other type of hybrid: "hybrid" gardens4science providers should also see the notes below.
IPEN	XX-0-HEID-3253	A unique number given to plant materials accessioned in conformance with the rules of the International Plant Exchange Network.
LocationInGarden	MD4	The current location of the living plant in the botanical garden.
Perennation		A code to indicate the means of perennation.
PlantingDate	2007-07-07	The date in ISO format the plant was planted at its current location in the botanical garden.

Note for gardens4Science data providers:

1. Whether or not a given record will be visible in the public view of the gardens4science data portal (that is, without being logged in) is determined by the value of the DonorCategory field: Records "O = other" will be visible only for logged-in curators; if the field is filled with "I = individual" or empty, the record will also show up for unregistered users.
2. Use HybridFlag in addition to the correct nomenclature of hybrid or graft chimera names in fullScientificName (e.g. xDisoselenicereus fulgidus (Hook.f.) E.Meier; Epiphyllum x floribundum Kimnach; +Crataegomespilus potsdamiensis; Echinopsis hybrid). The https://terms.tdwg.org/wiki/abcd2:TaxonIdentified-HybridFlag-@insertionpoint does not need to be mapped/filled and can be ignored (value will be taken from fullScientificName).

SpecimenUnit/Accessions

ABCD element	Example	Remark
AccessionCatalogue		Identifier of an accessions catalogue or numbering scheme
AccessionDate	2007-07-07	Date on which the accession was recorded
AccessionNumber	001010680	Institutional number applied to an accession and recorded in the accessions register.

Multimedia

For providing links to associated images, videos and sounds, the sub-tree MultimediaObjects can be used. Each ABCD unit can have multiple multimedia objects, each represented by its own MultimediaObject with the following elements:

ABCD element	Example	Remark
FileURI*	http://ww2.bgbm.org/herbarium/images/B/-W/14/61/B_-W_14616%20-00%200.jpg	The Universal Resource Identifier (URI) of the underlying multimedia file.
ProductURI	http://ww2.bgbm.org/herbarium/view_biocase.cfm?SpecimenPK=726	The Universal Resource Identifier of an electronic source of a multimedia object including HTML, Javascript or similar means delivering rendered output.
Comment	Image of herbarium specimen E00732880 by Specimen Digitisation Pipeline.	Short description of the multimedia object.
Format	image/jpeg	A code or descriptive term for the file or object format.
FileSize	2365	The size in Kb of the file referred to by the URI or filename for the multimedia object.
Creator	Paris, Museum National d'Histoire Naturelle, OD	The identifier (e.g. name or other id) of personnel who has taken the image.
CreatedDate	2012-07-07	The date the multimedia object was created.
ID	22658	Identifier for the multimedia object relating to or forming the unit. This may be a filename.
IPR		Intellectual Property Rights relating specifically to the multimedia object. This subtree has the same elements as Metadata/IPRStatements. Fore more details, see the respective remarks.