Aggregator services wish list
The taxonomic aggregators recommended by TETTRIs for use in name matching etc. are independent entities with their own priorities and specific targets. From TETTRIs' side we can therefore only suggest changes to be made to their services.
Contents
Downloads
Provide DwC-A and ColDP standard downloads
Name matching
Truly exact matching
Currently, services use algorithms to match the input names with the aggregator's name. Most of these start with a canonical form of the name, i.e. without the standard author citation (and year) prescribed by the codes of nomenclature. Since presently no aggregator can claim completeness, this may result in erroneous exact matches.
WFO: good to know: matches canonical string to name with author and declares result as exact, if it is the only match.
WFO: bug: matches canonical string of infraspecies without considering the rank.
Maximum number of matches
Create asynchronous response mechanisms (e.g. by email notification) to allow for large numbers of matches. Currently most matching services limit the number of names that can be checked in one go.
Matching result
Include additional columns uploaded in the result table. This is particularly important with respect to the name-ID in the uploaded file.
Interactive matching
Allow for interactive selection of the matching record