*TAPIR 1.0* _Giovanni, R., Döring, M., de la Torre, J._ The TDWG Access Protocol for Information Retrieval (TAPIR) is a next generation of query protocols that can be used by biodiversity information networks. It was initially proposed as a new protocol unifying DiGIR and BioCASe during the TDWG 2004 meeting. After that, many changes were incorporated to add new functionalities and to allow different levels of provider implementations. A fully functional provider software (PyWrapper) has been developed and is ready to be used. The TAPIR protocol consists of five operations – metadata, capabilities, ping, inventory and search – that can be invoked either through XML or simple KVP (key-value pairs) requests. Metadata response has been refactored to make use of elements from well-known namespaces like DublinCore, VCARD and the W3C Basic Geo vocabulary, and also to include additional data such as any number of related entities, multi-language support, indexing preferences, among others. Capabilities is a separate operation to retrieve technical metadata, allowing providers to have different levels of functionality. Ping can be used for provider monitoring purposes. Inventory operations now accept more than one concept. Both Inventory and Search can now make use of new filtering capabilities and can be represented by query templates. This session will introduce TAPIR, explaining the basic concepts behind it, like output models, query templates and the different ways of processing them. The final TAPIR 1.0 specification will be presented together with new perspectives and future directions. TAPIR http://ww3.bgbm.org/protocolwiki/ PyWrapper home page: http://www.pywrapper.org/ *Theme*: New and emerging standards, Integrating & sharing biotic information *Rewiewer*: Anton Güntsch ----------------------- *Using TAPIR in biodiversity networks* _Döring, M., de la Torre, J., Giovanni, R._ TAPIR 1.0 is ready to be used. With at least one implementation (PyWrapper) and with others coming, projects building biodiversity information networks can make use of it to set up their basic infrastructure. Existing networks, like BioCASE, or the Generation Challenge Program, already started using it for deployment. This session will discuss possible strategies about how to use TAPIR and will explain the different architecture components needed to build efficient networks. It will especially touch TAPIR models and their role in creating specialized networks on top of widely agreed conceptual schemas. An updated roadmap of implementations will be presented to better help people organize and target their projects. The presentation is being created in TapirNetworksPresentation. ------------------------- *PyWrapper v2: toward a real open source community* _de la Torre, J., Döring, M._ PyWrapper v2 is a major revision of the previous BioCASe Provider Software. It has been highly redeveloped to become the first TAPIR implementation. During the last year several projects had contributed to its development and extension. At the same time the project has been moved into a new development environment, outside of any institution, to promote its development by a real open source community. Additionally, PyWrapper has evolved into a multiprotocol middleware software. Different projects are demanding to make their data providers available through different protocols, not only TDWG related. The software has been modularized and support for BioMOBY protocol has already been implemented. Plans include providing support for LSID resolution and WFS in the middle term. The goal is to provide a single interface for providers to map their databases only once and start sharing their data in multiple different protocols. Finally it is also envision the development of complementary tools to bundle with PyWrapper. The first one will be the so-called QueryTool; a generic client to create web interfaces for providers databases based on AJAX technology. Hopefully the number of additionally available modules will grow as different communities contribute to the project. --------------------------- Sorry, the next one is mine (Javi) and not TAPIR related , but if you have a time to look it and correct stupid things i would be very happy :) *Biodiversity Informatics and the GeoWeb: toward an integration of TDWG and OGC standards* _de la Torre, J. - Mergen, P. * - Lobo, J.M._ _Museo Nacional de Ciencias Naturales (CSIC), C/José Gutiérrez Abascal, 2. 28006 Madrid, España_ _* Royal Museum for Central Africa (RMCA), 13 Leuvensesteenweg, 3080 Tervuren, Belgium_ The geospatial aspect of biodiversity is very prominent for research in ecology, biogeography, and well as for planning, conservation and management. Most use cases for biodiversity primary data involves the geospatial analysis of data using GIS tools. Therefore facilitating the access of GIS users to primary data is an important task in fulfilling many user requirements for biodiversity information networks. The best way to meet users demands is through the use of open standards like the ones being promoted by the Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC). OGC has been working in open standards for more than a decade now and has created several widely deployed specifications, like WMS/WFS/WCS and GML. These efforts are creating an interoperable environment where "geodata" are consumed, analyzed, integrated and published in what is starting to be called the GeoWeb. OGC and TDWG standards together can provide the building blocks toward a "BiogeoWeb" where biodiversity data can be visualized and analyzed together with other "geodata" sources thanks to interface and semantic interoperability. This process has already been initiated by the TDWG Spatial Data Standards subgroup and it will gain force with the creation of an agreement between OGC and TDWG. The inclusion of TDWG standards in the OGC world will also warranty further integration of our community in spatial initiatives, like GEOSS or INSPIRE, that have biodiversity data within their scope. A description on how the different existing standards can be used in biodiversity informatics, together with practical results from the setup of SYNTHESYS project services will be presented in the context of a future Biogeography Spatial Data Infrastructure, BiogeoSDI. _Acknowledgements: The authors wish to thank all the colleagues from SYNTHESYS, in charge with or actively collaborating to these various projects as well as also the developers of Geoserver and associated tools for their support. These activities are financed by the EU project SYNTHESYS (www.SYNTHESYS.info)_ *Theme*: Integrating & sharing biotic information *Rewiewer*: John R. Wieczorek