Darwin Core

Note: we are migrating the Darwin Core standard from Google Code to this repository on GitHub, which is not yet ready for production use. Go to http://rs.tdwg.org/dwc/ for the latest stable release.

This repository is dedicated to the maintenance of the Darwin Core standard. For an open forum on the use of Darwin Core, please see the Darwin Core Questions & Answers repository.

Introduction

The Darwin Core is body of standards. It includes a glossary of terms (in other contexts these might be called properties, elements, fields, columns, attributes, or concepts) intended to facilitate the sharing of information about biological diversity by providing reference definitions, examples, and commentaries. The Darwin Core is primarily based on taxa, their occurrence in nature as documented by observations, specimens, samples, and related information. Included are documents describing how these terms are managed, how the set of terms can be extended for new purposes, and how the terms can be used.

Repo structure

The repository structure is described below. Files/directories indicated with GENERATED should not be edited manually.

├── README.md                 : Description of this repository
├── LICENSE                   : Repository license
│
├── vocabulary
│   └── term_versions.csv     : The normative document of Darwin Core, where the standard is maintained
│
├── src
│   ├── build.py              : Build script to generate distribution files from the normative document
│   └── config                : Configuration files for build.py
│       ├── index.tmpl        : Template for index.html
│       └── terms_config.csv  : Configuration for the recommended terms, incl. order, labels, examples
│
├── dist                      : GENERATED Distribution files generated by build.py
│   ├── recommended_terms.csv : GENERATED CSV file with the recommended Darwin Core terms
│   └── index.html            : GENERATED Web page with the recommended Darwin Core terms
│
├── .github
│   ├── CONTRIBUTING.md       : Guide on how to contribute to Darwin Core
│   └── ISSUE_TEMPLATE.md     : Template for issues
│
└── .gitignore                : Files and directories to be ignored by git

License

Darwin Core (c) by the Darwin Core Task Group, Biodiversity Informatics Standards (TDWG). Darwin Core is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. A copy of the license is provided in LICENSE.

How to cite Darwin Core

For scholarly citations, consider reading and citing the seminal peer-reviewed article on Darwin Core:

Wieczorek J, Bloom D, Guralnick R, Blum S, Döring M, et al. (2012) Darwin Core: An Evolving Community-
Developed Biodiversity Data Standard. PLoS ONE 7(1): e29715. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0029715

When specifically citing the Darwin Core Standard documentation, use the following format (substitute the parenthetical date accessed with today's date):

Darwin Core Task Group, Biodiversity Information Standards (TDWG). 2009. Darwin Core. 
http://rs.tdwg.org/dwc/ (accessed on 2015-01-12).