Glossary of Terms

Glossary of Terms

Short Name	API
Long Name	Application Programming Interface
URL	http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Application_programming_interface
Definition	An application programming interface (API) is a specification intended to be used as an interface by software components to communicate with each other. An API may include specifications for routines, data structures, object classes, and variables. An API specification can take many forms, including an International Standard such as POSIX or vendor documentation such as the Microsoft Windows API, or the libraries of a programming language, e.g. Standard Template Library in C++ or Java API.

Short Name	DPI
Long Name	Dots Per Inch
URL	http://www.andrewdaceyphotography.com/articles/dpi/
Definition	Used to express the number of ink dots applied to a single inch during printing, the function of individual printer specifications. Often wrongly used as a synynom for PPI (pixels per inch), which see in this glossary.

Short Name	Geo-referencing
Long Name	Geo-referencing
URL	Georeferencing
Definition	The process of assigning geographical coordinates (latitude, longitude, datum, projection, precision) to a biological specimen collection record or event using geospatial data available from the specimen label.

Short Name	GUID
Long Name	Globally Unique Identifier
URL	http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Globally_unique_identifier
Definition	A unique reference number used as an identifier in computer software. The term GUID also is used for Microsoft's implementation of the Universally Unique Identifier (UUID) standard. The value of a GUID is represented as a 32-character hexadecimal string, such as {21EC2020-3AEA-1069-A2DD-08002B30309D}, and is usually stored as a 128-bit integer. The total number of unique keys is 2 to the 128th power, or 3.4x10 to the 38th power. This number is so large that the probability of the same number being generated randomly twice is negligible.

Short Name	Image Resolution
Long Name	Image Resolution
URL	http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image_resolution
Definition	A measure of the detail in an image, especially a raster digital image. The higher resolution the more detail available, hence the clearer the image.

Short Name	NLP
Long Name	Natural Language Processing
URL	http://www.cnlp.org/publications/03nlp.lis.encyclopedia.pdf
Definition	Natural Language Processing (NLP) is the computerized approach to analyzing text that is based on both a set of theories and a set of technologies. It is an area of active research with an array of definitional possibilities. Its potential use for the biocollections community is the analysis, interpretation, and parsing of printed and written label data for insertion into electronic data management systems.

Short Name	OCR
Long Name	Optical Character Recognition
URL	http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Optical_character_recognition
Definition	A software implemented process for scanning documents or images from scanners or files, recognizing textual components within these objects, and converting textual components into human readable text.

Short Name	Pixel
Long Name	Picture Element
URL	http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pixel
Definition	In digital imaging, the smallest addressable element or representable unit in an image. Pixels are normally arranged in a two-dimensional grid and often represented using dots. Pixel intensity is variable. In color image systems, a color is typically represented by three or four component intensities such as red, green, and blue, or cyan, magenta, yellow, and black. The more pixels an image contains, the clearer the image and the greater the available zoom intensity.

Short Name	PPI
Long Name	Pixels Per Inch
URL	http://www.andrewdaceyphotography.com/articles/dpi/
Definition	A measure of the number of pixels in each inch of a digital image at a given size. Each digital image contains a fixed number of pixels. Expanding the image in width reduces PPI; reducing the image in width increases PPI. PPI and DPI are often and incorrectly used interchangeability. See DPI in this glossary.

Short Name	Voice Recognition
Long Name	Voice Recognition
URL	Voice recognition
Definition	Voice recognition software allows for hands-free control of software and textual data entry. This capability has potential for integration into digital workflows for control of workflow components (cameras, software) and for data entry (dictation, metadata).

Short Name	URI
Long Name	Uniform Resource Identifier
URL	http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uniform_Resource_Identifier
Definition	A string of characters used to uniquely (and ideally persistently) identify an object or resource on the Internet. Such identification enables interaction with representations of the resource over a network (typically the World Wide Web) using specific protocols. Schemes specifying a concrete syntax and associated protocols define each URI.

Short Name	UUID
Long Name	Universally Unique Identifier
URL	http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Universally_unique_identifier
Definition	A 128 bit unsigned integer created to uniquely identify an iDigBio record, and used to determine if a record has been changed.

Short Name	ABCD
Long Name	Access to Biological Collection Data
URL
Definition

Short Name	EML
Long Name	Ecological Metadata Language
URL	http://knb.ecoinformatics.org/software/eml/
Definition	Metadata specification developed by the ecology discipline by the Ecological Society of America and associated efforts (Michener et al., 1997, Ecological Applications), implemented as a series of XML document types that can by used in a modular and extensible manner to document ecological data.

Short Name	NetCDF
Long Name	Network Common Data Form
URL	http://www.unidata.ucar.edu/software/netcdf/
Definition	"Set of interfaces for array-oriented data access and a freely-distributed collection of data access libraries for C, Fortran, C++, Java, and other languages. The netCDF libraries support a machine-independent format for representing scientific data. Together, the interfaces, libraries, and format support the creation, access, and sharing of scientific data. "

Short Name	DwC-A
Long Name	Darwin Core Archive
URL	http://www.gbif.org/informatics/standards-and-tools/publishing-data/data-standards/darwin-core-archives/
Definition	Zip file containing data in CSV files and description of fields in an XML file using DwC terms

Short Name	TAPIR
Long Name	TDWG Access Protocol for Information Retrieval
URL	http://www.tdwg.org/activities/tapir/
Definition	Standardized, stateless, HTTP transmittable, XML-based request and response protocol for accessing structured data that may be stored on any number of distributed databases of varied physical and logical structure.

Short Name	METS
Long Name	Metadata Endcoding and Transmission Standard
URL	http://www.loc.gov/standards/mets/
Definition	METS provides a method (a metadata standard) for aggregating all the metadata relevant to a given digital library object. METS is expressed in XML.

Short Name	OAI-PMH
Long Name	Open Archives Initative Protocol for Metadata Harvesting
URL	http://www.openarchives.org/pmh/
Definition	The Open Archives Initiative Protocol for Metadata Harvesting (OAI-PMH) is a low-barrier mechanism for repository interoperability. Data Providers are repositories that expose structured metadata via OAI-PMH. Service Providers then make OAI-PMH service requests to harvest that metadata. OAI-PMH is a set of six verbs or services that are invoked within HTTP.

Short Name	AIBS
Long Name	American Institute of Biological Sciences
URL	http://www.aibs.org
Definition

Short Name	ALA
Long Name	Atlas of Living Australia
URL	http://www.ala.org.au/
Definition

Short Name	AWS
Long Name	Amazon Web Services
URL	http://aws.amazon.com/
Definition

Short Name	BioCASE
Long Name	Biological Collections Access Service for Europe
URL	http://www.biocase.org/
Definition

Short Name	BioCISE
Long Name	Resource Identification for a Biocollection Information Service in Europe
URL	http://www.bgbm.fu-berlin.de/biocise/
Definition

Short Name	BISON
Long Name	Biodiversity Information Serving Our Nation
URL	http://nbii-gbif2.ornl.gov/bisn/
Definition

Short Name	BLOB
Long Name	Binary Large OBject
URL
Definition

Short Name	CBIF
Long Name	Canadian Biodiversity Information Facility
URL	http://www.cbif.gc.ca/
Definition

Short Name	CFI
Long Name	Canada Foundation for Innovation
URL	http://www.innovation.ca/en
Definition

Short Name	DataONE
Long Name	Data Observation Network for Earth
URL	https://www.dataone.org/
Definition

Short Name	DBMS
Long Name	DataBase Management System
URL
Definition

Short Name	DTD
Long Name	Document Type Definition
URL	http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Document_Type_Definition
Definition

Short Name	EC2
Long Name	Elastic Compute Cloud
URL	http://aws.amazon.com/ec2/
Definition

Short Name	ENHSIN
Long Name	European Natural History Specimen Information Network
URL	http://www.bgbm.org/BioDivInf/projects/ENHSIN/
Definition

Short Name	EML
Long Name	Ecological Metadata Languague
URL	http://knb.ecoinformatics.org/software/eml/
Definition

Short Name	EOL
Long Name	Encyclopedia of Life
URL	http://eol.org/
Definition

Short Name	GBIF
Long Name	Global Biodiversity Information Facility
URL	http://www.gbif.org/
Definition

Short Name	GDAL
Long Name	Geospatial Data Abstraction Library
URL
Definition

Short Name	GeoJSON
Long Name	Geo JavaScript Object Notation
URL	http://geojson.org/
Definition

Short Name	GEOS
Long Name	Geometry Engine - Open Source
URL
Definition

Short Name	GIS
Long Name	Geographic Information System
URL
Definition

Short Name	GNA
Long Name	Global Names Architecture
URL	http://www.globalnames.org/
Definition

Short Name	GNIS
Long Name	Geographic Names Information System
URL	http://nhd.usgs.gov/gnis.html
Definition

Short Name	GNUB
Long Name
URL
Definition

Short Name	GPI
Long Name	Global Plant Initiative
URL
Definition

Short Name	GRASS
Long Name	Geographic Resources Analysis Support System
URL
Definition

Short Name	HTTP
Long Name	Hypertext Transfer Protocol
URL	http://www.w3.org/Protocols/
Definition

Short Name	IaaS
Long Name	Infrastructure-as-a-Service
URL
Definition

Short Name	ICR
Long Name	Intelligent Character Recognition
URL
Definition

Short Name	ION
Long Name	Index of Organism Names
URL
Definition

Short Name	IPT
Long Name	Integrated Publishing Toolkit
URL	http://www.gbif.org/informatics/infrastructure/publishing/
Definition

Short Name	iDigBio
Long Name	integrated Digitized Biocollections
URL	http://idigbio.org/
Definition

Short Name	IPNI
Long Name	International Plant Names Index
URL	http://www.ipni.org/
Definition

Short Name	ITIS
Long Name	Integrated Taxonomic Information System
URL	http://www.itis.gov/
Definition

Short Name	IWR
Long Name	Intelligent Word Recognition
URL
Definition

Short Name	JSON
Long Name	JavaScript Object Notation
URL	http://json.org/
Definition

Short Name	JTS
Long Name	Java Topology Suite
URL
Definition

Short Name	KML
Long Name	Keyhole Markup Language
URL	http://www.opengeospatial.org/standards/kml/
Definition

Short Name	LSID
Long Name	Life Science Identifier
URL	http://sourceforge.net/projects/lsids/
Definition

Short Name	LTER
Long Name	Long Term Ecological research
URL	http://www.lternet.edu/
Definition

Short Name	METS
Long Name	Metadata Encoding and Transmission Standard (METS)
URL	http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/METS
Definition

Short Name	MOSS
Long Name	Map Overlay and Statistical System
URL
Definition

Short Name	NCBI
Long Name	National Center for Biotechnology Information
URL	http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/
Definition

Short Name	NEON
Long Name	National Ecological Observatory Network
URL	http://www.neoninc.org/
Definition

Short Name	NESCent
Long Name	National Evolutionary Synthesis Center
URL	http://www.nescent.org/
Definition

Short Name	NetCDF
Long Name	Network Common Data Form
URL	http://www.unidata.ucar.edu/software/netcdf/
Definition

Short Name	NHR
Long Name	Natural Handwriting Recognition
URL
Definition

Short Name	NLP
Long Name	Natural Language Processing
URL
Definition

Short Name	NSCA
Long Name	Natural Science Collections Alliance
URL	http://www.nscalliance.org/
Definition

Short Name	OBR
Long Name	Optical Barcode Recognition
URL
Definition

Short Name	OCCI
Long Name	Open Cloud Computing Interface
URL
Definition

Short Name	OCR
Long Name	Optical Character Recognition
URL	http://occi-wg.org/
Definition

Short Name	ODBC
Long Name	Open Database Connectivity
URL
Definition

Short Name	OGC
Long Name	Open Geospatial Consortium
URL	http://www.opengeospatial.org/
Definition

Short Name	OGR
Long Name	OpenGIS Simple Features Reference Implementation
URL
Definition

Short Name	OMR
Long Name	Optical Mark Recognition
URL
Definition

Short Name	PaaS
Long Name	Platform-as-a-Service
URL
Definition

Short Name	PBI
Long Name	Planetary Biodiversity Inventory
URL	http://research.amnh.org/pbi/
Definition

Short Name	PNG
Long Name	Portable Network Graphics
URL	http://www.w3.org/TR/PNG/
Definition

Short Name	RCN
Long Name	Research Coordination Network
URL
Definition

Short Name	RDF
Long Name	Resource Description Framework
URL	http://www.w3.org/RDF/
Definition

Short Name	REST
Long Name	REpresentational State Transfer
URL
Definition

Short Name	S3
Long Name	Simple Storage Service
URL	http://aws.amazon.com/s3/
Definition

Short Name	SaaS
Long Name	Software-as-a-Service
URL
Definition

Short Name	SAML
Long Name	Security Assertion Markup Language
URL	http://saml.xml.org/
Definition

Short Name	SPNHC
Long Name	Society for the Preservation of Natural History Collections
URL	http://www.spnhc.org/
Definition

Short Name	SQL
Long Name	Structured Query Language
URL
Definition

Short Name	TAG
Long Name	Technical Architecture Group
URL
Definition

Short Name	TAPIR
Long Name	TDWG Access Protocol for Information Retrieval
URL	http://www.tdwg.org/activities/tapir/
Definition

Short Name	TCN
Long Name	Thematic Collections Network
URL
Definition

Short Name	TCS
Long Name	Taxonomic Concept Schema
URL
Definition

Short Name	TCP
Long Name	Transmission Control Protocol
URL	http://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc793
Definition

Short Name	TNC
Long Name	Taxonomic Names and Concepts
URL
Definition

Short Name	TDWG
Long Name	Taxonomic Database Working Group
URL	http://www.tdwg.org/
Definition

Short Name	UCS
Long Name	Universal Character Set
URL
Definition

Short Name	uDig
Long Name	User-friendly Desktop Internet GIS
URL
Definition

Short Name	UTF-8
Long Name	UCS Transformation Format — 8-bit
URL	http://www.ietf.org/rfc/rfc3629.txt
Definition

Short Name	WS-I
Long Name	Web Services Interoperability
URL	http://www.oasis-ws-i.org/
Definition

Short Name	XML
Long Name	Extensible Markup Language
URL	http://www.w3.org/XML/
Definition

Short Name	XMPP
Long Name	Extensible Messaging and Presence Protocol
URL	http://xmpp.org/
Definition

Short Name	XSEDE
Long Name	Extreme Science and Engineering Discovery Environment
URL	https://www.xsede.org/
Definition

Short Name	ESPG
Long Name
URL
Definition

Short Name	WKT
Long Name
URL
Definition