Datasets and their use
FinBIF collects and maintains several types of data. They come from various sources and have different user access licenses. Bellow is a summary of different types of data. The default license for FinBIF’s own data is CC BY 4.0 license.
| Dataset | Description | Source | License |
|---|---|---|---|
| Occurrence data | Species-time-place information about observations, specimens | Various | Each collection/dataset has it’s own license |
| Occurrence media | Images, audio, videos about occurrences, habitats, labels, etc. | Various | Each image has it’s own license defined by the author |
| Collection metadata | Information about occurrence data sources/collections/datasets | FinBIF, in future possibly other partner organizations | CC-0 |
| Quality annotations | User, expert and system generated annotations about quality/reliability of occurrences | FinBIF annotation database | Default CC-BY |
| Taxonomy | Naming of organisms, classifying organisms in a hierarchical system or in taxonomic ranks, distribution data and biological interactions, identifiers across different systems, publications, etc. | FinBIF taxon database. | Default CC-BY. Note that FinBIF portal shows links to other data sources that have their own licenses; their information is not accessible through FinBIF services. |
| Taxon images | Images for species identification | FinBIF media service, in future possibly others | Each image has it’s own license defined by the author |
| Taxon descriptions | Texts about species identification, ecology, etc | FinBIF taxon database, in future possibly others | Default CC-BY |
| News | News about nature / species. | Various | For FinBIF default CC-BY. For other sources the license may be undefined (assume full copyright) |
| Persons | FinBIF users | FinBIF person database | Only full name and identifier are shown publicly. Names can not be licensed. |
| Other metadata | Areas, glossary, etc. | FinBIF metadata | CC0 |
| Map layers | Layers usable in FinBIF portal map services | Various | Each layer displays owner and license |
Some data, especially occurrence data may be secured because of sensitivity issues. You can read more about handling sensitive information from Data management subsection.
You can find more information about FinBIF licenses under User access license subsection.
Accessing data
There are several ways you can use our data.
- Browse the FinBIF portal and study the data
- Make a file download from the FinBIF portal (taxonomy data or occurrence data)
- Make a data request concerning sensitive occurrence data (see instructions section)
- Use open data through our API (machine readable interface)
- Use open data through R-library (library in R-language, not yet published)
- Use open data through GIS services (not yet published)
- Request access to our closed API that contains also full details about sensitive data
Citation instructions
Photos and other media files
Please note that each photo or other media file has a separate license or note “all rights reserved”. When republishing media files, it’s up to the publisher to follow copyright legistlation and license requirements (mentioning the creator, mentioning the license, linking to source, other requirements by the licenses).
If all rights are reserved, the media file cannot be published e.g. on another website.
Occurrence data file download
A file download done at FinBIF portal will be send to email and contains an unique identifier for the download. The identifier is also an internet address that contains information about the download, including metadata of the individual datasets.
The file download also contains citation instructions.
Species card descriptions
Species descriptions are cited as follows, using Rosa rugosa as an example:
Ryttäri, T., FinBIF, https://laji.fi/taxon/MX.38815 (accessed xx.xx.20xx).
Authors of the descriptions are mentioned in the FinBIF portal next to the texts.
If the author has not been given, you can cite, for example:
FinBIF, https://laji.fi/taxon/MX.xxxxx (accessed xx.xx.20xx).
Taxonomy / Species list
Species list loaded from FinBIF can be cited as follows:
FinBIF 20xx. Lajiluettelo: Coleoptera. https://laji.fi/en/taxon/list?target=MX.43121 (accessed xx.xx.20xx)
The address should be the exact address that was used to generate/filter the desired list and the description should briefly state the filters, for example “Endangered Finnish species”, “Invasive alien species occurring in Finland”.