info.laji.fi

Knowledge base of the FinBIF

File download field documentation

File download fields documentation

This page describes the fields used in the occurrence record files downloaded from FinBIF. See also instructions how to get the data correctly into Excel.

This documentation will be updated later to better describe the data. File format has not been finalized and will change in the future.

The uncompressed zip-file contains several text files:

  • rows: This file contains basic information about the occurrences. If you are not using data collected by a research projects, it’s usually enough to use just this file.
  • gathering_facts: Contains project-specific fields about gathering event (e.g. biotope or observation methods).
  • unit_facts: Contains  project-specific fields about occurrence (e.g. characteristics of an individual).

Rows-file documentation

Data fields in this file are organized into three levels:

  1. Document: Metadata about the record. A document contains one to multiple gatherings.
  2. Gathering: Collecting event -related information about the record. A gathering contains one to multiple units.
  3. Unit: Observation/individual -related information about the record.

This table describes the fields, gives their type (string, int, boolean or enum (= controlled vocabulary)). The last column shows whether the field contains an interpretation of the original data., made by FinBIF data warehouse.

FieldDescriptionTypeInterpreted?Examples of enum values
Unit.UnitIDPersistent identifier for the unitstring
Unit.TaxonVerbatimVerbatim taxon name entered by the userstring
Unit.Quality.Issue.Issue(not usually used yet)
Unit.Quality.Issue.Source(not usually used yet)
Unit.Quality.Issue.Message(not usually used yet)
Unit.Quality.Taxon.ReliabilityQuality rating for the identificationenumRELIABLE, LIKELY, NEUTRAL, SUSPICIOUS, IMPOSSIBLE
Unit.Quality.Taxon.SourceSource of the identification quality ratingenumCOLLECTION_QUALITY_RATING, USER_ANNOTATION, ORIGINAL_OBSERVER
Unit.Quality.Taxon.Message(not usually used yet)
Unit.ReportedTaxonConfidenceConfidence for identification in the original sourceenumSURE, UNSURE, SUBSPECIES_UNSURE
Taxon.IDPersistent identifier of the taxonstringTRUE
Taxon.ScientificNameScientific namestringTRUE
Taxon.FinnishNameFinnish namestringTRUE
Taxon.EnglishNameEnglish namestringTRUE
Taxon.SwedishNameSwedish namestringTRUE
Taxon.TaxonomicOrderInteger for the taxonomic order of the taxonintTRUE
Unit.NameAccordingTo(not usually used yet)
Unit.AbundanceAbundance descriptionstring
Unit.Interpretations.AnnotatedTaxonIdPersistent identifier of the taxon, if the identification has changed based on an annotationstringTRUE
Unit.Interpretations.IndividualCountNumber of individuals, interpreted automatically based on Unit.AbundanceintTRUE
Unit.Interpretations.PairCount(not usually used yet)
Unit.RecordBasisType of the recordenumHUMAN_OBSERVATION_UNSPECIFIED, PRESERVED_SPECIMEN
Unit.DetailedRecordBasisMore detailed type of the recordenum
Unit.TypeSpecimenIs the  record about a type specimenboolean
Unit.DetPerson who made the identification (det). Free text from the source, usually Firstname, Lastname.string
Unit.SexSex/gender of the indiviudual(s)enum
Unit.LifeStageLife stage of the indiviudual(s)enum
Unit.WildIs the individual wild or notboolean
Unit.BreedingSiteIs the observation about a breeding siteboolean
Unit.IndividualID(not usually used yet)
Unit.InvasiveControlControl/eradication measures taken against invasive speciesenum
Unit.NotesNotes about the unitstring
Unit.AnnotationCountNumber od comments about the unitint
Unit.MediaCountNumber of media files in the unitint
Gathering.GatheringIDPersistent identifier for the gatheringstring
Gathering.Quality.Issue.IssueProblems which have been automatically detected in locality information.enumTRUECOORDINATES_MUNICIPALITY_MISMATCH, INVALID_YKJ_COORDINATES, TOO_LARGE_AREA
Gathering.Quality.Issue.SourceSource of issues – where the locality problems have been detectedenumTRUEAUTOMATED_FINBIF_VALIDATION, ORIGINAL_DOCUMENT
Gathering.Quality.Issue.MessageDescription of locality problemsstring
Gathering.Date.BeginBegin datestring
Gathering.Date.EndEnd date. If end date has not been given, this is same as begin date.string
Gathering.HourBeginBegin hourint
Gathering.HourEndEnd hour. If end time has not been given, this is empty.int
Gathering.DisplayDateTimeDates and times as one stringstringTRUE2019-08-02 [12:00] – 2019-08-04 [19:00]
Gathering.TeamMembersList of observers, separated by semicolons Names are free text from the source, usually Firstname, Lastname.string
Gathering.Conversions.WGS84.LatMin(N)WGS84 bounding box coordinatesdecimalTRUE
Gathering.Conversions.WGS84.LatMax(N)WGS84 bounding box coordinatesdecimalTRUE
Gathering.Conversions.WGS84.LonMin(E)WGS84 bounding box coordinatesdecimalTRUE
Gathering.Conversions.WGS84.LonMax(E)WGS84 bounding box coordinatesdecimalTRUE
Gathering.Conversions.WGS84CenterPoint.Lat(N)WGS84 decimal degree center pointdecimalTRUE
Gathering.Conversions.WGS84CenterPoint.Lon(E)WGS84 decimal degree center pointdecimalTRUE
Gathering.Conversions.YKJ.LatMin(N)Finnish uniform grid coordinate bounding boxintTRUE
Gathering.Conversions.YKJ.LatMax(N)Finnish uniform grid coordinate bounding boxintTRUE
Gathering.Conversions.YKJ.LonMin(E)Finnish uniform grid coordinate bounding boxintTRUE
Gathering.Conversions.YKJ.LonMax(E)Finnish uniform grid coordinate bounding boxintTRUE
Gathering.Conversions.EUREF.LatMin(N)EUREF coordinate bounding boxintTRUE
Gathering.Conversions.EUREF.LatMax(N)EUREF coordinate bounding boxintTRUE
Gathering.Conversions.EUREF.LonMin(E)EUREF coordinate bounding boxintTRUE
Gathering.Conversions.EUREF.LonMax(E)EUREF coordinate bounding boxintTRUE
Gathering.Conversions.YKJ_10KM.Lat(N)Finnish uniform 10 km grid coordinate northingintTRUE
Gathering.Conversions.YKJ_10KM.Lon(E)Finnish uniform 10 km grid coordinate eastingintTRUE
Gathering.Conversions.YKJ_1KM.Lat(N)Finnish uniform 1 km grid coordinate northingintTRUE
Gathering.Conversions.YKJ_1KM.Lon(E)Finnish uniform 1 km grid coordinate eastingintTRUE
Gathering.Conversions.CenturyCentury. If spans multiple, this is empty.intTRUE
Gathering.Conversions.DecadeDecade. If spans multiple, this is empty.intTRUE
Gathering.Conversions.YearYear. If spans multiple, this is empty.intTRUE
Gathering.Conversions.MonthMonth. If spans multiple, this is empty.intTRUE
Gathering.Conversions.DayDay. If spans multiple, this is empty.intTRUE
Gathering.Conversions.DayOfYearBeginBegin date day of year.intTRUE
Gathering.Conversions.DayOfYearEndEnd date day of year.intTRUE
Gathering.Interpretations.CoordinateAccuracyCoordinate accuracy estimate in metersintTRUE
Gathering.Interpretations.CoordinateSourceSource of the coordinates.enumTRUEREPORTED_VALUE, FINNISH_MUNICIPALITY
Gathering.Interpretations.CountryCountrystringTRUE
Gathering.Interpretations.BioprovinceBiogeographical province  (Eliömaakunta in Finnish)stringTRUE
Gathering.Interpretations.MunicipalityMunicipalitystringTRUE
Gathering.Interpretations.CountrySourceSource of country namestringTRUEREPORTED_VALUE, COORDINATES, COORDINATE_CENTERPOINT
Gathering.Interpretations.BioProvinceSourceSource of biogeographical province namestringTRUE
Gathering.Interpretations.MunicipalitySourceSource of municipality namestringTRUE
Gathering.HigherGeographyVerbatimVerbatim name from original source for higher region than countrystring
Gathering.CountryVerbatimVerbatim country name from original sourcestring
Gathering.MunicipalityVerbatimVerbatim municipality name from original sourcestring
Gathering.BioProvinceVerbatimVerbatim biogeographical province name from original sourcestring
Gathering.ProvinceVerbatimVerbatim administrative province name from original sourcestring
Gathering.LocalityVerbatimVerbatim locality name from original sourcestring
Gathering.NotesNotes about the gatheringstring
Gathering.MediaCountNumber of media files in the gatheringint
Document.DocumentIDPersistent identifier for the document that contains the recordstring
Document.DataConcealmentWhether data is concealed. Always PUBLIC if data is downloaded through public channels.enumPUBLIC
Document.DataSecureLevelLevel of data concealment. Always NONE  if data is downloaded through public channels.enumNONE
Document.DataSecureReasonsReason tha data is coarsenedenum
Document.PartialDocumentWhther part of the observations from the document have been concealedboolean
Document.CollectionIDPersitent identifier of the collection that contains the recordstring
Document.Quality.CollectionReliabilityRatingReliability rating for the collection (1-5)int
Document.Quality.Issue.Issue(not usually used yet)
Document.Quality.Issue.Source(not usually used yet)
Document.Quality.Issue.Message(not usually used yet)
Document.SourceIDPersitent identifier of the primary information system where the record is fromstring
Document.NamedPlaceIDPersistent identifier of the collecting locatlity, if such was usedstring
Document.KeywordsKeywords for the documentstring
Document.FirstLoadDateDate the record was first loaded to FinBIF data warehousestring
Document.LoadDateDate the record was last loaded to FinBIF data warehousestring
Document.CreatedDate the record was originally createdstring
Document.ModifiedDate the record was last  modifiedstring
Document.NotesNotes about the documentstring
Document.MediaCountNumber of media files in the documentint
Scroll to top