Focal Persons point of view

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Focal Persons point of view Interaction with
EURISCO

• Iva Faberová
• September 2003

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Introduction

• EURISCO structure and application
• Real contact with the data conversion, upload or
  finding information - different experience
• Web application should firstly serve to the user

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User category

• Primary user
• NFP collecting, exporting and
• delivering data active
• password protected area
• Secondary user
• common user looking for seeds,
• PGR information, open information
• access

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Documentation system levels 1

• Existing or developed ex situ PGRFA National
  Inventories
• Country level of standardization- all crops
• passport standards
• - variable database platforms
• - centralized / distributed systems
• NI are developed since the eighties, when wide
  computerization started

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Documentation system levels 2

• Crop level across Europe
• Development of CCDBs - centralized
• more or less its own structure based on
  standards
• -the database manager merges data
• high requirement of manual work
• The oldest published Avena (Seidewitz,
  Braunschweig, 1985), Barley (H. Knüpffer,
  Gatersleben, 1987)
• at present 55 CCDBs

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Documentation system levels 3

• NI and CCDBs share a lot information, part of
  data is unique
• How to merge variable data sources and different
  layers into one ?
• EURISCO high level of standardization

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Documentation standards 1

• Descriptor Lists - FAO/IBPGR/IPGRI standards for
  PGRFA collections
• Descriptor lists tools for ordering and
• evaluation of collections (thirties, forties)
• Passport inventory data - universal
• characterization/evaluation crop specific
• storage/regeneration data storage specific
• Unique identifier - accession number

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Documentation standards 2

• FAO/IBPGR standards - computerization
• The IBPGR 1977-1982 first published descriptor
  lists for PGRFA collections
• passport sets of descriptors slightly different
  for different crops
• 1985 descriptors for main crops published ca
  25-27 descriptors in set
• Unique identifier - accession number

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Documentation standards 3

• IPGRI/FAO MCPDL February 1997 after the meeting
  in Budapest (1996)
• Computerized most part of data
• 19 IPGRI descriptors 6 FAO descriptors
• Information exchange across crops
• Unique identifier - accession number

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Documentation standards 4

• IPGRI/FAO MCPDL 2001 ver. 2 -revised (December
  2001)
• 28 descriptors
• provides an explanation of content, coding
• scheme and suggested field names
• refinment of field content
• Unique identifier - accession number

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Documentation standards 5

• EURISCO descriptor list 34 descriptors
• Followed the MCPDL ver.2 - enlarged MCPDL ver. 2
  by 6 descriptors, four are newly created fields
  for non standard institutes, (donor, breeder,
  collector, safety duplication institute)
• URL link to the original data source and
  the NI code
• Unique accession identifier
• NI codeInstcodeGenusAccession number (EURISCO
  obligatory fields)

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EURISCO New Descriptors 1
NI code data merging on higher than national
level URL qualitative step in data
utilization via web direct link to the original
data source, characterization/evaluation data and
link to collection holder, where plant material
could be requested
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EURISCO New Descriptors 2

• Institutions
• Temporarily satisfying solution of the List of
  Institutes - cooperation with FAO WIEWS new
  INSTCODE continuously updated list.
• EURISCO has similar character of update like FAO
  WIEWS mechanism - one NFP responsible for all
  updates per country, but the system in not
  fully automatic, updates are made on-line via web
  application

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Development of passport descriptor standards 1
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Development of passport descriptor standards 2
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Development of passport descriptor standards 3
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Development of passport descriptor standards 4

• 7 descriptors without any change
• (accession number, donor, genus, collecting
• number, collecting institute, location of
• collection site, altitude)
•  
• 9 descriptors disappeared from the list
• (collector name, collecting country,
• province/state, local/vernacular name,
• photograph, three FAO availability codes
• and acquisition type)

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Data conversion 1

• Data conversion
• Clear and definite requirements for data format
  and structure necessary for automatic update
  procedure
• Revision and update of the data and their higher
  level of standardization.
• Partly manual time-consuming work, which should
  be done once with advantage for the future
• Development of conversion scripts for automatic
  conversion procedures, which will be reused for
  the following EURISCO updates

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Data conversion 2

• Tools for data checking
• Taxcheck - confirmation of accepted
  names and synonyms using GRIN taxonomic system
• (genus, species, taxon detection of synonyms
  and correction of misspellings in taxon names)
• http//pgrdoc.ipgri.cgiar.org/taxcheck/grin/

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Data conversion 3

• Tools for data checking
• Validator.xls developed 2002 by Theo van
  Hintum - tool for data validity check
  comparison of data to standards and localization
  non standard values

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Data conversion 4

• Standard tables should be regularly updated
  (extended country code ISO 3166 ROU or ROM?, FAO
  WIEWS Instcode)
• Tab delimited text problems with additional
  columns after conversion from Excel
• Impact full standardization and data quality
  improvement, data applicability for wide exchange

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Data delivery 1

• EURISCO import and upload mechanism is well
  developed
• An automatic data import to EURISCO requires
  strict standardization
• Size limit 8MB (GZIPP)
• Import takes long time, the loading meter would
  be needed
• Difficulties with the local network setting
  limitation by firewall, proxy server

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Data delivery 2

• Optional setting of the error level
• Visualization of wrong fields/records upload
  helps to improve data quality data integrity
  check
• Wrong records should be completed by the
  accession numbers
• EURISCO geographic coordinates checker

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Data delivery 3

• Impact
• Tool and motivation for data quality improvement
• Speeding up development of new standardized PGR
  documentation systems
• Easy data exchange - once converted data could be
  used in many CCDBses
• Motivation of NFP to continuous update
• Web presentation NI, passport part of CCDBs on
  the same level of update

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Secondary user 1

• CCDB manager
• This EURISCO part is still in development and at
  present is not very user-friendly. Similarity of
  application to SINGER.
• SINGER adjusted to the character of CGIAR
  centres. But the content offers more detail
  information - higher number of passport fields-
  higher number of records downloadability
  required
• Taxonomy not standardized

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Secondary user 2

• CCDBs manager
• Apropriate accession inventory is a prerequisite
  for the next step - characterization/evaluation
  data, which should be the main task for CCDBs
  managers
• Difficult update of CCDBs - once collected data
  are hardly updated improvement of quality level
• EURISCO offers immediately the last update

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Secondary user 3

• CCDBs manager
• Passport data download from EURISCO for purposes
  of CCDBs solution of the problem data update in
  CCDBs the first data collection relatively
  easybut the update is difficult -
  rationalization of work of managers
• Update Avena (1984) , Hordeum (1983), Brassica-
  minimal update in EWDB (1997)
• Interaction NI and database requests

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Secondary user 4

• CCDBs managers of newly developed databases can
  download the data directly from the EURISCO and
  can spend their work on characterization and
  evaluation data
• (example Fagopyrum CCDB)
• Profit of EURISCO

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Secondary user 5

• Common user - information and plant material
  seeker
• Quick orientation in all European PGRFA
  collections and direct link to the
  genebank/institution holding the seeds or plant
  material

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Summary

• At the beginning many skeptical visions
  concerning merging data from variable sources
  different structures, different software,
  different level and data quality centralized or
  distributed model
• Quick orientation in all European PGRFA
  collections and link to the original record
• Rationalization of work with data- download from
  EURISCO