How to share data through the NBN

All you need to start sharing your data with the Gateway

This section will help you meet the objectives of NBN Data Exchange Principle 1: Biodiversity data should be easily accessible to enable their use for not-for-profit decision-making, education, research and other public-benefit purposes.
  NBN Data Exchange Principle 1

Note: Please read ALL sections of this chapter if you wish to share data with the NBN

The benefits of sharing data

By now you will probably have a good idea what the NBN is, but if not you can get all that information from the Gateway pages within our useful things section. In these pages you will find introductory information on what data you can share, the benefits of doing so and details of where to go next.

In a nutshell, the NBN Gateway has been developed as an online tool to help share information about wildlife in the UK. The site is managed by the National Biodiversity Network Trust.

The Gateway is not a data management or archive service (though the Trust has plenty of support and guidance material on data management and archiving) and because of this we accept datasets from groups and organisations that are in a position to manage and maintain their data.  We do not accept data from individuals, but if you would like to see your wildlife records on the Gateway we would encourage you to pass your data to a local record centre or national recording scheme or society.  These groups are well placed to look after your data and make them available through the Gateway.

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What can be shared through the NBN Gateway?

The NBN Gateway offers a safe but flexible way for groups and organisations to share the wildlife information they hold more widely. The internet based mechanism is maintained and managed by the National Biodiversity Network Trust. Information held on the Gateway can be made available through the website (data.nbn.org.uk) and associated web-services (link?). 

Wildlife information is supplied and administered within individual datasets on the NBN Gateway. The following three types of dataset are supported by the NBN Gateway to varying degrees:

Species datasets

Species datasets are usually a range of species observation records represented by single points of geographic location at a minimum 10km square level of precision. A good level of advice is available to help you prepare and share species datasets through the Gateway. For more information and help with Species Datasets see our  Guide to preparing species datasets.

To find out more see the guide to preparing species datasets

A data provider pack, containing all the information and forms you need to prepare and submit species datasets to the NBN  is available to download

Contents of data provider pack

• Guide to providing species datasets
• The NBN data exchange format
• Metadata form for species datasets
• Guide to administering datasets
• Data providers agreement

Also see in the managing permissions section:

• Model data custondian licence
• Model data collation licence agreement
• Model recording form statement

And Useful things for sharing data:

• Data exchange tool
• Data validator tool

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Geographic datasets

Geographic datasets are usually digitised site and administration boundaries, for example Sites of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI). The process of preparing and submitting geographic datasets is not well defined. Preparing and loading geographic datasets can be temperamental. Technical advice on preparing geographic datasets for the Gateway can be provided on a case-by-case basis.

Habitat datasets

Habitat datasets are at a conceptual stage and not extensively used on the NBN Gateway. Some basic functionality has been tested for point based habitat data, but this is of use to very few datasets and is not integrated into the functionality of the site. There has been no development for habitat data represented by polygons. An NBN project run in association with Open-air Laboratories (OPAL) began in 2008 to develop the ability to handle habitat datasets on the NBN Gateway. 
 

 Who can share data through the NBN?

We require a copy of the dataset you wish to share through the Gateway. Although copies are stored securely we do not provide an official data management or archive service. As such we accept datasets from groups and organisations that are in a position to manage and maintain those data securely into the future. We do not accept data from individuals. If you would like to see your personal wildlife records on the NBN Gateway we encourage you to pass your data to a Local Record Centre or a Recording Scheme, Society or Group. These groups are well placed to look after your data and make them available through the NBN Gateway.

Download the data providers pack

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