Hello Geoff, GBIF uses simples integers as taxon identifiers, for example 2396049 for Ecsenius bicolor. These ids are stable, but obviously not globally unique. If you need a URI right now I would recommend for now to use our restful portal URL: http://www.gbif.org/species/2396049 For the future I could imagine us assigning DOIs to taxa reusing the current integer ids, but that has to be carefully evaluated first. Would a taxon DOI be a valuable feature for you? Cheers, Markus -- Markus Döring Software Developer Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF) mdoering@gbif.org http://www.gbif.org On 05 Aug 2014, at 05:17, Geoff Shuetrim <geoff@galexy.net> wrote:
Working with a range of web services, I have found myself making extensive use of the LSIDs that are specific to each data source. For example, for ITIS, I use the Ecsenius bicolor LSID: urn:lsid:itis.gov:itis_tsn:636326
For WoRMS, the LSID for Ecsenius bicolor is: urn:lsid:marinespecies.org:taxname:277652
For Atlas of living Australia the LSID for Ecsenius bicolor is: urn:lsid:biodiversity.org.au:afd.taxon:99c29e7c-5b04-4e57-8e6b-82aa442a801a
Is there a GBIF LSID that can similarly be used as a unique identifier for a taxon? I have come across the various GBIF unique keys but these are not unique outside of the GBIF environment and within the Gaia Guide systems I am deciding how best to work with these, ensuring their uniqueness, alongside identifiers from other data sources.
Thanks again for your assistance.
Geoff Shuetrim Gaia Guide Association http://www.gaiaguide.info/ _______________________________________________ API-users mailing list API-users@lists.gbif.org http://lists.gbif.org/mailman/listinfo/api-users