[Nhcoll-l] Lack of latitude and longitude

[Tom Schiøtte]

Hi all,

I would use the opportunity, now that this discussion is running, to warn against the (perhaps tempting) practice of using geolocation tools on old collections that have not previously been registered digitally. Often the actual uncertainty radius of the recorded localities will be much larger than we are used to nowadays, and will make the value of applying coordinates very questionable.  The same goes to an even higher degree for cases where the ‘locality’ given is just a geographical area. It can require quite some study to find out if the name of the area was understood in the same way then as it is now. I have seen a few cases where vague type localities of species described 100-200 years ago have unjustifiably been pinpointed down to degrees and minutes.

Cheers

Tom

Tom Schiøtte

Collection manager, Echinodermata & Mollusca
Natural History Museum of Denmark (Zoology)
Universitetsparken 15
DK 2100 Copenhagen OE

+45 35 32 10 48
TSchioette at snm.ku.dk<mailto:TSchioette at snm.ku.dk>



From: Nhcoll-l <nhcoll-l-bounces at mailman.yale.edu> On Behalf Of Douglas Yanega
Sent: 30. september 2024 18:41
To: nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu
Subject: Re: [Nhcoll-l] Lack of latitude and longitude


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Assignment of arbitrary points is a balancing act.

It is a recommended practice (e.g., in the Darwin Core protocols) that every specimen-level database record with a georeference should include an uncertainty radius. There are lots of collections, ours included, that follow this standard.

The problem is that not everyone who USES specimen data makes use of this "error radius" information. As tempting as it is to say "Well, it's not our fault if people abuse our data", it does nonetheless represent a real concern, such that we might NOT want to put specimen data online if the error radius is exceptionally large.

The use of centroids, common as it is, can have serious repercussions when dealing with assessments for T&E taxa. In my own experience, the datasets for various bumblebees are "contaminated" with so many such points that it has created problems, where very rare and geographically-limited species are mapping over much larger geographic areas than are realistic. This can keep a species in actual need of protection from BEING protected, and cause wasted resources when a species DOES get listed, and people spend millions of dollars doing surveys for the species in places where they have never occurred.

The responsibility here is shared, ultimately, between data providers and data consumers. Providers shouldn't assume that all users will know to check for big error radii, and consumers shouldn't assume that the error radius is always zero. Sometimes, even though you might want to have a data point in your database, you either shouldn't assign one, or - if you do - you shouldn't share it online. Not to prolong or extend the discussion, but a similar issue occurs with respect to non-native plants or animals raised in gardens or quarantine facilities; if they are given a georeference for their "novel" location, this is very open to misinterpretation. We have thousands of record in our database of this nature, as we maintain a major insectary/quarantine facility, with thousands of voucher specimens, but those data are not put online unless the data being displayed are for the point of origin.

Peace,

--

Doug Yanega      Dept. of Entomology       Entomology Research Museum

Univ. of California, Riverside, CA 92521-0314     office:951-827-8704

FaceBook: Doug Yanega (disclaimer: opinions are mine, not UCR's)

             https://faculty.ucr.edu/~heraty/yanega.html<https://faculty.ucr.edu/~heraty/yanega.html>

  "There are some enterprises in which a careful disorderliness

        is the true method" - Herman Melville, Moby Dick, Chap. 82
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