With the forthcoming release of a new resource library on GBIF.org, the GBIF Secretariat plans to retire its former websites and associated web services, which are presently located at http://data.gbif.org and http://www-old.gbif.org. On 31 January 2015, links to these resources will be redirected to GBIF.org, which launched in October 2013.
The decision to retire these systems is part of an ongoing housekeeping process that serves to improve both GBIF services and the GBIF brand. The GBIF network has developed and documented many prototype information systems in the course of establishing its infrastructure, but maintaining these legacy services is not without human or financial costs. They also sometimes create confusion for users from outside the community, particularly where information and data services are outdated and unmaintained yet accessible.
Such instances reflect poorly on the current status and effectiveness of GBIF’s services and operational infrastructure. With GBIF serving a rapidly growing community of users and publishers, we need to ensure that users find the most up-to-date data through fully supported services.
We feel that the benefits of this approach outweigh the potential disadvantages, though we recognise that it may risk disrupting services that still rely on the legacy services. To that end, the former data portal has prominently displayed a notice for more than a year, alerting users to its static content and eventual retirement while discouraging its continued use as a means of accessing data. We ask GBIF community members to help us identifying key services and use cases to help guide our progressive and ongoing enhancements to GBIF.org. Any feedback should be sent direct to GBIF.