Written by Ella Vogel (NBN Secretariat) & David Roy (Biological Records Centre)
The Consultants Portal has surpassed its target of having 20,000 records uploaded by the end of 2015. As this article is being written, there are currently 22,272 records on the Consultants Portal, with many more in the process of being formatted and uploaded.
But what happens to these records? Aside from being available for the uploader to use and manage for their own purposes, the records also go through an integrated system ensuring that they are available for review (e.g. verification) and for further use.
The Consultants Portal is built using the Indicia online recording software and data is stored within a data warehouse hosted by the Biological Records Centre. This has the benefit of linking to the iRecord verification system and providing a convenient route for data to flow to National Recording Schemes and Societies, Local Environmental Records Centre as well as the NBN Gateway and Atlas of Living Scotland. All records that are submitted via the Consultants Portal will be assigned with a data licence (chosen by the submitter), and this data licence will remain with the record throughout its journey.
Please get in touch if you would like to know more about the Consultants Portal (E: consultantsportal@nbn.org.uk), or sign up at www.consultantsportal.uk
Read the article below on the Consultants Portal, that has recently been published in British Wildlife magazine.