Yorkshire & Humber Environmental Data Network – Publication of data
Over the coming months, North & East Yorkshire Ecological Data Centre (NEYEDC) and Humber Environmental Data Centre (HEDC), working as part of the Yorkshire and Humber Environmental Data Network (YHEDN), will be uploading the majority of their species records to the NBN Gateway. It is our intention to use the NBN Gateway to make data more widely available, specifically to regional and national projects and to statutory agency staff.
As ever, the copyright for all records remains with the original recorder and as such we want to give every opportunity for recorders to express any concerns they may have with our making their data available in this way.
The majority of records will be made available to the public at 1km resolution with full resolution data being available only to partners and organisations with a statutory conservation interest such as Natural England and the Environment Agency. However there is provision for access to sensitive data such as badger setts or raptor nests to be controlled separately.
Where existing agreements are in place limiting how a record centre can use a recorder or society’s data, these will continue to be honoured through any online system including the NBN Gateway. If this is not possible we will exclude data from that source rather than provide a level of access online which is unacceptable to the originator of the data.
We will be making every effort to eliminate the duplication of records on the NBN Gateway. As such please let us know if you have data lodged with us which you also provide to another recording scheme or society.
One implication of this move will be that we will be reviewing our policies with regard to the release of data with a view to delivering responses from data searches electronically rather than mailing paper output.
Any readers of this notice with interests in, or who may be originators of biological records that they know to be held by a Yorkshire & Humber record centre and who would like to comment, please respond to Dan Jones dan.jones@humber-edc.org.uk by 30th June or to Mark Wills mark.wills@neyedc.co.uk.
After this date it will be assumed by YHEDN, NEYEDC and HEDC that copyright holders have no objection to their records being used in this manner.
For more information about the intended release of data please see the YHEDN website
Written by Dan Jones – Humber Environmental Data Centre