Web services

Web services are machine-to-machine mechanisms for accessing and sharing information over a network. The Atlas of Living Australia (Atlas) and its associated information systems provides web services for accessing information over the internet. By using an Atlas web service, information from the Atlas or an associated information system can be used to validate information, such as a species name or embed information or functionality in another website.

Additional web services are provided from time-to-time.

Please send any bug reports, suggestions for improvements or new services to: developers ‘AT’ ala.org.au.

General web services

Name Description Status
Full Text Search Full text search on all Text. URL of form:
http://bie.ala.org.au/search.json?q=red+kangaroo		 Available
Autocomplete Used to provide a list of scientific and common names that can be used to automatically complete a supplied partial name. URL of form:
http://bie.ala.org.au/search/auto.json?q=Macropus%20ru&limit=5		 Available
Show Species Returns all available data for a given taxon concept. URI path must contain a valid identifier (usually an LSID). URL of form:
http://bie.ala.org.au/species/urn:lsid:biodiversity.org.au:afd.taxon:aa745ff0-c776-4d0e-851d-369ba0e6f537.json		 Available
Show Short Species Info Returns the abbreviated profile for a given taxon concepts. Available
Show Species Info Returns the profile for a given taxon concept. Available
Show More Species Info Returns the extended profile for a given taxon concept. Available
Show Chart Info Returns the occurrence info for a given taxon concept. Available
Show Source Info Get the list of collections, institutes, data resources and data providers that have specimens for the supplied taxon concept guid. Available
Get Guid For Names Returns guid for a name. Available
Get Guids For Names Intended for batch or bulk use – returns guids for a specified list of names. Available
Get Image Repo Location Returns URL for an image held in the repository. Available
Get Document Details JSON web service (AJAX) to return details for a repository document. Available
Get List Status Returns pest and conservation status. Available
Get Names For Guids Returns a list of scientific names for an input list of Guids. Available
Get Synonym Names For Guid Returns a list of scientific names that are declared synonyms for the Guid. Available
Get Species Location Map Info Returns urls for map images. Available

Taxon (species name) services—for exploring species names from the National Species List

Use Verify that a species name exists and it’s correct spelling. Enter all or a segment of a scientific name or common name.
Input Name string
Output Returns current accepted taxon name (correct spelling) for an entered name string (taxon or common name). Will resolve scientific and common names.
Output payload Requested name string (correct spelling), current accepted taxon name, synonyms, and common names. It is also intended to include taxon LSID, and synonym LSIDs into the payload of this service.
Output formats RDF/XML, CSV, JSON, HTML

You are welcome to use the code for this service in your own web site.

See http://biodiversity.org.au/confluence/display/bdv/IBIS%20Services for more technical information.

Spatial Portal services—for accessing geospatial data

We’ve set up example applications to show how the Spatial Portal services can be used together. See http://spatial.ala.org.au/ws/examples/ for links to the apps, source code, hints and tips.

Name Description Status
Get a list of all layers Returns a list of all geospatial layers (both contextual and environmental)
http://spatial.ala.org.au/layers-service/layers		 Available
Get a list of all environmental/grided layers Returns a list of all environmental/gridded (raster) layers.
http://spatial.ala.org.au/layers-service/layers/grids		 Available
Get a list of all contextual layers Returns a list of all contextual (polygonal) layers.
http://spatial.ala.org.au/layers-service/layers/shapes		 Available
Get a list of all fields Returns a list of all fields (fields provide views of a layer)
http://spatial.ala.org.au/layers-service/fields		 Available
Get information about a specific field, given a field id Returns a field definition (these are used to create objects)
http://spatial.ala.org.au/layers-service/field/cl22		 Available
Get a list of objects, given the field id Returns a list of objects (polygons) given a field ID
http://spatial.ala.org.au/layers-service/objects/cl22		 Available
Get information about an object, given its pid Returns a given object given its pid
http://spatial.ala.org.au/layers-service/object/3742602		 Available
Download a shape object as KML, given its pid: Download shape object as KML (Note you will still need to wrap the kml with:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<kml xmlns="http://www.opengis.net/kml/2.2">
  <Placemark>
    <name>NAME</name>
        <<KML OUTPUT HERE>>
  </Placemark>
</kml>
 http://spatial.ala.org.au//layers-service/shape/kml/3742602
 Available
Download a shape object as WKT, given its pid Download shape object as WKT (Well Known Text), used in many popular GIS systems
http://spatial.ala.org.au/layers-service/shape/wkt/3742602		 Available
Download a shape object as GeoJSON, given its pid Download shape object as GeoJSON (for use in third party web applications)
http://spatial.ala.org.au/layers-service/shape/geojson/3742602		 Available
Search for named polygons Search for named polygons (by name or substring)
http://spatial.ala.org.au/layers-service/search?q=canberra		 Available
Intersect a layer(s) at a given set of coordinates Provided a set of coordinates, return intersections through polygonal and environmental layers
http://spatial.ala.org.au/layers-service/intersect/cl22/-29.911/132.769		 Available
Get a list of all distributions Get a list of all species distributions
http://spatial.ala.org.au/layers-service/distributions		 Available
Get information about a specific distribution, given a spcode Get specific information about a distribution
http://spatial.ala.org.au/layers-service/distribution/37031044		 Available
Static Species Density Heatmap (biocache service) Returns a heatmap for occurrence records (provided a biocache search query)
http://biocache.ala.org.au/ws/density/map?q=*:*		 Available
Static Species Density Legend (biocache service) Returns a legend for a heatmap
http://biocache.ala.org.au/ws/density/legend?q=*:*		 Available
Occurrences Bounding Box (biocache service) Provided a biocache query, returns a spatial bounding box that encompasses the result set
http://biocache.ala.org.au/ws/webportal/bbox?q=macropus		 Available
Data Providers (biocache service) Provided a biocache query, returns a json object consisting of data providers of matching records
http://biocache.ala.org.au/ws/webportal/dataProviders?q=macropus		 Available
Get species list (biocache service) Given a biocache query, reurns a json object containing a species list
http://biocache.ala.org.au/ws/webportal/species?q=macropus&pageSize=100		 Available
Get species list as CSV (biocache service) As above, csv output
http://biocache.ala.org.au/ws/webportal/species.csv?q=macropus&wkt=POLYGON((140:-37,151:-37,151:-26,140.1310:-26,140:-37))&pageSize=100		 Available
Get occurrences (biocache service) Given a biocache query, returns a json object containing species occurrences
http://biocache.ala.org.au/ws/webportal/occurrences?q=macropus		 Available
Get occurrences as gzipped CSV (biocache service) As above, gzipped csv download
http://biocache.ala.org.au/ws/webportal/occurrences.gz?q=macropus&fl=longitude,latitude		 Available

Directory services—for information on data providers and partners

Accesses collections.ala.org.au/public/map

Name Description Status
Data Services Major entity types: collections, institutions, dataProvider, dataResource and dataHub (as well as these minor entities: contacts, contact relationships with the main entities. These entities can be retrieved, created and updated via the data services. Delete will be supported when suitable authentication is implemented. Available
Contacts (Raw Contacts and Contacts for Resources) Contacts exist as resources in their own right. They can be addressed in the standard form (URI). A contact may be associated with any number of resources. A resource may have any number of contacts. The relationship between a contract and a resource has its own metadata such as the role that the contract has in relation tot he resource, the contact’s editing rights etc. Contacts may elect to be notified when significant events occur to a resource. Available
Metadata Exchange Services (EML Service) The collectory provides a service to extract resource metadata in EML format. The response complies with GBIF’s EML schema. This document is suitable for inclusion in a Darwin Core Archive as the metadata description of the contained records. Available
Lookup Services Lookup collection from institution and collection codes. Available
Lookup Services – Summary for an Entity This service returns a subset of metadata for an entity (listing a summary of the collection). Available
Lookup Services – Name for an Entity This service is even more cut down than the summary, it returns only the name of an entity given its UID (lists the collection using the name entity). Available
Lookup Services – Taxonomic coverage hints for an Entity This service plays a role in taxonomic name matching during the processing of raw bio-cache records. When a record has been mapped to a collection, the collection metadata can be used to inform the matching process by adding weight to matches within particular taxonomic groups. Available
Citation Services Citation services return attribution and licence information for digitised records that can be accessed through Atlas. This service accepts a list of entity UIDs and returns citation information for each entity. Any entity types can be specified but only data resources have meaningful citation information. For each entity, the service returns the name of the entity, its citation text, its rights text and a ‘more information’ string containing a link to the collectory page for the entity. Available

Biodiversity Heritage Library (BHL) services—for accessing information about literature in BHL

Name Description Status
GetPageMetadata Return metadata about a page. You may choose to include the OCR text and a list of names found on the page. Available
GetPageOcrText Return the OCR-generated text of a page. Available
GetPageNames Return a list of names that appear on a page. Available
GetItemMetadata Return metadata about an item. You may choose to include a list of the item’s pages. Available
GetItemByIdentifier Find and return metadata about an item or items that match a specific identifier. If you know the Internet Archive identifier for an item, use this method to look up the equivalent item in BHL. Available
GetItemPages Return a list of an item’s pages. Available
GetUnpublishedItems Return a list of the identifiers of all unpublished items. Available
GetTitleMetadata Return metadata about a title. You may choose to include a list of the items (books) associated with the title. Available
GetTitleItems Return a list of a title’s items (books). Available
GetTitleByIdentifier Find and return metadata about a title or titles that match a specific identifier. Available
TitleSearchSimple Perform a simple title search. The full title (as specified in MARC 245a and MARC 245b library records) is searched for the specified string. Basic metadata for all full and partial matches is returned. Available
GetTitleBibTex Return a citation for a title, using the BibTeX format. Available
GetTitleEndNote Return a citation for a title, using the EndNote format. Available
GetUnpublishedTitles Return a list of the identifiers of all unpublished titles. Available
SubjectSearch Return a list of subjects that match (fully or partially) the specified search string. Available
GetSubjectTitles Return a list of titles associated with a subject. Available
AuthorSearch Return a list of authors that match (fully or partially) the specified search string. The names searched are those contained in MARC 100a, 110a, 111a, 700a, 710a, and 711a library records. Available
GetAuthorTitles Return a list of titles associated with a given BHL author identifier. Unless the identifier for a particular BHL author record is known in advance, this method should be used in combination with the AuthorSearch method. Available
NameCount Return the number of unique names found on pages in BHL. Names both with and without NameBank identifiers are counted. Available
NameList List the unique names. By using the startrow and batchsize parameters appropriately, you can pull the list all at once, or in batches (i.e. 1000 names at a time). Names both with and without NameBank identifiers are returned. Available
NameGetDetailForNameBankID Get basic title, item, and page metadata for each page on which the specified name appears. Available
NameGetDetailForName Get basic title, item, and page metadata for each page on which the specified name appears. Available
NameSearch Search for a particular name. Names both with and without NameBank identifiers are returned. Available

IdentifyLife: Dataset services

Name Description Status
Get Datasets Return all datasets. URL of form:
GET http://cs.identifylife.org/ws/dataset/		 Available
Get Dataset by uuid Return dataset by uuid. URL of form:
GET http://cs.identifylife.org/ws/dataset/{uuid}/		 Available
Get Dataset by type Return datasets by type (interactive_key or standard_list). URL of form:
GET http://cs.identifylife.org/ws/dataset/type/{type}/		 Available
Delete Dataset Delete the specified dataset. URL of form:
DELETE http://cs.identifylife.org/ws/dataset/delete/{uuid}/		 Available
Create Dataset Create a dataset. URL of form:
POST http://cs.identifylife.org/ws/dataset/create/		 Available
Update Dataset Update a dataset. URL of form:
POST http://cs.identifylife.org/ws/dataset/update/		 Available
Update Dataset Features Update the features on a dataset. URL of form:
POST http://cs.identifylife.org/ws/dataset/{uuid}/update/features/		 Available

IdentifyLife: Features services

Name Description Status
Get by uuid Return features by uuid. URL of form:
GET http://cs.identifylife.org/ws/feature/{uuid}/		 Available
Get features by dataset uuid Return all features for a dataset uuid. URL of form:
GET http://cs.identifylife.org/ws/feature/dataset/{uuid}/		 Available
Get features by state Return feature with the specified state. URL of form:
GET http://cs.identifylife.org/ws/feature/state/{uuid}/		 Available
Delete feature Delete the specified feature. URL of form:
DELETE http://cs.identifylife.org/ws/feature/delete/{uuid}/		 Available
Resolve by reference Resolve the specified features by reference. URL of form:
POST http://cs.identifylife.org/ws/feature/features/		 Available
Get StateIDs Return the stateIds for the specified multistate feature. URL of form:
GET http://cs.identifylife.org/ws/multistate_feature/{uuid}/stateIds/		 Available
Save multistate feature Save a multistate feature to the specified dataset. URL of form:
POST http://cs.identifylife.org/ws/multistate_feature/save/{datasetId}/		 Available
Update multistate feature Update a multistate feature. URL of form:
POST http://cs.identifylife.org/ws/multistate_feature/update/		 Available
Save numeric feature Save a numeric feature to the specified dataset. URL of form:
POST http://cs.identifylife.org/ws/numeric_feature/save/{datasetId}/		 Available
Update numeric feature Update a numeric feature. URL of form:
POST http://cs.identifylife.org/ws/numeric_feature/update/		 Available
Save text feature Save a text feature to the specified dataset. URL of form:
POST http://cs.identifylife.org/ws/text_feature/save/{datasetId}/		 Available
Update text feature Update a text feature. URL of form:
POST http://cs.identifylife.org/ws/text_feature/update/		 Available
Get States Return state by uuid. URL of form:
GET http://cs.identifylife.org/ws/state/{uuid}/		 Available

IdentifyLife: Descriptlet Store services

Name Description Status
Save Descriptlet Save a descriptlet. URL of form:
POST http://ds.identifylife.org/descriptlet/save/		 Available
Save All Descriplets Save descriptlets. URL of form:
POST http://ds.identifylife.org/descriptlet/save/all/		 Available
Check Feature Check for feature (result indicates feature scored). URL of form:
GET http://ds.identifylife.org/feature/{uuid}/		 Available
Check State Check for state (result indicates state scored). URL of form:
GET http://ds.identifylife.org/state/{uuid}/		 Available
Get Taxa for State Return taxa scored for state. URL of form:
GET http://ds.identifylife.org/state/{uuid}/taxa/		 Available
Get TaxonIDs for State Return taxonIds of taxa scored for state. URL of form:
GET http://ds.identifylife.org/state/{uuid}/taxonIds/		 Available
Get Descriptlets for State Return descriplets for state. URL of form:
GET http://ds.identifylife.org/state/{uuid}/scores/		 Available
Get Scores for State Return score values for state (map keyed by taxonId). URL of form:
GET http://ds.identifylife.org/state/{uuid}/scores/values/		 Available
Get Scores for State by Taxa Return score values for state by specified taxa (map keyed by taxonId). URL of form:
POST http://ds.identifylife.org/state/{uuid}/score/values/taxa		 Available

IdentifyLife: Taxon services

Name Description Status
Check Scored Taxon Check for taxon (result indicates taxon scored). URL of form:
GET http://ds.identifylife.org/taxon/{uuid}/		 Available
Get Scored Taxa Return the scored taxa from list of specified taxa. URL of form:
POST http://ds.identifylife.org/taxon/scores/		 Available
Get Scored Features for Taxa Return the features scored for the list of specified taxa. URL of form:
POST http://ds.identifylife.org/taxon/features/		 Available
Get Scored FeatureIDs for Taxa Return the feature ids scored for the list of specified taxa. URL of form:
POST http://ds.identifylife.org/taxon/featuresIds/		 Available
Get Scored Features Return the features scored for the specified taxon. URL of form:
GET http://ds.identifylife.org/taxon/{uuid}/features/		 Available
Get Scored States for Taxa Return the states scored for the list of specified taxa. URL of form:
POST http://ds.identifylife.org/taxon/states/		 Available
Get Scored StateIDs for Taxa Return the state ids scored for the list of specified taxa. URL of form:
POST http://ds.identifylife.org/taxon/stateIds/		 Available
Get Scored States Return the states scored for the specified taxon. URL of form:
GET http://ds.identifylife.org/taxon/{uuid}/states/		 Available
Get Scored StateIDs Return the state ids scored for the specified taxon. URL of form:
GET http://ds.identifylife.org/taxon/{uuid}/stateIds/		 Available
Get Descriptlets Return the state descriptlets for the specified taxon. URL of form:
GET http://ds.identifylife.org/taxon/{uuid}/state/scores/		 Available
Get Scores Return the state score values for the specified taxon. URL of form:
GET http://ds.identifylife.org/taxon/{uuid}/state/score/values/		 Available
Get State Scores Return the score value for the specified taxon and state pair. URL of form:
GET http://ds.identifylife.org/taxon/{uuid}/state/{stateId}score/values/		 Available
Get Best Score Return the best score for the specified taxon. URL of form:
GET http://ds.identifylife.org/taxon/{uuid}/best/		 Available
Get Best Scores for Taxa Return the best scores for the specified taxa. URL of form:
POST http://ds.identifylife.org/taxon/best/		 Available

IdentifyLife: Key Store services

Name Description Status
Get Keys Get key by uuid. URL of form:
GET http://ks.identifylife.org/ws/key/{uuid}/		 Available
Delete Key Delete a key by uuid. URL of form:
DELETE http://ks.identifylife.org/ws/key/delete/{uuid}/		 Available
Create Key Create a new key. URL of form:
POST http://ks.identifylife.org/ws/key/create/		 Available

IdentifyLife: Taxonomy Store services

Name Description Status
Get Hierarchies Return all taxon hierarchies. URL of form:
GET http://ts.identifylife.org/hierarchy/		 Available
Get Hierarchy by uuid Get hierarchy by uuid. URL of form:
GET http://ts.identifylife.org/hierarchy/{uuid}/		 Available
Create Hierarchy Create a hierarchy. URL of form:
POST http://ts.identifylife.org/hierarchy/create/		 Available

IdentifyLife: Taxa services

Name Description Status
Get Taxon Return taxon by uuid. URL of form:
GET http://ts.identifylife.org/taxon/{uuid}/		 Available
Get Taxa by Hierarchy Return taxa by hierarchy uuid. URL of form:
GET http://ts.identifylife.org/taxon/hierarchy/{uuid}/		 Available
Get Taxa by Name Return taxa by name. URL of form:
GET http://ts.identifylife.org/taxon/name/{name}/		 Available
Get Taxa by Name and Hierarchy Return taxa by name and hierarchy. URL of form:
GET http://ts.identifylife.org/taxon/name/{name}/hierarchy/{uuid}/		 Available
Get Taxa by Parent Return all taxa below a parent node. URL of form:
GET http://ts.identifylife.org/taxon/parent/{uuid}/		 Available
Get Taxa by Parent to Depth Return taxa by parent to the specified depth. URL of form:
GET http://ts.identifylife.org/taxon/parent/{uuid}/depth/{depth}		 Available
Get Taxa by Parent Ordered Return taxa by parent ordered by count of children. URL of form:
GET http://ts.identifylife.org/taxon/parent/{uuid}/order/children		 Available
Get Taxa Mapped TO Taxon Return taxa mapped to the specified taxon. URL of form:
GET http://ts.identifylife.org/taxon/mappedTo/{uuid}/		 Available
Get Taxa Mapped FROM Taxon Return taxa mapped from the specified taxon. URL of form:
GET http://ts.identifylife.org/taxon/mappedFrom/{uuid}/		 Available
Get Ancestors Return the ancestors of the specified taxon. URL of form:
GET http://ts.identifylife.org/taxon/{uuid}/ancestors/		 Available
Get Parent Return the parent of the specified taxon. URL of form:
GET http://ts.identifylife.org/taxon/{uuid}/parent/		 Available
Resolve Names Resolve the specified taxon names to taxa. URL of form:
POST http://ts.identifylife.org/taxon/resolve/		 Available
Resolve Names Within Hierarchy Resolve the specified taxon names to taxa in the specified hierarchy. URL of form:
POST http://ts.identifylife.org/taxon/resolve/hierarchy/{hierarchy}		 Available

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