Abstract:

Aims: Biodiversity contributes to the most basic living environment and material conditions for human beings, and it serves as the basis for human survival and social development. But natural environmental change and over-interference of human behavior have caused a gradual loss of biodiversity. High-quality biodiversity data can facilitate biodiversity research and conservation in order to mitigate these losses. Currently, researchers have developed many biodiversity data processing tools, including workflow systems, R language packages, Python language packages, and Excel tools. However, using these software or tools require users to install the corresponding software clients and acquire certain knowledge and skills in utilizing programming languages, software development and complex Excel formulas. This all requires a high learning cost and usage threshold, rendering these tools inaccessible for some user. For this reason, this paper aims to describe a Chinese biodiversity online data processing platform (CBODPP) to aid researchers in achieving a zero code and a low usage threshold for biodiversity data processing work.

Methods: The CBODPP is designed in Browser/Server mode and implemented using a web-based client. The platform pages are developed based on reactive development technology, which is compatible with both computer and mobile browsers. The platform realizes service functions such as scientific name correction, geographic location analysis and inverse geocoding based on web crawler technology, data processing technology and Solr intelligent search technology. In addition, the platform has also developed corresponding data processing modules for biodiversity data of different dimensions. Users can process data in a specified column field individually, thus ensuring a high flexibility of data processing when utilizing this platform.

Results: In order to process biodiversity data, users do not need to install a workflow management system and create workflows, nor do they need to master complexcoding language such as Python or R. By accessing the CBODPP (http://dp.iflora.cn/), biodiversity data such as species name, geographical location, time, date, longitude and latitude can be processed online in a visual manner. In addition, the data processing platform also provides auxiliary functions such as data format conversion, data quality evaluation and resource statistical analysis.

Conclusion: The CBODPP can aid scientific researchers in processing biodiversity data with zero code and a low threshold, providing researchers with a convenient, efficient and simple data processing platform for data cleaning, correction, conversion and integration. Because of this, it provides support for a wide range of scientists in the field of biodiversity informatics, allowing researchers to focus more on scientific research in specialized areas of biodiversity rather than on software work learning to utilize software.

Key words: species name processing, geographical location processing, longitude and latitude processing, time and date processing, data format processing, data quality evaluation