Open Data with Open Source

I’ve been helping the folk at Portobello Marine Lab make some of their scientific data available on the web.

Like many research institutions they have data on paper and in files on individual PC’s or a departmental server. Often this data has potential that is unlocked by making it more widely available.

The new http://marineinfo.otago.ac.nz/ website publishes data, from 60 years of reaserch, about the Lab’s reference collection of preserved marine specimens, Dr Elizabeth Batham’s card index of information, photos and illustrations of local species , and a database of theses and other miscellaneous publications from the Lab.

More data will be added in the coming months along with interactive maps.

The data is searchable and may be downloaded. Re-use of the data is encouraged with the data licensed on Creative Commons ShareAlike terms.

Open Source tools were used to build and power the web site: Django, Python, PostgeSQL, PostGIS, Firefox, Firebug, Python Imaging Library, Apache, Ubuntu, Mercurial.

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