Thursday, June 12, 2008

Conservation GeoPortal

"The Conservation Geoportal is a collaborative effort by and for the conservation community to facilitate the discovery and publishing of geographic information systems (GIS) data and maps, to support conservation decisionmaking and education. It is primarily a data catalogue, intended to provide a comprehensive listing of GIS data sets and map services relevant to biodiversity conservation. The Conservation Geoportal does not actually store maps and data, but rather the descriptions and links to those resources, known as "metadata."

It includes the following capabilities:

Search for data and maps by keyword, category, geography, or time period
Save your search queries for future use
Use the built-in Map Viewer to display, manipulate, and combine live map services
Create, save, and email custom maps using data from various map services
Publish metadata for your maps and data so others can find them

The Conservation Geoportal is designed to make it quick and easy for conservation practitioners to find, and if possible, preview and download GIS data and maps. This is a free tool for all conservation practitioners and supporters to use and contribute content."