Invasive species are a major concern for a wide variety of groups and individuals including farmers, land managers, government regulators, nature lovers, foresters, and citizen scientists. Each group develops solutions that help them to identify where a species occurs and the best way to manage the infestations. Despite their common interest, the scope and specificity of their individual systems, and failure to implement standard terminology and schema has resulted in the inability of these groups to share information with each other. The Early Detection and Distribution Mapping System (EDDMapS) allows data from multiple sources to be standardized and aggregated. The aggregate data is then freely available for reuse by any organizations or individuals that need it as long as the original data sources are properly attributed. The purpose of the system is not to replace existing data systems or management programs, but rather to work alongside existing platforms as a common repository where data can be shared and leveraged to develop a clearer understanding of the distribution and spread of invasive species. The latest developments of this system have provided for new ways to contribute, use, and retrieve invasive species distribution data including a data dictionary, field guide and reporting apps, JSON data feeds, species and geographic alerts, report verification, and rapid development of hosted project interfaces.

URLs: http://www.eddmaps.org