BISON has a collection of Examples and Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) that can be used to create custom applications and widgets. Below are questions we frequently receive from people interested in BISON. Clicking on the question will expand it to display the answer. Clicking again on the question will collapse the answer.
If you still have questions about BISON or would like to provide comments, feedback, or report an error, please contact us at bison@usgs.gov.
1 What information does BISON offer?
2 What is "species occurrence data" and why is it important?
Most research on biological organisms in the wild involves recording or collecting evidence of an occurrence of a species by a person (or instrument) at a particular place and time: We refer to these data in general terms as 'species occurrence data'. Regardless of the initial reason why the species occurrence was recorded somewhere, the knowledge that it was actually at a specific place at a specific time is extremely useful in many areas of science. For example, these occurrence records are instrumental in tracking the spread of invasive species, the decline of threatened species, and the movement of ranges in response to climate change or other environmental factors. Species occurrence data is used as baseline data for modeling and analysis, in ecological research, and in the management of natural resources.
Each record in a species occurrence dataset available in BISON will typically consist of a scientific name (genus and specific epithet), a date, and one or more geographic references such as a state name, county name, and/or decimal latitude and longitude coordinates. In addition to these typical data fields, species occurrence datasets often include many other data fields that describe each species occurrence event in more detail.
3 What data fields are included in species occurrence data in BISON?
Associated Media - the URL link to media files associated with the species occurrence record
Associated References - A hyperlinked resource or reference associated with the occurrence, such as a sound or video file, pdf publication, or an html landing page with additional associated URLs.
Basis of Record - the type of species occurrence or evidence upon which it is based. Basis of Record values include
the following:
BISON ID (or ID)- a unique identifier assigned to the species occurrence record during the upload process, which may or may not be persistent
Calculated FIPS - the standardized 5-digit numeric geographic Federal Information Processing Standard or FIPS code for the U.S. State/Territory-County name combination
Calculated State Name - the standardized U.S. State or Territory name computed based on the Calculated FIPS value
Catalog Number - A unique (preferably persistent) alpha-numeric code or key for each record (row) in a dataset
Centroid - a text string indicating that the latitude and longitude coordinates represent the central point of a polygon, and describing the polygon type e.g. "7.5 min Grid"
Clean Provided Scientific Name - the standardized Latin scientific term for the organism. Most commonly but not always a binomial name. In BISON, it does not include taxonomic author. Mapped whenever possible to the Integrated Taxonomic Information System (ITIS), https://www.itis.gov/)
Collector - The name(s) of people, group(s), or organization(s) responsible for recording the original species occurrence
Collector Number - an identifier given to the species occurrence record by the collector at the time it was recorded
Common Names - the vernacular (or common) name(s) for the species
Coordinate Precision - a decimal representation of the exactness of the latitude and longitude coordinates
Coordinate Uncertainty - the horizontal distance (in meters) from the latitude and longitude coordinates, describing the smallest circle containing the whole of the species occurrence location
County - the U.S. county, parish, or borough name in which the species occurrence is located (may be designated by
the collector or by the most recent county name based on the latitudinal and longitudinal coordinates)
General Comments - a free text field for additional pertinent information associated with the species occurrence that isn't appropriate for other available data fields.
Geodetic Datum - the ellipsoid, geodetic datum, or spatial reference system (SRS) upon which the geographic coordinates given in the Latitude and Longitude fields are based
ID (or bisonID)- a unique identifier assigned to the species occurrence record during the upload process, which may or may not be persistent
ISO Country Code - the standardized two-letter geographic country code of the species occurrence according to ISO 3166-1 alpha-2
ITIS Common Name - the organism's vernacular name according to the Integrated Taxonomic Information System (ITIS, https://www.itis.gov/)
ITIS TSN - the ITIS unique, persistent, Taxonomic Serial Number (TSN) associated with the Clean Provided Scientific Name
Latitude - the decimal angular distance of a point north (+) or south (-) of the earth's equator for the location of the species occurrence (in BISON, up to 6 decimal places)
Longitude - the decimal angular distance of a point east (+) or west (-) of the earth's Greenwich UK Prime Meridian for the location of the species occurrence (in BISON, up to 6 decimal places)
Occurrence Date - the date on which the species sighting or collection event was observed or recorded, in the ISO 8601 standard format YYYY-MM-DD
Occurrence URL - a URL link to the occurrence record (if available elsewhere on the Internet)
Provided Common Name - the original, uncorrected vernacular name(s) of the species, retained as it was provided in the original, raw dataset
Provided County Name - the original, uncorrected U.S. County, Parish, or organized Borough name retained as it was provided in the original, raw dataset
Provided FIPS - the original, uncorrected 5-digit numeric geographic Federal Information Processing Standards of FIPS code for the U.S. State/Territory-County name combination, retained as it was provided in the original, raw dataset
Provided Kingdom - the original, uncorrected taxonomic Kingdom of the species, retained as it was provided in the original, raw dataset
Provided Scientific Name - the original, uncorrected scientific name retained as it was provided in the original, raw dataset
Provided State Name - the original, uncorrected U.S. State or Territory name as it was provided in the original, raw dataset
Provider - name of the data provider
Provider ID - a unique, non-persistent integer identifier for the data provider
Provider URL - the URL link to the data provider or source of the species occurrence data
Resource - the name, acronym, or code, identifying the service, group, collection or dataset from which the record
was derived
Resource ID - a unique, integer identifier for the Resource or dataset
Resource URL - a URL link to the collection or dataset from which the record was derived
Scientific Name - the Latin taxonomic name, usually a combination of genus and specific epithet for the species
Thumb URL - the URL link to a small or thumbnail sized version of a larger media file associated with the species occurrence record
Valid Accepted Scientific Name - the standardized current valid or accepted scientific name of the species according to ITIS, that is taxonomically linked to the Clean Provided Scientific Name (the latter may or may not be a valid or accepted scientific name for the species)
Verbatim Depth - the original, uncorrected description of the depth below the local surface retained as it was provided in the original, raw dataset
Verbatim Elevation - the original, uncorrected description of the elevation (altitude, usually above sea level) retained as it was provided in the original, raw dataset
Year - the year in which the species occurrence or collection event was recorded, in the ISO standard format YYYY (see ISO 8601).
4 What's the difference between 'Provided' and 'Calculated' data in BISON?
Any data field label that begins with 'As Provided' or ‘Provided’ is one that contains the original, uncorrected data, retained as it was provided to us in the raw dataset. Data fields whose labels begin with 'calculated' contain a cleaned and/or standardized version of the original data.
When the information in provided and calculated data fields differs, it may indicate a difference in format or accuracy, and not necessarily an error, in the data. These differences commonly occur in species occurrence data when the contents of data fields are misspelled, abbreviated, old (such as old U.S. counties that have since been renamed), or include additional characters that can inhibit database indexing. Calculated fields in BISON often reflect the conversion of data such as latitude and longitude coordinates or a date to a standard format e.g. reformatting coordinates from a degrees-minutes-seconds format to a decimal degrees format. This standardization of the data can improve data indexing and search functionality.
In BISON, calculated data do not replace original data, they are only appended to datasets in specifically designated data fields and are not intended to change the ‘story’ communicated by the original dataset.
5 Does BISON include species absence data (e.g., for conducting Environmental Impact Assessments)?
6 Does BISON provide species profile pages?
7 Who sponsors or produces BISON?
8 What are the sources of the data that are available through BISON?
9 How do I cite BISON or data downloaded from BISON?
[Data Provider or Owner name]. [Resource or dataset name] published by [Data Provider name, address or affiliation(s)] (Accessed through Biodiversity Information Serving Our Nation (BISON), https://bison.usgs.gov, YYYY-MM-DD)
For example:
Field Museum of Natural History. U.S. Bird Occurrences published by Field Museum of Natural History, Museum of Vertebrate Zoology, University of Washington Burke Museum, and University of Turku (Accessed through Biodiversity Information Serving Our Nation (BISON), https://bison.usgs.gov, 2014-02-22)
Or
Gordon, J. U.S. Bird Occurrences published by Field Museum of Natural History, Museum of Vertebrate Zoology, University of Washington Burke Museum, and University of Turku (Accessed through Biodiversity Information Serving Our Nation (BISON), https://bison.usgs.gov, 2014-02-22)
This citation format is also included on the About page, and in the Data Use Agreement that displays during the first data download in each BISON Web session.
10 What is the geographic scope of data available through BISON?
Some data in BISON contain only partial geographic information. For example, some records may have a state designated, but no county or latitude and longitude coordinates. These non-georeferenced records cannot be displayed as dots on the map; however, they can be viewed in the List view accessed from the upper right corner of the map display and in data downloaded from BISON in CSV format. Note that data downloaded from BISON in KML or zipped shapefile bundle (ZIP) formats will include only georeferenced records.
The absence of data for any species in BISON does not prove or indicate the absence of that species from the U.S. or its Territories. Thus data available through BISON should not be considered comprehensive in terms of species' geographic ranges or distributions.
11 How do I search for all species within a geographic area?
Within any of these three geographic area search techniques, the total number of records that matched your search criteria is displayed on the left side, immediately above the map. The number of georeferenced records that matched your search criteria is displayed in the gray bar immediately beneath the text indicating the total number of records.
Click the List link (above the upper right corner of the map) to view a paginated list of the search results. To switch back to the map view, click on the Map link (above the upper right corner of the map).
Refine Your Search Results
Click on the Refine Your Search link (above the upper right corner of
the map) to refine your search by selecting
one or more options from the Basis of Record, Provider, State, Higher
Taxa, ,Year Range, and Centroid categories. When
using the Refine Your Search feature, at least one Basis of Record and
at least one Provider must be specified (all
are selected as the default). Click on the Update Search Results button in
the Refine Your Search panel to apply your selected options or click on
the Hide Search Details button to close the Refine Your Search panel.
12 What is the temporal scope of data available through BISON?
13 What is the taxonomic scope of data available through BISON?
14 Who determines the scientific names used in BISON? What is the taxonomic authority?
Sometimes very different organisms (i.e. a plant and an animal) can have the same scientific or common name and are only distinguishable by their taxonomic name authors and higher taxonomic groupings e.g. the genus Ficus authored by Linnaeus is a group of plant species but it is also a genus of snail species authored by Röding. If the user has chosen an ambiguous name like this for their search, they will be asked to choose from a list of scientific names in order to clarify their search criteria e.g. did they mean to search for the plant or the animal known by that name? The ITIS index and disambiguation capability allows BISON to provide comprehensive search results for individual species and for entire hierarchical taxonomic groups (families, orders, etc.), while also being able to include related, old, invalid/not accepted or ambiguous names.
If a user chooses a scientific or common name for their search that is not currently included in the ITIS index, or if the ITIS enabled search checkbox is not selected, BISON will perform an 'exact-match' search, retrieving only those species occurrence data that include exactly that scientific or common name.
15 How do I conduct a search in BISON?
16 How are search results displayed? How do I interact with my search results?
The total number of records that match your search criteria is displayed on the left side, immediately above the map. The number of georeferenced records that match your search criteria is displayed in the gray bar immediately beneath the text indicating the total number of records.
Click the List link (above the upper right corner of the map) to view a paginated list of the search results. To switch back to the Map view, click on the Map link (next to the List link).
If your search results include more than 5,000 georeferenced species occurrences, the default BISON State Heatmap layer displays, on which the number of species occurrences in each state is represented by a range of light to dark color shades (explained in the Legend pull-out tab on the left side of the map). Click on any state to view information on the number of occurrences in that state in a pop-up information box (you may need to enable pop-ups in your browser to see the pop-up information box). The pop-up information box also includes a Show Counties link and a Download link. Click on the Show Counties link to display the BISON County Heatmap for the selected state or on the Download link to download the species occurrence data for that entire state.
If your search results include less than 5,000 georeferenced species occurrences, a map displays on which the species occurrences are represented by different colored dots (explained in the Legend pull-out tab on the left side of the map). A single dot may represent multiple species occurrence records. Click on an individual dot to view details about the record(s) it represents. Change the display back to a Heatmap style by selecting the State and/or County Heatmap layers from the BISON Layers section of the Layers tab and modifying their opacity as needed.
Refine Your Search Results
Click on the Refine Your Search link (above the upper right corner of the map) to refine your search by selecting
one or more options from the Basis of Record, Provider, State, Higher Taxa, Year Range, and Centroid categories. Choose
individual options by clicking on their corresponding checkboxes or use the Check All and Uncheck All links below
each category. Selecting some options may result in the display of subcategories or different categories in the panel
e.g. multiple resources available from a provider; counties within a state. When using the Refine Your Search
feature, at least one Basis of Record and at least one Provider must be specified (all are selected as the default).
Click on the Update Search Results button in the Refine Your Search panel to apply your selected options or click
on the Hide Search Details button to close the Refine Your Search panel. The Refine Your Search panel will not
close until either the Hide Search Details button or the Update Search Results button is clicked.
17 How do I download data (search results) from BISON?
A Data Use Agreement displays once during the first data download in each BISON Web session. You must accept the Data Use Agreement before any data download can be completed.
18 Do I need to download or install any special technology to open or download data from BISON?
Common spreadsheet (e.g., MSExcel) and basic text (e.g., Notepad) reading software may be used to open data downloaded from BISON in CSV format. Mapping and data visualization software such as Google Earth and ArcGIS can be used to display and manipulate georeferenced data.
For mapping purposes, note that some data providers do not report their datum to us, so we assume the WGS84 datum (and Web Mercator Projection for Web display) for the BISON Web Map Service (see question 20). But when mapping georeferenced data downloaded from BISON use the EPSG-4326 Map Projection for the WGS84 datum.
19 Can I access the data using Web Services or an API?
21 What browsers are best for viewing and using the BISON site?
22 What are the best display screen resolutions or browser settings for viewing the BISON site?
23 How do I use the search buttons and map tools?
The BISON search capability involves use of the Search and Reset buttons, and the Refine Your Search link. The Search button enables the user to initiate a search based on the name of a species that they have typed into the search box. The Reset button refreshes the map display, returning it to the default BISON State Heatmap layer and clearing any search criteria or results from view.
Refine Your Search Results
Click on the Refine Your Search link (above the upper right corner of the map) to refine your search by selecting one or more options from the Basis of Record, Provider, State, Higher Taxa, Year Range, and Centroid categories. Choose individual options by clicking on their corresponding checkboxes or use the Check All and Uncheck All links below each category. Selecting some options may result in the display of subcategories or different categories in the panel e.g. multiple resources available from a provider; counties within a state. When using the Refine Your Search feature, at least one Basis of Record and at least one Provider must be specified (all are selected as the default). Click on the Update Search Results button in the Refine Your Search panel to apply your selected options or click on the Hide Search Details button to discard your selections and close the Refine Your Search panel. The Refine Your Search panel will not close until either the Hide Search Details button or the Update Search Results button is clicked.
Map Tools
Hover the cursor over each of the map tools (in the upper right corner of the map) to see pop-up text that identifies and explains
the function of each tool (you may need to enable pop-ups in your browser if you do not see the pop-up text). To
activate and use a map tool, click on it and then click on the map. With the exception of the Data Download tool
(a
downward-pointing white arrow inside a gray (inactive) or green (active) circle), an active tool or one that is
currently in use will have an orange colored background. Inactive tools have a gray colored background.
Map Tools, from left to right:
The Incremental Pan and Zoom tool (a set of 4 white arrows above a plus, minus, and globe symbol on a blue background, in the upper left corner of the map) enable the user to shift the map up, down, left, and right (arrows); and zoom in (plus symbol), zoom out (minus symbol), and to the global extent or a view of all continents (globe symbol).
The Data Download tool
(a downward-pointing white arrow inside a gray (inactive) or green (active) circle)
initiates a download of the selected search results. It is activated when your search results include 15 million
records or less. Click on this tool to initiate the data download process (see question 17 for more information about
downloading data from BISON).
The View Feature Information tool
(the letter 'i' inside a blue map pin on a gray (inactive) or orange (active)
background) is selected or active by default. It enables the user to click on states or counties in the BISON State or
County Heatmap layers or on individual dots in the BISON Occurrence Layer (described in the Layers pull-out tab
on the right side of the map) to view information about species occurrence data associated with them (you may need
to enable pop-ups in your browser to see these pop-up information boxes).
The Zoom In tool
(a plus sign inside a magnifying glass over a red square on a gray
(inactive) or orange (active)
background) enables the user to click and/or draw a rectangular bounding
box and zoom in on the map to enlarge an
area of interest, centered on the cursor or bounding box. The View
Feature Information tool is then activated. Either continue to click on
the Zoom In tool to continue zooming in to your area of interest or click on
the View Feature Information tool and then
on the map to display a pop-up information box containing either a Show
Counties (for a State Heatmap layer) link
or a Show Occurrences link (for a County Heatmap layer), and a Download
link; or click on a dot on the map to
display a pop-up information box containing a Show Details link and a
Download link for each record represented
by the dot.
The Define BISON Search BBOX (bounding box) tool (a tan square on a gray (inactive) or orange (active)
background in the top right corner of the map) enables the user to select and search for species occurrence data
within a particular area of the map defined by a rectangle shape. Click on the Define BISON Search BBOX tool and
then click and drag the box boundaries over the area of interest on the map (up to a maximum of 100,000 square
kilometers). This will initiate a search for species occurrence data within the selected area and the map will also
zoom to the selected area.
The Define BISON Search Polygon tool
(a tan polygon on a gray (inactive) or orange (active) background)
enables the user to select and search for species occurrence data within a particular area of the map defined by a
polygon shape. Click on the Define BISON Search Polygon tool and then click along the edges and corners of the
area of interest on the map (up to a maximum of 100,000 square kilometers) and close the polygon shape with a
double click. This will initiate a search for species occurrence data within the selected area.
The 'Move around the map' tool
(a white hand on a gray (inactive) or orange (active) background) enables the
user to move the map display in any direction, and remains active until you choose another tool.
24 How do I use the links in the BISON map view?
If state and county search criteria are selected, additional links display inside square brackets in the line of text above the left corner of the map e.g. [show all counties], [show all states]. Clicking on these links will display the results in either the BISON County Heatmap or the BISON State Heatmap layers.
25 How do I use the pull-out tabs in the BISON map view?
The Layers pull-out tab (on the right side of the map) lists over 50 map layers that are available to augment the map display with additional geospatial information. Click the Layers pull-out tab to show or hide it from view (the Layers pull-out tab will not close until the user closes it). Click on any of the map layer categories to expand and collapse them. Select or deselect individual map layers by clicking on their corresponding radio options or checkboxes. The selected layers will be added to the map (some map layers may take some time to display depending on their size and on your internet connection). For a selected layer, clicking on the layer name will expand and collapse an opacity slider and a legend or key to that layer's colors and features. The small blue bar at the left of each layer links to its source or to metadata about the layer.
26 Why is my map layer not working?