Why Geocode?
A Guide to Geocoding
One of the most important aspects of natural history collections is that they possess a detailed history of where specimens have been found. Almost every museum specimen collected includes some sort of locality description which describes the geographic location of the collection. Because of this detailed data, museum collections are the primary source for data for current issues such as biodiversity, intrusive species, and the changing environment. However, most museum collections do not include a specific geographic coordinate for te collection location of each specimen. This lack of geographic reference makes analysis of the data both time-consuming and restrictive.
Geocoding is the solution to this problem. Geocoding is the assignation of geographic references that can be analyzed (such as geographic coordinates) to an item based on its location. With the advent of GIS, geocoded specimens can be plotted and viewed easily, allowing scientists to perform complicated analysis upon their data.
Thus, the answer to the question, "Why geocode?", is simple: it will make a collection much more useful.
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