Data grid services for biodiversity informatics

Abstract

The infrastructure provided by Grid computing, in particular Data Grids, allows a systematic approach to the process of discovering, accessing, analysing and integrating huge amounts of data. Most data grid software and applications assume the data is in files, although recently tools such as OGSA-DAI have been developed to provide grid services for interfacing to databases. This paper investigates the use of Data Grid technologies (Web Services, Grid Services and Grid tool) for applications that store all their data in databases, in particular, applications in biodiversity informatics. The aim of this work is to analyse the benefit (or otherwise) of these approaches. Web Service and Grid Service prototypes of the Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF), a distributed web-based biodiversity information system, were developed as part of the evaluation process.