Belgian LifeWatch eLab

One of the virtual laboratories developed by LifeWatch Belgium is the Belgian LifeWatch eLab.

This online application allows users to standardise, analyse and visualise their data, making use of web services built on top of internal and external reference databases.

The ultimate goal of LifeWatch is to set up a network for data exchange and data analysis through web services. Web services are systems that allow communication between two computers over the web, and allow the user to access the most recent and up-to-date information directly from within other applications.

Within LifeWatch Belgium, several web services are available to standardise, analyse and visualise your data, and to extract additional data from several sources. The user can select several data services (taxonomic, geographic, thematic, etc.) and run them successively through a straightforward online user interface.

You can also use the LifeWatch.be web services in a concatenated way, i.e. the output of one web service is the input for the next web service. Establishing such workflows helps solving (complicated) biological questions. Several use cases demonstrate the use of the LifeWatch web services.

So as to facilitate the use of the LifeWatch web services, several applications and tools were documented in use cases and tutorials. These can be found on the links below, as well as on the specific websites of software packages and Github repositories.

The Belgian LifeWatch E-Lab online application allows users to standardize, analyze and visualize their data, making use of web services built on top of internal and external reference databases. A user can select several data services (taxonomic, geographic, thematic, etc.) and run them successively through a straightforward user interface. As explained in the user guide, the LifeWatch.be web services can be used in a concatenated way, i.e. the output of one web service is the input for the next web service.

Identification

Date ( Publication ): 2021

Status: Completed

Version: Not available

Keywords: virtual laboratory

Keywords: data analysis

Keywords: data visualization

Access constraints: Other restrictions

Use limitation: The Belgian LifeWatch eLab uses the web services from different projects. Please mind the licenses of each of these projects when using the Belgian LifeWatch eLab.

Point of contact

Flanders Marine Institute (VLIZ) - Belgian LifeWatch E-Lab team

OnLine resource: Link to the VRE ( WWW:LINK-1.0-http--link )

OnLine resource: Info page ( WWW:LINK-1.0-http--link )

Service Name: Data validation and QC services

Service Name: Geographical services - Marine Regions OGC Web Services

Service Description: Marine Regions offers access to their products following the specifications of the Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC), such as Web Feature Services (WFS), Web Map Services (WMS) or Catalogue Service for the Web (CSW).

Service Reference (id): https://metadatacatalogue.lifewatch.eu/srv/eng/catalog.search#/metadata/ce6bc0c7-2ef6-4f4d-b991-0c4ad353374e

Service Name: Taxon match and observations - WoRMS Web Services

Service Description: The service matches your taxon list with the World Register of Marine Species (WoRMS), based on the ScientificName. The service can also verify if the coordinates of the taxon observation in the uploaded data file are located within a distribution record of that taxon in WoRMS/Aphia.

Service Reference (id): https://metadatacatalogue.lifewatch.eu/srv/eng/catalog.search#/metadata/85bd283d-f6a1-4871-827e-e7cc5bb964e5

Service Name: Tidal services

Service Description: The service calculates tidal heights in NAP (Normaal Amsterdams Peil), GLLWS (Gemiddeld Laag Laagwater bij Springtij) and TAW (Tweede Algemene Waterpassing), based on Latitude, Longitude and EventDate in the uploaded data file. The calculations are based on the M2 tidal reduction algorithm and the water levels measured by the monitoring network Flemish Banks.

Service Reference (id): https://meetnetvlaamsebanken.be

Service Name: MarineRegions gazetteer services

Service Description: The service returns: (1) Latitude and longitude of the centroid and the preferred gazetteer name of a Marine Regions ID (MRGID), (2) latitude, longitude, matched name and the Marine Regions ID (MRGID) of a given gazetteer name, (3) the Marine Regions gazetteer name and the Marine Regions ID (MRGID) of the bounding box (radius 3) based on given Latitude and Longitude, and (4) latitude, longitude, accepted gazetteer name and the Marine Regions ID (MRGID) of a given gazetteer name.