A Test of Computer-assisted Matching Using the North Pacific Humpback Whale, Megaptera novaeangliae, Tail Flukes Photograph Collection

Testing was conducted of a computer-assisted system for matching humpback whale tail flukes photographs. Trials with a 12,000-photographs database found no differences in match success between matching by computer and matching by comparing smaller catalogs ranging in size from 200 to 400 photographs. Tests with a 24,000-photographs database showed that, on average, the first match was found after examining about 130 photographs whether the photograph quality was excellent, good, or poor. Match success did not appear to be strongly related to whether the tail flukes had especially distinctive markings or pigment patterns (recognition quality). An advantage of computer-assisted matching is the ability to compare new photographs to the entire North Pacific collection, where no bias is introduced based on expectation of resightings within or between specific areas, or based on expectation of behavioral role (e.g. matching “known” females to “known” females).

Metadata Federation of PICES Member Countries

(Document pdf contains 193 pages) Executive Summary (pdf, < 0.1 Mb) 1. Introduction (pdf, 0.2 Mb) 1.1 Data sharing, international boundaries and large marine ecosystems 2. Objectives (pdf, 0.3 Mb) 3. Background (pdf, < 0.1 Mb) 3.1 North Pacific Ecosystem Metadatabase 3.2 First federation effort: NPEM and the Korea Oceanographic Data Center 3.2 Continuing effort: Adding Japan’s Marine Information Research Center 4. Metadata Standards (pdf, < 0.1 Mb) 4.1 Directory Interchange Format 4.2 Ecological Metadata Language 4.3 Dublin Core 4.3.1. Elements of DC 4.4 Federal Geographic Data Committee 4.5 The ISO 19115 Metadata Standard 4.6 Metadata stylesheets 4.7 Crosswalks 4.8 Tools for creating metadata 5. Communication Protocols (pdf, < 0.1 Mb) 5.1 Z39.50 5.1.1. What does Z39.50 do? 5.1.2. Isite 6. Clearinghouses (pdf, < 0.1 Mb) 7. Methodology (pdf, 0.2 Mb) 7.1 FGDC metadata 7.1.1. Main sections 7.1.2. Supporting sections 7.1.3. Metadata validation 7.2 Getting a copy of Isite 7.3 NSDI Clearinghouse 8. Server Configuration and Technical Issues (pdf, 0.4 Mb) 8.1 Hardware recommendations 8.2 Operating system – Red Hat Linux Fedora 8.3 Web services – Apache HTTP Server version 2.2.3 8.4 Create and validate FGDC-compliant Metadata in XML format 8.5 Obtaining, installing and configuring Isite for UNIX/Linux 8.5.1. Download the appropriate Isite software 8.5.2. Untar the file 8.5.3. Name your database 8.5.4. The zserver.ini file 8.5.5. The sapi.ini file 8.5.6. Indexing metadata 8.5.7. Start the Clearinghouse Server process 8.5.8. Testing the zserver installation 8.6 Registering with NSDI Clearinghouse 8.7 Security issues 9. Search Tutorial and Examples (pdf, 1 Mb) 9.1 Legacy NSDI Clearinghouse search interface 9.2 New GeoNetwork search interface 10. Challenges (pdf, < 0.1 Mb) 11. Emerging Standards (pdf, < 0.1 Mb) 12. Future Activity (pdf, < 0.1 Mb) 13. Acknowledgments (pdf, < 0.1 Mb) 14. References (pdf, < 0.1 Mb) 15. Acronyms (pdf, < 0.1 Mb) 16. Appendices 16.1. KODC-NPEM meeting agendas and minutes (pdf, < 0.1 Mb) 16.1.1. Seattle meeting agenda, August 22–23, 2005 16.1.2. Seattle meeting minutes, August 22–23, 2005 16.1.3. Busan meeting agenda, October 10–11, 2005 16.1.4. Busan meeting minutes, October 10–11, 2005 16.2. MIRC-NPEM meeting agendas and minutes (pdf, < 0.1 Mb) 16.2.1. Seattle Meeting agenda, August 14-15, 2006 16.2.2. Seattle meeting minutes, August 14–15, 2006 16.2.3. Tokyo meeting agenda, October 19–20, 2006 16.2.4. Tokyo, meeting minutes, October 19–20, 2006 16.3. XML stylesheet conversion crosswalks (pdf, < 0.1 Mb) 16.3.1. FGDCI to DIF stylesheet converter 16.3.2. DIF to FGDCI stylesheet converter 16.3.3. String-modified stylesheet 16.4. FGDC Metadata Standard (pdf, 0.1 Mb) 16.4.1. Overall structure 16.4.2. Section 1: Identification information 16.4.3. Section 2: Data quality information 16.4.4. Section 3: Spatial data organization information 16.4.5. Section 4: Spatial reference information 16.4.6. Section 5: Entity and attribute information 16.4.7. Section 6: Distribution information 16.4.8. Section 7: Metadata reference information 16.4.9. Sections 8, 9 and 10: Citation information, time period information, and contact information 16.5. Images of the Isite server directory structure and the files contained in each subdirectory after Isite installation (pdf, 0.2 Mb) 16.6 Listing of NPEM’s Isite configuration files (pdf, < 0.1 Mb) 16.6.1. zserver.ini 16.6.2. sapi.ini 16.7 Java program to extract records from the NPEM metadatabase and write one XML file for each record (pdf, < 0.1 Mb) 16.8 Java program to execute the metadata extraction program (pdf, < 0.1 Mb) A1 Addendum 1: Instructions for Isite for Windows (pdf, 0.6 Mb) A2 Addendum 2: Instructions for Isite for Windows ADHOST (pdf, 0.3 Mb)