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What are the file formats recommended by TERN

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What are the file formats recommended by TERN

This page provides an overview of the file specification formats and standard data submission templates for TERN and ecological survey related datasets.

PART - 1:

The following table contains file formats recommended by TERN for data preservation, publication and reuse. The list was developed based on the Library of Congress Recommended Formats Statement 2020-2021.

If you are unsure about the suitable data file format, don't hesitate to get in touch with us at esupport@tern.org.au for clarification.

Data types

Recommended Formats

Still images (e.g., bio-imaging)

Note: we accept camera raw image file, which then will be converted into the recommended format for publication).

  • JPEG

  • TIFF

  • PNG

Audio works (e.g., bioacoustics)

  • Free Lossless Audio Codec (FLAC)

  • Wav

Geospatial vector

  • ESRI Shapefile

  • GML

Geospatial raster (e.g., remote sensing gridded data products; soil and landscape grid)

  • Geo-referenced TIFF

  • Cloud Optimized GeoTIFF (COG)

  • NOTE: Make sure the Protocol for Data Services is specified and correct:

    • For data hosted on tern.data.org.au, the protocol is usually HTTP.

    • For data hosted on Geoserver (i.e., uses WMS, WCS, etc.) copy the title and layer name from the Geoserver.

Sensor time series (e.g., ecology plot-based survey and inventory data, flux)

  • Comma-separated values (CSV)

  • Tab-delimited file

  • NetCDF (for multidimensional array)

Textual works

  • PDF/UA, PDF/A or PDF

  • OpenDocument Text

  • Plain text (.txt).

  • NOTE: All Word documents (.docx) need to be converted to a pdf format before submitting

Part 2:

For all ecological survey related data submissions via CSV, or plain text we encourage you to follow the prescribed TERN Data Submission Template.

  1. TERN EP Supersites Vegetation Monitoring Data Submission. Details of this template is provided here: https://ternaus.atlassian.net/wiki/x/fAB2uQ See an attachment example from the TERN supersite datasets

  2. Standard Ecological Survey Datasets: All on-ground ecological survey data includes a standard survey method and the data structure and submission format should represent the methodology followed and adhere to TERN specifications and ecological data model. At its core, the data should essentially capture ‘site information’, ‘site visit information’, ‘sampling information’, ‘feature of interest’, ‘observable properties/ also called as observable parameters’, ‘additional information related to the survey’.

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