In a recent effort coordinated by the USGS Geospatial Information Office (GIO), the NBII was called upon to contribute geospatial datasets for inclusion on Data.gov. Data.gov is a high priority initiative of the Obama administration, the purpose of which is to increase public access to high value datasets generated by the Executive Branch of the Federal Government. The USGS was asked to provide freely downloadable geospatial datasets to help fulfill a Data.gov goal of 100,000 datasets in their system in the near term. The NBII contributed over 700 of approximately 2,000 datasets submitted to this initiative by USGS. Prompt response to the call for data was possible through the NBII Metadata Clearinghouse, a searchable system of records describing scientific research, and through the efforts of the USGS Biology Science Centers that contribute to the Clearinghouse by using it to document their work. For more information on the NBII Metadata Clearinghouse, visit <http://metadata.nbii.gov>.(Photo: screenshot of the NBII Metadata Clearinghouse)
