The National Institute for Amazonian Research (INPA) is the most prominent scientific institute in the Amazon rain forest. Due to its diversity in research subjects, it believes at large in automated systems as important tools, in fact, as the crucial mechanism in the decision making process for policy development for environmental preservation and biodiversity conservation. In this paper, we present INPA's initiative towards an institutional Biodiversity Information System. We discuss the main issues identified in a case study of the biological collection data, which include: data integration among research fields, system complexity, combination of multi-disciplinary skills, software platforms, data policy, data management and terminology. Also, we present a classification of information about INPA's collection. INPA in the past defined an Entomological Data Model and had implemented a prototype as a testbed. Further, we present a new approach in biodiversity information systems by providing an environment with an open analytical database architecture, comprising three levels: the component, analytical, and information level. To conclude, we make observations about the computer technology available for implementing this architecture. © 2000 International Society for Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing. All rights reserved.
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