Atta

Atta is an information system that supports the core information process at the National Biodiversity Institute in Costa Rica (INBio). As such, Atta facilitates the processes of capturing, managing, generating and disseminating information on Costa Rican biodiversity. This system maintains a relational database with over two million records, each one corresponding to a single specimen. Through a unique bar code physically attached to each specimen, users of Atta have efficient and systematic access to the associated digital information. This information includes, but is not restricted to, the where, when, how, and who collected the specimen. When the taxonomic identification process is concluded, this information is supplemented with a complete taxonomic description of the specimen (what it is).
Atta includes modules for generating, consulting, editing, and analyzing taxonomic, geographic, and ecological information, as well as information on potential uses of Costa Rican species of plants, insects, mollusks, arachnids, fungi and nematodes. Atta is a flexible system that manages up to 22 taxonomic levels, from the Dominium down to Form.
Moreover, it includes a basic geographic information system that permits the combination of taxonomic and ecological information. This flexibility turns it into a powerful tool for predictive studies, planning and in general, for decision making about different aspects of conservation of our biodiversity. With the aim of facilitating the dissemination of information generated using Atta, the system also includes interfaces to export information to standard tools such as ArcView Ó, MS-EXCEL Ó and the World Wide Web.
A digital publication system for the description of species belonging to the Costa Rican biodiversity stands out as one of Atta's modules on the web. This module is named UBIs (Basic Information Units). By using this system, national and international collaborators are able to use the web in order to submit species descriptions by means of an electronic publication process. The resulting publication includes at least a photo or illustration of the species and a distribution map (generated for almost all taxonomic groups from the information contained in Atta's specimen database). The publication may be accessed free of charge at our website, www.inbio.ac.cr.
Atta is INBio's second version of a comprehensive, efficient, scalable, multi-taxa information system that now exploits modern technologies such as multimedia, object-oriented development, GIS, and Internet. Atta is the result of a multidisciplinary effort that involved many collaborators. For its development INBio has received the kind collaboration of ORACLE de Centroamérica, SOIN, CESA and ESRI, as well as the generous financial assistance from the Government of the Netherlands, Norway (Norwegian Agency for Development) and GEF (Global Environmental Facility).