OBIS - a Data and Information Management System for the Okavango Basin

Abstract

Sustainable land and resource management and related interdisciplinary research projects like The Future Okavango (TFO) demand for integrated data management systems to store, describe, analyze and disseminate related information. These systems should not only take account of the possibly large range of varying data types and formats, but also have to consider different user groups and the demand for collaborative data access and data sharing. Within TFO these requirements are addressed with the development of the Okavango Basin Information System (OBIS). OBIS is designed as a web-based data management and analysis platform with full read/write access to all data, using open software and open standards whenever possible. This paper briefly describes the requirements that guided the OBIS development, its functions and interfaces, and gives an overview of data already stored in the system.