DATA USE AGREEMENT

Background

The National Biodiversity Data Centre, as a national node of the Global Biodiversity Information Facility, is committed to the goals and principles of making biodiversity data openly and universally available.

The commitment is given on the understanding that the ultimate responsibility of the National Biodiversity Data Centre is to facilitate the provision of data to further the conservation of biological diversity. This will involve providing appropriate access to the data for bona fide conservation-related uses to third parties, providing advice on appropriate use of the data set, providing advice on unwise or improper use of the dataset, and co-ordinating further development of the dataset with appropriate partners and with guidance from key data providers and users.

Sharing of data through the National Biodiversity Data Centre’s data management system should take place within a framework of due attribution. Please read the following information carefully as it sets out the terms and conditions that govern the use of products and services on this website and data downloaded from this website. Once you have read these terms and conditions click the “Agree” button at the bottom of the page to proceed. By clicking the “Agree” button you will be deemed to have accepted the terms and conditions, our legal notices and privacy statement.

Ordnance Survey Material is supplied by permission of the Government under a licensing agreement. Anyone wishing to reproduce Ordnance Survey Ireland material, or use it as a basis for their own publications, must obtain a licence from Ordnance Survey Ireland, for which a fee may be payable.

Data Use Agreements

• The National Biodiversity Data Centre makes every effort to ensure the quality of the information available on this website and updates the information regularly. Before relying on the information on this site, however, users should carefully evaluate its accuracy, currency, completeness and relevance for their purposes. The National Biodiversity Data Centre cannot guarantee and assumes no legal liability or responsibility for the accuracy, currency or completeness of the information.
• Any absence of information in the National Biodiversity Data Centre system does not necessarily indicate an absence of records for a given area or species, the area or species may simply be unrecorded. Similarly, any absence of information on the National Biodiversity Data Centre system for an area, does not necessarily imply a low biodiversity value for that area.
• Users shall respect restrictions of access to sensitive data.
• In order to make attribution of use for owners of the data possible, the data provider must be retained with every data record.
• Users must publicly acknowledge, in conjunction with the use of the data, the data providers whose biodiversity data they have used. Data providers may require additional attribution of specific collections within their institutions.
• Users must comply with additional terms and conditions of use set by the data provider. Where these exist they will be available through the metadata associated with the data.

Citing Data

Use the following format to cite data accessed through the National Biodiversity Data Centre’s mapping system – ‘Data from the [Insert details] held by the National Biodiversity Data Centre www.biodiversityireland.ie, [insert date].

Definitions

• The National Biodiversity Data Centre: The Centre run under a Service Level Agreement by Compass Informatics Limited on behalf of the Heritage Council, and overseen by the Management Board established as a Committee of the Heritage Council, pursuant to Paragraph 9 of the Heritage Act (1995).
• Biodiversity Data: Primary data on specimens, observation, names, taxonomic concepts, and sites, and other related data on biodiversity diversity.
• Metadata: Data describing the attributes and combinations of biodiversity data.
• Data Provider: A custodian of data making it technically available. This may or may not be the data owner. If not they will have declared to the National Biodiversity Data Centre that they have permission to make the data available.
• Data Sharing: The process of and agreements for making data freely and universally available on the Internet.
• User: Anyone who uses the Internet to access data through the National Biodiversity Data Centre’s web site.
• Owner of Data: The legal entity possessing the right resulting from the act of creating a digital record. The record may be a product derived from another, possibly non-digital product, which may affect the right. 
• Sensitive Data: Any data that the provider does not want to make available, e.g. precise localities of endangered species.

Disclaimer

This website and mapping system is presented by the National Biodiversity Data Centre free of charge for the benefit of the public. The National Biodiversity Data Centre does not accept any liability for any injury, loss or damage of any kind incurred by use of or reliance on the information.

The National Biodiversity Data Centre accepts no liability for any interference with or damage to a user's computer system, software or data occurring in connection with this website. Users are encouraged to take appropriate and adequate precautions to ensure that whatever is selected from this site is free of viruses or other contamination that may interfere with or damage the user's computer system, software or data.