Specimen databases

[Steve at]

BioLink is another option.  It's been in beta testing for over a year with
the first  "official" release due in a couple of weeks.  See
http://www.ento.csiro.au/biolink/ for details.

BioLink manages both taxon-based and specimen-based information.  It's a
Windows program running against MS SQLServer so scalablity isn't a problem
(at least not upwards - our largest test dataset is 4 million specimens).
It includes full image and digital data support (for taxa, specimens and
sites), an integrated mapping program based on Arc/View and an on-line
gazetteer (which can automatically calculate offets - the coordinates a
given distance and direction from a named place).  It includes a query tool
which uses full SQL syntax and can export to a range of file formats
including Access, Word, Excel, XML and delimited text.  It has a full
text-based report writer and the next release (Ver. 1.1) includes a static
Web site generator based on user-defined templates.  There is also an Import
Wizard for importing data from text files, Access databases, Excel
spreadsheets and DBF files.

BioLink won't be suitable for those who like to 'roll their own", but like
Biota and Specify, it's perfect for those who would rather do biology than
design and program databases :-).

Steve Shattuck
CSIRO Entomology
steves at ento.csiro.au