GATEWAY VERSION 3.5
Release date: 3rd November 2010

The following new functionality and changes have now been added to the NBN Gateway and web services. Please refer any questions you have regarding the NBN Gateway to the NBN helpdesk (gateway@nbn.org.uk). Updated NBN web service documentation will appear on the NBN website shortly (http://www.nbn.org.uk/Guidebooks/Web-services-documentation.aspx).

NBN GATEWAY

Provide species designations
Designation lists can be browsed from a tab on the home page. Each designation can be viewed in detail and the current species assigned to that designation are listed. The page that formerly just displayed taxonomy information for a taxon now also shows any current or old designations that have been applied to it

Clearer ordering of non-preferred taxon names
The search page, grid map and interactive map now only show well formed names in the order scientific, English, Welsh, Gaelic. The taxonomy page shows well formed, unverified and ill-formed names in the order scientific, English, Welsh, Gaelic

WEB SERVICES

Web service registration
The use of web services from version 3.5 onwards now requires a registration key. This key can be obtained from My Account on the website, under web services - apply for access

New species density mapping web service
Species Density Data is a new web service that provides species density data per grid square. This data can be filtered by taxon list, taxon reporting category and/or dataset list. Results can be provided at different resolutions over a target area

New protected area data web service
A new web service that provides data about protected areas overlapping an area of interest. It accepts the normal Gateway geographical filter to define an area of interest. It returns coverage and shape data for protected sites within a geographic filter

New protected area discovery web service
A new web service that provides metadata for each protected area layer on the Gateway. It can be used to support layer filtering by specific layers in the new protected area data web service

Improved designation web service
The designation web service has been enhanced to allow optional filtering by one designation list key or by one or more designation keys. The response gives a list of designations that now includes: name, key, abbreviation and description

Improved taxonomy search web service to include designations
The taxonomy search web service now includes the option to include existing and former designations in the response

Best wishes

Graham French
NBN Technical Liaison Officer