During the first thirty years of Atlas Florae Europaeae (AFE), the basic technology for the collection of distribution data and publication of distribution maps has remained practically unchanged. Manual map production as such is rather tedious. Furthermore, distribution data available only on printed maps are not suitable for further (computerized) analyses. The construction of the Atlas Florae Europaeae database was started in 1992. The primary goal was to make the distribution data available in digital format, and the additional goal was the computerization of the editorial process of AFE. The printed AFE distribution maps were processed this way: - the maps were scanned at 300 dpi resolution / - locations of the grid cells (4419) were calculated on the scanned bitmap images / - arrays of black pixels were searched from the bitmaps using custom software / - the map originals and and their interpretation were compared using custom software. So far all printed AFE volumes (1 to 12) have been processed this way. ... [Information of the supplier]
Euro+Med PlantBase ("the information resource for euro-mediterranean plant diversity") provides an on-line database and information system for the vascular plants of Europe and the Mediterranean region, against an up-to-date and critically evaluated consensus taxonomic core of the species concerned. After several years of planning, the project is now firmly underway. The first stage of the project (referred to as Phase One) has been financed for three years by the European Union under Framework V. This database is constantly expanded and improved. Already in 2009, EuroMed provides three of the largest families: Compositae (Asteraceae, sunflower family) Poaceae (Gramineae, grass family) Rosaceae (rose family); and the following smaller families: Alismataceae, Aponogetonaceae, Basellaceae, Butomaceae, Cabombaceae, Chenopodiaceae (only tribus Salicornieae), Corylaceae, Elatinaceae, Geraniaceae, Haloragaceae, Hippuridacae, Hydrocharitaceae Juncaginaceae Lemnaceae Lilaeaceae Myricaceae Najadaceae, Nelumbonaceae, Nymphaeaceae, Posidoniaceae, Potamogetonaceae, Proteaceae, Ruppiaceae, Scheuchzeriaceae, Sparganiaceae, Tetragoniaceae, Zannichelliaceae, Zosteraceae, Zygophyllaceae. Common names were not yet available in all languages. By April 2015 Euro+Med Plantbase provided access to 190 plant families, corresponding to ca. 95 % of the European flora of vascular plants. ... [Information of the supplier, modified]
