CDM Taxonomic Fuzzy Name Search API

This web service endpoint serves as a fuzzy search for taxonomic names. The current implementation is based on the Apache Lucene fuzzy query approach using a fail-fast Levenshtein distance algorithm.

The request parameters are :

• 'query' [mandatory] : this could either be the base scientific name or the complete scientific name.
• 'accuracy' [optional, default value = 0.5] : Similarity measure (>=0.0 and < 1.0) to impose on the matching algorithm. Briefly described, this is equivalent to the edit distance between the names being matched, divided by the length of the shorter of the compared terms.
• 'hits' [optional, default value = 10] : maximum number of responses to be returned.

The response format can be set by appending the format extension to the service endpoint. Currently this web service supports JSON (fully implemented) and XML (partially implemented).

The response objects returned by this web service endpoint have the following structure:

• request
  • query : scientific name provided as input.
• response
  • acceptedTaxonUuids : list of uuids of all accepted taxa related to the taxa corresponding to the taxonConceptUuids list.
  • name : base scientific name.
  • nameUuids : list of uuids of all scientific names corresponding to this name.
  • score : value indicating the similarity between this name returned and the query.
  • taxonConceptUuids : list of uuids of all taxa corresponding to this name.
  • title : complete scientific name.

Features:

• Possibility to perform multiple queries in one single web service call.
• Standardised and structured error messages.

Example Requests :

• Genus fuzzy name search :
  • /name_catalogue/fuzzy.json?query=Hyposerid&hits=2
• Species fuzzy name search :
  • /name_catalogue/fuzzy.json?query=Myoseris purpireo&accuracy=0.6&hits=2

Example Responses :

• Genus fuzzy name search : query=Hyposerid&hits=2 [back]

  [
  
      {
          "request": {
              "query": "Hyposerid"
          },
          "response": [
              {
                  "acceptedTaxonUuids": [
                      "2e4d5b08-d785-4795-bb7a-6c745c708ca6"
                  ],
                  "name": "Hyoseris",
                  "nameUuids": [
                      "44b72a9b-8844-4a72-89e4-0a516f1dd566"
                  ],
                  "score": 4.5794897,
                  "taxonConceptUuids": [
                      "2e4d5b08-d785-4795-bb7a-6c745c708ca6"
                  ],
                  "title": "Hyoseris L."
              },
              {
                  "acceptedTaxonUuids": [
                      "38bc9407-e379-4c15-b566-9b87b0fb7c20"
                  ],
                  "name": "Aposeris",
                  "nameUuids": [
                      "232c9d38-7a09-4b21-9b84-45933646906f"
                  ],
                  "score": 4.19751,
                  "taxonConceptUuids": [
                      "38bc9407-e379-4c15-b566-9b87b0fb7c20"
                  ],
                  "title": "Aposeris Cass."
              }
          ]
      }
  
  ]
  

• Species fuzzy name search : query=Myoseris purpireo&accuracy=0.6&hits=2 [back]

  [
  
      {
          "request": {
              "query": "Myoseris purpireo"
          },
          "response": [
              {
                  "acceptedTaxonUuids": [
                      "ae7578ed-a15d-4447-b607-ed6dca92f333"
                  ],
                  "name": "Myoseris purpurea",
                  "nameUuids": [
                      "6f024d15-71c8-4566-b6e8-b37a0a23c29b"
                  ],
                  "score": 10.270407,
                  "taxonConceptUuids": [
                      "80804544-c202-41f7-9c63-c76600781935"
                  ],
                  "title": "Myoseris purpurea (Willd.) Link"
              },
              {
                  "acceptedTaxonUuids": [
                      "7b3f0f40-63f2-44a4-a72b-6a8f49dd430f"
                  ],
                  "name": "Agoseris purpurea",
                  "nameUuids": [
                      "90fef41e-5fba-405e-95ec-2df6e60fd05e"
                  ],
                  "score": 3.2964854,
                  "taxonConceptUuids": [
                      "ad52cb23-5c3d-4ef9-87cf-62c7d2c2df9a"
                  ],
                  "title": "Agoseris purpurea (A. Gray) Greene"
              }
          ]
      }
  
  ]