The BG Project supports the development of spatial data standards through the Taxonomic Database Working Group (TDWG). The standards work is based on the Geography Markup Language (GML) for description of the spatial aspects of natural history data. By integrating with and promoting standards such as the Darwin Core (DwC2) and Access to Biological Collections Data (ABCD), BioGeomancer will facilitate exchange of spatial data and support application development compliant with existing spatial data standards.

BioGeomancer uses many databases/GIS layers that describe geographic places on the earth. The description of place may include names as well as a geographic "footprint" for that name. All this information is used to help perform georeferencing in BioGeomancer. The Federal Geographic Data Committee (FGDC) specifies a standardized metadata format for geographic datasets, and we are conforming to this metadata standard for the databases/GIS layers we use for the application. Click here for more metadata information.