IDigBio API v1 Examples

See IDigBio API for documentation on the APIs beyond what is provided here.

For best sampling of JSON results in a browser, you may wish to use the JSONView Extension for Chrome and Firefox.

Most of our examples here will look at a text-based version of the data.

Fetch A Single Record from the API

Example URL:

http://api.idigbio.org/v1/records/c93ebbee-64b5-4452-9e80-93bbfb11b815

In this example we use the curl command-line utility to fetch a single record from the API using the record's iDigBio uuid, then pipe the output to a JSON pretty printing program for human readability.

Example API Results:

$ curl -s http://api.idigbio.org/v1/records/c93ebbee-64b5-4452-9e80-93bbfb11b815 | json_pp
{
   "idigbio:uuid" : "c93ebbee-64b5-4452-9e80-93bbfb11b815",
   "idigbio:etag" : "9c1eb0e2c0b94543f69dad5005f700d77f118ff7",
   "idigbio:links" : {
      "owner" : [
         "872733a2-67a3-4c54-aa76-862735a5f334"
      ],
      "recordset" : [
         "http://api.idigbio.org/v1/recordsets/6bb853ab-e8ea-43b1-bd83-47318fc4c345"
      ]
   },
   "idigbio:version" : 10,
   "idigbio:createdBy" : "872733a2-67a3-4c54-aa76-862735a5f334",
   "idigbio:recordIds" : [
      "6bb853ab-e8ea-43b1-bd83-47318fc4c345\\6CB7D2F5-C76E-43FD-BACD-097EC550BA18"
   ],
   "idigbio:dateModified" : "2014-04-01T23:17:14.780Z",
   "idigbio:data" : {
      "dwc:catalogNumber" : "125191-Mollusca",
      "dwc:specificEpithet" : "gibberulus",
      "dwc:class" : "Gastropoda",
      "dwc:occurrenceID" : "6CB7D2F5-C76E-43FD-BACD-097EC550BA18",
      "dwc:infraspecificEpithet" : "gibbosus",
      "dwc:recordedBy" : "Kohr, H. H.",
      "dwc:scientificName" : "Strombus gibberulus",
      "dwc:family" : "Strombidae",
      "dwc:basisOfRecord" : "PreservedSpecimen",
      "dwc:collectionCode" : "Invertebrate Zoology",
      "dcterms:modified" : "03/21/2014",
      "dwc:decimalLongitude" : "144.8",
      "dwc:country" : "USA",
      "dwc:scientificNameAuthorship" : "Röding",
      "dwc:locationID" : "ZZZ-072834",
      "dwc:stateProvince" : "Mariana Islands",
      "dwc:genus" : "Strombus",
      "dwc:decimalLatitude" : "13.5",
      "dwc:institutionCode" : "FLMNH",
      "dwc:order" : "Mesogastropoda",
      "dwc:county" : "Guam Island"
   }
}

Fetch five MediaRecord IDs (endpoints) from the API

Example URL:

http://api.idigbio.org/v1/mediarecords?limit=5

Example API Results:

 curl -s http://api.idigbio.org/v1/mediarecords?limit=5 | json_pp
{
   "idigbio:errors" : [],
   "idigbio:links" : {
      "idigbio:nextPage" : "http://api.idigbio.org/v1/mediarecords?limit=5&offset=5"
   },
   "idigbio:items" : [
      {
         "idigbio:links" : {
            "mediarecord" : "http://api.idigbio.org/v1/mediarecords/000003cd-0cca-421b-8f26-f557a26b0393"
         },
         "idigbio:uuid" : "000003cd-0cca-421b-8f26-f557a26b0393",
         "idigbio:version" : 1,
         "idigbio:etag" : "ce3e2f7272ec996bb479c87549ba90c15ba96426",
         "idigbio:dateModified" : "2014-04-21T22:19:27.436Z"
      },
      {
         "idigbio:links" : {
            "mediarecord" : "http://api.idigbio.org/v1/mediarecords/00000728-ffb3-4a68-9f93-137f19961121"
         },
         "idigbio:uuid" : "00000728-ffb3-4a68-9f93-137f19961121",
         "idigbio:version" : 2,
         "idigbio:etag" : "c13b10675b4a83031b1dc7a24c1f5c4e443b1939",
         "idigbio:dateModified" : "2014-04-03T17:43:18.145Z"
      },
      {
         "idigbio:links" : {
            "mediarecord" : "http://api.idigbio.org/v1/mediarecords/00000b03-e208-4d22-983b-506ad2842f7c"
         },
         "idigbio:uuid" : "00000b03-e208-4d22-983b-506ad2842f7c",
         "idigbio:version" : 2,
         "idigbio:etag" : "bc118a7ea53e004c82ab9b7e813e1010ae5f8e17",
         "idigbio:dateModified" : "2014-04-20T05:16:20.389Z"
      },
      {
         "idigbio:links" : {
            "mediarecord" : "http://api.idigbio.org/v1/mediarecords/000010bc-a4d4-483d-b71d-0dbdd4fd2d5a"
         },
         "idigbio:uuid" : "000010bc-a4d4-483d-b71d-0dbdd4fd2d5a",
         "idigbio:version" : 0,
         "idigbio:etag" : "68c441bd3c49507bf930f3b278f2c58f9cb792ec",
         "idigbio:dateModified" : "2014-04-20T21:38:46.679Z"
      },
      {
         "idigbio:links" : {
            "mediarecord" : "http://api.idigbio.org/v1/mediarecords/000012f9-d288-4a14-b898-77430e0a137a"
         },
         "idigbio:uuid" : "000012f9-d288-4a14-b898-77430e0a137a",
         "idigbio:version" : 0,
         "idigbio:etag" : "0357f74dada8b21a69281b042a52f47a172fa33b",
         "idigbio:dateModified" : "2014-01-20T20:19:29.754Z"
      }
   ],
   "idigbio:itemCount" : "2199334"
}

To Do: Provide examples of displaying multiple images accessed via the mediarecord API endpoint.

https://api.idigbio.org/v1/records/4e98d066-f35f-4cc0-ad7c-b5b5f2175521/media?quality=thumbnail https://api.idigbio.org/v1/mediarecords/4c4c5008-5444-4348-85f5-34112b46169b/media?quality=web

API Performance

For large numbers of records, please use the Download system available via the search portal.

See also iDigBio API Performance