GBIF Occurrence Data Search & Export

gbifID	5006926565
scientificName	Panthera leo melanochaita (C.E.H.Smith, 1858)
taxonKey	5219411

How it will work: 3 steps

Follow us on ApifyThe tool is built and waits in the queue for the Apify Store. Apify is the cloud platform where our tools run.
Paste your input and press StartNo code needed: you fill in a form (the input). It already has a working example. For example: [] in Record licenses. Each start is one run.
Download the resultsWhen the run ends, the results are in a table (the dataset). Open Output, press Export and pick Excel or CSV. JSON and the API are there too.

This tool is an Apify Actor: a small program that runs on Apify. You can also run it on a schedule, for example every Monday. New to it? Read how it works, step by step and the 8 words you need first.

Made by Cliqto Media, an independent digital media company. We made this tool. About us

What it does

Search biodiversity observations from GBIF by species, country, area, year and record license. Get up to 1,000 records with published coordinates, taxonomy, dataset titles and publisher attribution. No GBIF account or API key is needed.

Who uses it

Ecologists and students

Explore where a species was recorded.

GIS users

Prepare points for a map.

Data teams

Check reuse licenses before you use records.

Price

Prices will be shown after release.

Questions

Do I need a GBIF account?

No. The tool uses public search endpoints.

Does a species search include subspecies?

Yes. A taxon includes its child taxa.

Is this a full GBIF download?

No. It is a limited live search of up to 1,000 records.

Why are some points missing?

Publishers may hide or blur sensitive places.

Can I use every record commercially?

No. The default allows CC BY-NC too. Use commercialUseOnly:true for CC0 and CC BY, and follow attribution and source terms.

Why are coordinates missing or less precise?

Publishers may omit or generalize sensitive locations. Check coordinateUncertaintyInMeters, informationWithheld and dataGeneralizations.

Is this a full download or a live monitor?

It is a limited live search. It has no download DOI, baseline or only-new mode. Dataset DOI and citation are included when available.

Details

Step by step on Apify

Open Input.
Keep the form example: Panthera leo, years 2020–2025, coordinates enabled, 50 records.
Set a maximum run cost in Apify if you want a money limit.
Click Start.
Open Dataset → Occurrences. Use Attribution to check the dataset, publisher and license.
Open Key-value store → RUN_SUMMARY to check the status and counts.

Use cases

Task	Input	Fields to use
Explore species records	`taxonName` or `taxonKey`	`gbifID`, taxonomy, `eventDate`
Prepare a map input	`country`, `bbox`, `hasCoordinate:true`	WGS84 coordinates and uncertainty
Check reuse licenses	`commercialUseOnly` or `licenses`	`license`, `publisher`, dataset citation

Tips for better results

Use an exact scientific name or a taxon key.
Turn on the commercial use setting to keep only CC0 and CC BY records.
Check the uncertainty column before you trust a point.

Limits and good to know

Maximum 1000 records and 8 search pages per run. GBIF search allows an offset plus result limit up to 100000
Each new dataset and publisher in the results needs metadata requests. A broad search whose records come from many dozens of datasets can reach the 100-request limit before 1000 records; the run then stops with REQUEST_LIMIT and keeps the records already saved. Narrow the taxon, area or years, or continue with nextOffset
The source can change between pages or runs. An offset continuation is not a frozen snapshot
At most 100 source requests including metadata and retries, 8 MiB per response, 24 MiB of downloaded responses, and 2 MiB of normalized output per run
Source work stops after 120 seconds, or 15 seconds before the platform deadline, whichever comes first. A larger Apify timeout does not increase this source-work budget
Requests are sequential, about one per second, with limited retries and Retry-After support. GBIF has no guaranteed search query rate
Invalid metadata, schema changes, rate-limit exhaustion and source outages fail honestly. Records saved before a later error remain available
Country and bounding box use published, interpreted locations. Null or generalized coordinates can limit map use. The Actor does not recover hidden coordinates

Troubleshooting

Problem	Likely reason	What to do
`AMBIGUOUS_TAXON`	One name has several exact matches	Read `taxonMatch.candidates`, clear `taxonName`, and set the right `taxonKey`.
`TAXON_NOT_EXACT`	Match is fuzzy or at a higher rank	Use a precise scientific name or numeric key.
`TAXON_NOT_FOUND` or `NO_MATCHES`	Name not found, or valid filters have no records	Check the name, year, country and license filters.
`CHARGE_LIMIT`	The next record does not fit your budget	Read saved rows, then raise the cost limit or request fewer records.
`OFFSET_LIMIT` / invalid range	Offset plus requested limit exceeds 100000	Reduce offset or narrow your search.
`DEADLINE`, `PAGE_LIMIT`, `REQUEST_LIMIT`, byte limits	Work exceeds the run's fixed safety budget	Narrow the search or request fewer records.
`SOURCE_*`	Provider failure or unexpected response	Keep saved rows. Retry later with a small request.
Null coordinates	Coordinates are absent in the public record	Set `hasCoordinate:true`; check uncertainty and withheld notices.

For developers

Sample result

One result from a real test run, in JSON. Real values change from run to run. In Excel or CSV each field is a column.

one result · JSON

{
  "gbifID": "5006926565",
  "scientificName": "Panthera leo melanochaita (C.E.H.Smith, 1858)",
  "taxonKey": 5219411,
  "rank": "SUBSPECIES",
  "decimalLatitude": -2.637562,
  "decimalLongitude": 34.715044,
  "coordinateUncertaintyInMeters": 31434,
  "eventDate": "2025-01-02T13:53:58",
  "country": "Tanzania, United Republic of",
  "countryCode": "TZ",
  "basisOfRecord": "HUMAN_OBSERVATION",
  "datasetTitle": "iNaturalist Research-grade Observations",
  "publisher": "iNaturalist.org",
  "license": "http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/legalcode",
  "informationWithheld": "Coordinate uncertainty increased to 31434m to protect threatened taxon",
  "occurrenceUrl": "https://www.gbif.org/occurrence/5006926565"
}

Data fields (40)

Field	Type	Meaning
`gbifID`	string	Stable GBIF occurrence ID as text.
`provider`	string	Data provider: GBIF.
`sourceUrl`	string	GBIF occurrence API record URL.
`occurrenceUrl`	string	GBIF occurrence page URL.
`fetchedAt`	string	UTC time when this row was normalized.
`key`	number	Stable GBIF occurrence ID as a safe integer.
`scientificName`	string	Interpreted scientific name including authorship.
`rank`	string	Interpreted taxon rank.
`eventDate`	string	Observation date as supplied by GBIF; may include time or a date interval.
`country`	string	Country name of the observation.
`countryCode`	string	ISO alpha-2 country code.
`basisOfRecord`	string	Record type, for example HUMAN_OBSERVATION or PRESERVED_SPECIMEN.
`occurrenceStatus`	string	PRESENT or ABSENT if the source supplies it; neither is inferred.
`datasetKey`	string	UUID of the source dataset.
`datasetTitle`	string	Current title from the GBIF dataset registry.
`datasetUrl`	string	GBIF dataset page for attribution.
`datasetDoi`	string	Dataset DOI where available; not a DOI for this search.
`datasetCitation`	string	Citation provided by the dataset registry.
`publisher`	string	Publishing organization title from the GBIF registry.
`publishingOrgKey`	string	UUID of the publishing organization.
`license`	string	License URL of this record, which can differ from the dataset license.
`recordedBy`	string	Observer/collector exactly as published; no personal enrichment.
`sourceUpdatedAt`	string	GBIF lastInterpreted timestamp; not the date of the observation.
`informationWithheld`	string	Source notice about hidden sensitive information.
`dataGeneralizations`	string	Source notice about generalization of sensitive data.
`kingdom`	string	Interpreted kingdom name; null when missing.
`phylum`	string	Interpreted phylum name; null when missing.
`class`	string	Interpreted class name; null when missing.
`order`	string	Interpreted order name; null when missing.
`family`	string	Interpreted family name; null when missing.
`genus`	string	Interpreted genus name; null when missing.
`species`	string	Interpreted species name; null when missing.
`taxonKey`	number	GBIF backbone taxon key assigned to this record.
`decimalLatitude`	number	Published WGS84 latitude in degrees; null when unavailable.
`decimalLongitude`	number	Published WGS84 longitude in degrees; null when unavailable.
`coordinateUncertaintyInMeters`	number	Published horizontal uncertainty in metres; zero is preserved.
`year`	number	Observation year as an integer when supplied.
`issues`	array	GBIF quality/interpretation flags.
`latitude`	number	Same published WGS84 latitude as decimalLatitude; compatibility alias.
`longitude`	number	Same published WGS84 longitude as decimalLongitude; compatibility alias.

Input settings (11)

The main fields of the input form. With the API you send them as JSON.

Setting	Name in the API	Type	Example value
Scientific name	`taxonName`	string	`"Panthera leo"`
GBIF taxon key	`taxonKey`	integer
Country code	`country`	string
Bounding box	`bbox`	array
First year	`yearFrom`	integer	`2020`
Last year	`yearTo`	integer	`2025`
Coordinate filter	`hasCoordinate`	boolean	`true`
Record licenses	`licenses`	array	`[]`
Commercial-use licenses only	`commercialUseOnly`	boolean	`false`
Maximum results	`maxResults`	integer	`50`
Start offset	`offset`	integer	`0`

GBIF Biodiversity Occurrence Search

How it will work: 3 steps