# GBIF Biodiversity Occurrence Search

> GBIF occurrence data search by species, country, area, year and license. Get up to 1,000 records with coordinates, taxonomy and attribution.

URL: https://cliqtomedia.com/actors/gbif-occurrence-search/

Category: Science & research data · Status: coming soon · Apify profile: https://apify.com/cliqtomedia?fpr=cliqto

Search species records from GBIF with a few filters. Get coordinates, taxonomy and the dataset that published each record. It is a quick way to explore a species.

## How to use it: 3 steps

1. **Follow us on Apify.** The tool is built and waits in the queue for the Apify Store. Apify is the cloud platform where our tools run.
2. **Paste your input and press Start.** No 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.
3. **Download the results.** When 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.

## 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.





## 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.

## Data fields

- `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

- `taxonName` (string): Exact scientific name to resolve with GBIF species match. Do not set with taxonKey. Ambiguous names fail with candidates in the summary.
- `taxonKey` (integer): Numeric GBIF backbone key. Includes child taxa. Use this to select an ambiguous name.
- `country` (string): ISO alpha-2 country of the observation, such as KE. Combined with other filters using AND.
- `bbox` (array): WGS84 [west, south, east, north]. Longitude first. Values must increase; boxes crossing the antimeridian are not supported.
- `yearFrom` (integer): Inclusive observation year, 1–9999. If only yearTo is set, the lower bound is 1.
- `yearTo` (integer): Inclusive observation year, 1–9999. If only yearFrom is set, the upper bound is 9999.
- `hasCoordinate` (boolean): True returns records with both coordinates; false returns records without both. Omit to allow both. Bounding boxes cannot be combined with false.
- `licenses` (array): Allowed record licenses, combined using OR. Use the codes CC0_1_0, CC_BY_4_0 or CC_BY_NC_4_0. Empty means all. commercialUseOnly further restricts this list to CC0 and CC BY.
- `commercialUseOnly` (boolean): Restrict record licenses to CC0 and CC BY. Attribution still applies to CC BY. Conflicting licenses cause an input error.
- `maxResults` (integer): Maximum unique occurrences saved, 1–1000. A result limit is not an export of every source match.
- `offset` (integer): Source pagination offset, 0–99999. offset + maxResults must not exceed 100000. The live source may change between runs.

## Step by step on Apify

1. Open Input.
2. Keep the form example: `Panthera leo`, years 2020–2025, coordinates enabled, 50 records.
3. Set a maximum run cost in Apify if you want a money limit.
4. Click Start.
5. Open Dataset → Occurrences. Use Attribution to check the dataset, publisher and license.
6. 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

- 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



- 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.

## Sample 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"
}
```

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