Herbarium digital

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Reduced sample image: Helianthus annus
Original: SilverFast HDR files (approx. 180 MB, 6100 × 9600 pixels)

Herbar Digital is a research project taking place from 2006 to 2011 at the Hanover University of Applied Sciences (FHH) to rationalize the virtualization of botanical evidence (see virtual herbarium or herbarium ) and its use through process optimization and automation.

goal of the project

In botanical gardens around the world (cautiously estimated) around 500 million dried plants - so-called herbarium specimens - are stored under scientifically controlled conditions. The aim of the third-party funded research project is to automate the process of virtualizing herbarium specimens and their management in order to make them digitally available to botanists and biologists. An exemplary individual solution using the example of the herbarium of the Botanical Garden Berlin-Dahlem (approx.3.5 million herbarium records) makes it possible to generalize the work structures, the software used and the technology applied so that general reference solutions for efficient scanning are included high quality for all scientifically maintained museum objects can be derived and defined.

workflow

Herbarium digital basic table

Herbarium records have been scanned in various locations for some time. However, the degree of automation is very low in these solutions, so that only a low throughput is achieved. The Hanover University of Applied Sciences analyzed industrial production processes and derived solutions for scanning herbarium specimens. The automation is then divided into three main areas of development:

  1. Scanner workstations with control
  2. Technology management for scanning
  3. System solution taking the employee into account

The herbarium records are scanned in raw data format with scan software using a standard PC to which a scanner camera is connected and saved on a server. On a second PC, the scanned raw data is optimized for color, contrast and brightness, converted into a readable image format and saved again on the server. The result is checked on a profiled graphics monitor.

A basic machine is suitable for sheet sizes from DIN A3 to DIN A2 and is equipped with surface lights, a standard camera column and a scanner camera. The use of a controlled rotary table embedded in the base table offers options for increasing performance. The rotary table enables a new herbarium receipt to be reloaded while another receipt is being scanned. Accessibility is also much easier, since a herbarium receipt is not reloaded directly under the panel lights. In addition to the times required for scanning and turning by 180 °, the user determines the machine cycle (3–12 / min). The control of the rotary table can be connected to a standard PC via a USB interface. The scanner software is also installed on this PC. With the Herbar Digital Control (HDC) software, the rotary table can be easily controlled from this computer.

Project partner

credentials

  1. ↑ Herbar Digital: sample images (approx. 180MB, 6100x9600 pixels)

literature

  • Thomas Jaspersen, Manfred Krause, Karl-Heinz Steinke: Herbar Digital research project - Rationalization of the virtualization of botanical evidence and their use through process optimization and automation. Interim report: research year 07/2007 - 06/2008 ( full text ).

Web links