Georeferencing Museum Specimens: Beginner’s Course

Georeferencing Basics & Practice Exercises,California Academy of Sciences

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California Academy of Sciences Georeferencing Project

This on-going project training supports efforts to georeference herbarium specimens from the California Academy of Sciences herbarium. The first phase of the project is to georeference specimens from California U.S.A. In later phases we will expand to other areas of the United States and the world.

The primary goal is to train and recruit volunteers that are interested in helping us georeference. There is no prior experience or specific commits required, just an interest in California geography, history and plants.

Trainer:

  • Michael Denslow (Project Manager, Notes from Nature)

Training Dates:

  • November 19th, 2025
  • February 26, 2026
  • March 5, 2026
  • Additional dates to be determined

Topics Covered:

  • What is geospatial information?
  • What is georeferencing?
  • Geographical Concepts
  • Standards
  • Research Examples

Training Videos

Part 1

Part 2

Slide Deck

CAS GeoReferencing Training Slides (.pdf)

Exercises

Exercise 1: Georeferencing, Reverse georeferencing

See Slide #34 in the slide deck above.

Exercise 2: Collaborative Georeferencing Tool (COGE)

See Slide #35 in the slide deck above.

Training Resources

GEOLocate Information:

Tools & Resources: