GBIF biodiversity occurrences

GBIF aggregates normalized occurrence records from iNaturalist, institutions and collections, including taxonomic interpretation, event time, coordinates and uncertainty, publisher/dataset IDs, media, per-record licenses and processing issues.

Provenance and access

How the data is reached

Official occurrence search API, unauthenticated JSON GET. Up to 300 rows/page and a 100,000-row search window; use download API for bulk.

Reuse status

Per occurrence and per media object; tested row used CC BY-NC 4.0.

Occurrence search

https://api.gbif.org/v1/occurrence/search?decimalLongitude=44.65,45.0&decimalLatitude=41.62,41.85&hasCoordinate=true&limit=1&offset=0 ↗

Method: GET
Format: JSON
Authentication: None

Field-level detail

What is actually returned

livereferencederivedhistoricalunknown

Occurrence search and result

Core normalized GBIF fields.

34 fields

Field / path	Type	Null?	Example	Meaning	Freshness
`offset`	integer	No	0	Page offset	derived
`limit`	integer	No	1	Page limit	derived
`endOfRecords`	boolean	No	false	End flag	derived
`count`	integer	No	123945	Total query matches	derived
`results[].key`	integer	No	5938053070	GBIF occurrence key	reference
`results[].datasetKey`	UUID	No	50c9509d-22c7-4a22-a47d-8c48425ef4a7	Source dataset ID	reference
`results[].publishingOrgKey`	UUID	Yes	28eb1a3f-1c15-4a95-931a-4af90ecb574d	Publishing organization ID	reference
`results[].scientificName`	string	Yes	Felis catus Linnaeus, 1758	Interpreted scientific name	reference
`results[].acceptedScientificName`	string	Yes	Felis catus Linnaeus, 1758	Accepted scientific name	reference
`results[].vernacularName`	string	Yes	null	Common name	reference
`results[].taxonKey / speciesKey`	integer	Yes	2435035	GBIF taxon keys	reference
`results[].basisOfRecord`	string enum	Yes	HUMAN_OBSERVATION	Evidence or record type	reference
`results[].occurrenceStatus`	string enum	Yes	PRESENT	Presence status	historical
`results[].individualCount`	number	Yes	null	Number of organisms	historical
`results[].eventDate`	string datetime or range	Yes	2026-01-01T11:07	Occurrence event time	historical
`results[].year / month / day`	integer	Yes	2026 / 1 / 1	Parsed event date parts	derived
`results[].decimalLatitude`	number	Yes	41.70371	Latitude	reference
`results[].decimalLongitude`	number	Yes	44.802907	Longitude	reference
`results[].coordinateUncertaintyInMeters`	number	Yes	4	Positional uncertainty in meters	reference
`results[].geodeticDatum`	string	Yes	WGS84	Datum	reference
`results[].countryCode`	string	Yes	GE	Country	reference
`results[].stateProvince`	string	Yes	Tbilisi	State/region text	reference
`results[].locality / municipality`	string	Yes	null	Finer locality fields	reference
`results[].recordedBy`	string	Yes	Krylenko VV	Recorder credit	historical
`results[].identifiedBy`	string	Yes	Krylenko VV	Identifier credit	historical
`results[].occurrenceID`	string or URL	Yes	https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/333484176	Publisher occurrence ID	reference
`results[].institutionCode`	string	Yes	iNaturalist	Institution/platform code	reference
`results[].collectionCode`	string	Yes	Observations	Collection code	reference
`results[].catalogNumber`	string	Yes	333484176	Source catalog ID	reference
`results[].license`	URL or string	Yes	http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/legalcode	Occurrence license	reference
`results[].rightsHolder`	string	Yes	Krylenko VV	Rights holder	reference
`results[].references`	URL	Yes	https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/333484176	Source page	reference
`results[].issues`	array<string>	Yes	["COORDINATE_ROUNDED"]	GBIF processing and quality flags	derived
`results[].lastInterpreted`	ISO datetime	Yes	2026-07-18T15:03:14.501Z	GBIF processing time	historical

Occurrence media

Media metadata embedded in a result.

9 fields

Field / path	Type	Null?	Example	Meaning	Freshness
`results[].media[].type`	string	Yes	StillImage	Media type	reference
`results[].media[].format`	string MIME	Yes	image/jpeg	Media format	reference
`results[].media[].references`	URL	Yes	https://www.inaturalist.org/photos/605441787	Media metadata page	reference
`results[].media[].created`	ISO datetime	Yes	2026-01-01T19:07:22Z	Publisher media time	historical
`results[].media[].creator`	string	Yes	Krylenko VV	Creator credit	reference
`results[].media[].publisher`	string	Yes	iNaturalist	Publisher	reference
`results[].media[].license`	URL or string	Yes	CC BY-NC 4.0 URL	Media license	reference
`results[].media[].rightsHolder`	string	Yes	Krylenko VV	Media rights holder	reference
`results[].media[].identifier`	URL	Yes	https://inaturalist-open-data.s3.amazonaws.com/...jpg	Direct media URL	reference

Representative evidence

Sample records

Tbilisi cat occurrence

Retrieved 2026-07-22 13:48 Asia/Tbilisi

JSON

{"count":123945,"results":[{"key":5938053070,"scientificName":"Felis catus Linnaeus, 1758","basisOfRecord":"HUMAN_OBSERVATION","eventDate":"2026-01-01T11:07","decimalLatitude":41.70371,"decimalLongitude":44.802907,"coordinateUncertaintyInMeters":4,"stateProvince":"Tbilisi","occurrenceID":"https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/333484176","license":"http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/legalcode","issues":["COORDINATE_ROUNDED","CONTINENT_DERIVED_FROM_COORDINATES","TAXON_ID_NOT_FOUND"]}]}

Boundaries

Reliability, caveats, and privacy

What held up

Official API and documentation are stable and versioned.
Publisher and dataset keys preserve provenance.
GBIF download service is the fallback for bulk/citable extracts.

What can go wrong

Bbox is broader than administrative Tbilisi.
Aggregate includes iNaturalist and other publishers; deduplicate using source IDs.
Retain issues and uncertainty fields.
License can differ between occurrence and media.
Search pagination has a 100,000-record boundary.

Privacy boundary

Recorder and identifier credits are public attribution; avoid profiling people.

Cross-source possibilities

Ideas using this source

Environment & memory

Species Without Addresses

Which observations may point to habitat outside recognized green spaces?

Joined with 3 other sources →

Source trail

Primary pages and documentation

DocumentationGBIF occurrence API ↗
https://techdocs.gbif.org/en/openapi/v1/occurrence