Pathfinder Development Helps Deliver PlantCollections.org

(Chicago, IL) Pathfinder, a leading software development and user experience design firm, announces the successful development and launch of PlantCollections.org. PlantCollections provides a wealth of data and information about plant collections across the globe and was developed for the Chicago Botanic Garden, in conjunction with 29 partners.

“PlantCollections.org is the first internet application designed to serve the information needs of scientists, students and gardeners alike using spreadsheets, maps and images” said Boyce Tankersley, director of living plant documentation at the Chicago Botanic Garden and project director.

PlantCollections will notably improve the process of collecting plants and address conservation issues; it will also contribute to education and enable research into complex biological relationships in the environment. At present, data has been contributed by 16 national and 4 international institutions.

Currently, according to the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), 30% of plant species in the United States face extinction in the next 50 years. The data and information provided by PlantCollections.org will be crucial to supporting preservation efforts and promoting biodiversity.

“PlantCollections brings together disparate data from 29 member organizations, 9 different database management applications, each using different forms, fields and taxonomies”, stated Pathfinder’s CTO, Dietrich Kappe. “Making the information easy to access and providing a unified view data benefits us all by helping drive conservation efforts and promoting biodiversity”.

“Pathfinder’s Agile development methods coupled with an expert team have been key to the success and creation of a PlantCollections Portal presence on the web”, added Tankersley. “The level of communication and support has been exceptional”.

Previous attempts to create similar databases have been unsuccessful due to technology and support costs. Pathfinder leveraged Open Source software and standards to address these issues without the overhead of software licensing fees. The solution leverages Ruby on Rails, Ajax and other Open Source components to quickly build web applications that are easily extended to meet growing demand and end user requirements.

Pathfinder’s team moved PlantCollections from a prototype to a user-centric portal. “Our designers identified the best approach to make it easy for eight different audience segments to find the information they need across this vast and valuable resource,” said Kappe. “Armed with the design and our Agile development methodology, we were able to quickly build a solid and sustainable web portal that is easy to use, maintain and support.”

About PlantCollections

The Chicago Botanic Garden worked in conjunction with the North American Plant Collections Consortium, a program of the American Public Gardens Association, the University of Kansas Biodiversity Research Center and Natural History Museum, Morphbank at Florida State University School of Computational Sciences, Google Base, BG-BASE, Inc., Beijing Botanical Garden and Pathfinder Development with funding from the Institute of Museum and Library Sciences (IMLS) and private donors.

Participating institutions include the Arnold Arboretum of Harvard University, Beijing Botanical Garden, Chenshen Botanical Garden, Chicago Botanic Garden, Ganna Walska Lotusland, Huntington Art Collections, Library and Botanical Gardens, Landis Arboretum, Mt. Cuba Center Inc, Missouri Botanical Garden, Nanjing Sun Yat Sen Memorial Botanical Garden, Norfolk Botanical Garden, North Carolina Arboretum, San Francisco Botanical Garden, Santa Barbara Botanic Garden, Scott Arboretum of Swarthmore College, Shanghai Botanical Garden, The Morton Arboretum, UC Davis Arboretum, United States National Arboretum and University of Washington Botanic Gardens.

About Pathfinder Development

Pathfinder is a consulting firm specializing in software development and user experience design. Pathfinder delivers applications that are easy to use, providing clients with the technology to enable business breakthroughs and competitive advantage. Pathfinder’s clients range from early stage start-ups to Fortune 5 companies across a wide array of industries, including energy, healthcare, insurance, financial services, media and publishing. For more information contact Eleanor Taylor at 312-372-1058, email to etaylor@pathf.com, or visit http://www.pathf.com.