The Continental and Oceanographic Data Information System (CODIS)

The Continental and Oceanographic Data Information System (CODIS) is a custom software/database application developed to provide an on-line computer catalogue or inventory of scientific data gathered during environmental studies in Canadian West Coast and Arctic waters and in the Fraser River. CODIS was developed in conjunction with Fisheries and Oceans Canada and the University of Victoria. Information about the disciplines: ocean chemistry, physical oceanography, fish, mammals, zoobenthos, plankton and continental chemistry, with the intent of including more disciplines in the future. The purpose of the inventory was to assemble, condense and appraise all available documentation in order to assist the researcher or environmental manager in identifying and locating the most suitable data sets for specific applications. The system includes data from the Fisheries and Oceans Canada, Arctic Data Compilation and Appraisal and West Coast Data Compilation and Appraisal catalogues and data collected by the University of Victoria. The information has been assembled from a variety of sources. The system includes information concerning data quality based on suitability of methods and completeness of documentation. The data quality rating is an objective scale that grades data according to their ability to be compared to data described in other data sets. The purpose of the data rating is to provide users with a guide to the level of confidence they can place on conclusions drawn from the data and it provides an indication of how applicable the data are for other purposes. CODIS permits the data to be edited while maintaining strict adherence to data quality protocols