georeference.it API

v1 Public · No auth required 60 req/min

Open REST API returning Darwin Core occurrence data with community georeferences. No API key needed.

https://georeference.it/api/v1 Try it → /occurrences Interactive docs (Swagger UI) ↗ OpenAPI spec (YAML) ↓

Endpoints

GET /api/v1/occurrences Try →

Paginated list of occurrences. All filters are optional and combinable.

Parameter	Type	Description
country	ISO 3166-1 alpha-2	Filter by country code — `PT`, `ES`, …
datasetKey	UUID	Filter by GBIF dataset key
institutionCode	string	Filter by institution code, e.g. `MHNC`
status	string	One or more of `validated` · `has_suggestion` · `ungeoreferenced` · `gbif_georeferenced` · `gbif_reviewed` · `conflicted` · `not_georeferenceable`, pipe-separated, e.g. `?status=validated\|has_suggestion`
scientificName	string	Partial match on scientific name
georeferencedAfter	date	Only occurrences last georeferenced/status-changed on or after this date (inclusive), e.g. `2026-01-01`
georeferencedBefore	date	Only occurrences last georeferenced/status-changed on or before this date (inclusive)
perPage	integer	Records per page — default 100, max 500
page	integer	Page number — default 1
format	string	Set to `csv` to download all matching records as a UTF-8 CSV file (ignores `perPage`/`page`), or `jsonld` for JSON-LD output

https://georeference.it/api/v1/occurrences?country=PT&status=validated&perPage=50

GET /api/v1/occurrences/{occurrenceID} Try →

Returns a single occurrence by its GBIF numeric key. Accepts Accept: application/ld+json or ?format=jsonld.

Response format

Coordinates reflect the best available georeference: community-validated → pending suggestion → original GBIF coordinates.

JSON (default)

{
  "meta": {
    "total": 48213,
    "perPage": 100,
    "currentPage": 1,
    "lastPage": 483
  },
  "data": [
    {
      "occurrenceID": "3014169604",
      "scientificName": "Quercus robur L.",
      "verbatimLocality": "Redinha",
      "countryCode": "PT",
      "decimalLatitude": 39.8812,
      "decimalLongitude": -8.5234,
      "coordinateUncertaintyInMeters": 500,
      "georeferenceVerificationStatus":
        "verified by contributor",
      "georef_status": "validated",
      ...
    }
  ]
}

JSON-LD

Send Accept: application/ld+json or add ?format=jsonld

{
  "@context": {
    "@vocab":
      "http://rs.tdwg.org/dwc/terms/",
    ...
  },
  "@type": "owl:Ontology",
  "totalRecords": 48213,
  "@graph": [
    {
      "@type": "dwc:Occurrence",
      "@id": "https://www.gbif.org/
         occurrence/3014169604",
      "scientificName": "Quercus robur L.",
      "georeferenceVerificationStatus":
        "verified by contributor",
      ...
    }
  ]
}

CSV

Add ?format=csv — downloads all matching records as a file (no pagination). UTF-8 with BOM (Excel-compatible).

occurrenceID,datasetKey,institutionCode,collectionCode,catalogNumber,scientificName,countryCode,decimalLatitude,decimalLongitude,coordinateUncertaintyInMeters,georeferencedBy,georeferenceVerificationStatus,...
3014169604,8a863029-...,MHNC,COL,12345,Quercus robur L.,PT,39.8812,-8.5234,500,Jane Smith (https://orcid.org/...),verified by contributor,...
4729103821,8a863029-...,MHNC,COL,67890,Pinus pinaster Aiton,PT,37.1523,-8.9014,1000,,requires verification,...

Fields reference

Field	Description
occurrenceID	GBIF numeric occurrence key	DwC
datasetKey	GBIF dataset UUID	DwC
institutionCode	Institution that holds the specimen	DwC
collectionCode	Collection within the institution	DwC
catalogNumber	Catalog number in the collection	DwC
basisOfRecord	Nature of the record (PRESERVED_SPECIMEN, etc.)	DwC
scientificName	Full scientific name with authorship	DwC
taxonRank	Rank of the taxon (SPECIES, GENUS, etc.)	DwC
kingdom / family	Higher taxonomy	DwC
eventDate	Date of collection — ISO 8601	DwC
recordedBy	Collector name(s)	DwC
country / countryCode	Country name and ISO 3166-1 alpha-2 code	DwC
stateProvince	State or province	DwC
county	County or second-level administrative area	DwC
municipality	Municipality	DwC
island / islandGroup	Island and island group when applicable	DwC
waterBody	Water body name when applicable	DwC
verbatimLocality	Original locality text from the specimen label	DwC
decimalLatitude / decimalLongitude	Best available coordinates	DwC
geodeticDatum	Coordinate reference system — WGS84	DwC
coordinateUncertaintyInMeters	Radius of positional uncertainty in metres	DwC
georeferencedBy	Who georeferenced (contributor or system)	DwC
georeferencedDate	Date of georeference — ISO 8601	DwC
georeferenceProtocol	Protocol used — Zermoglio et al. 2020	DwC
georeferenceSources	Tools used (georeference.it, OpenStreetMap, etc.)	DwC
georeferenceRemarks	Free-text notes added by the georeferencer	DwC
georeferenceVerificationStatus	DwC verification status (see below)	DwC
georef_status	Platform internal status — omitted from JSON-LD
localityGroupID	Locality group identifier — omitted from JSON-LD

`georeferenceVerificationStatus`

verified by contributor

Coordinates submitted and approved by community members.

validated

requires verification

Coordinates exist but not yet community-validated. Applies to records with pending suggestions, conflicting georeferences, or existing GBIF coordinates awaiting confirmation.

has_suggestion conflicted gbif_georeferenced

requires georeference

No coordinates available — specimen needs georeferencing.

ungeoreferenced

Code examples

curl

# Validated occurrences from Portugal
curl "https://georeference.it/api/v1/occurrences?country=PT&status=validated"

# As JSON-LD
curl -H "Accept: application/ld+json" \
  "https://georeference.it/api/v1/occurrences?country=PT&status=validated"

# Single occurrence
curl "https://georeference.it/api/v1/occurrences/3014169604"

JavaScript

const res = await fetch(
  'https://georeference.it/api/v1/occurrences?country=PT&status=validated&perPage=500'
);
const { meta, data } = await res.json();
data.forEach(o =>
  console.log(o.scientificName, o.decimalLatitude, o.decimalLongitude)
);

Python — fetch all pages

import requests

url = "https://georeference.it/api/v1/occurrences"
params = {"country": "PT", "status": "validated", "perPage": 500}

records, page = [], 1
while True:
    r = requests.get(url, params={**params, "page": page}).json()
    records.extend(r["data"])
    if page >= r["meta"]["lastPage"]:
        break
    page += 1

print(f"{len(records)} records")

Data provenance — Records are imported from GBIF. Community georeferences follow the Georeferencing Quick Reference Guide (Zermoglio et al. 2020). Please cite both GBIF and georeference.it when using this data.