The paleontological disciplines require specialized, if not unique, computer storage and data exchange systems in order to manage extremely large data sets of intimately related textual information and photographic images. These data sets are used to document fossil taxa which have a wide and variable spectrum of morphological characteristics, and which have complex environmental, chronological, and geographic distribution patterns. The PALCAT (PALeontology CATalog) system is an interactive relational database and high-resolution image retrieval platform specifically designed to increase the efficiency with which scientists use paleontological information. The system provides users with the unique ability to "build" or "browse" electronic catalogs within a single integrated software environment. PALCAT incorporates a unique combination of analog and digital optical disk technology to manage very large data sets containing both text and images. It opens new horizons for the future of specimen-based research by providing a means to condense and access otherwise widely-disseminated information onto a single desktop system.
PALCAT was designed and developed as a co-operative project by a team of professional paleontologists (from Agip, Amoco, Arco, Chevron, Exxon, Mobil, Marathon, Shell and Unocal) and Electro Communication Systems (ECS) in Dallas, Texas, under the auspices of the American Museum of Natural History (Micropaleontology Press) and in cooperation with the American Association of Stratigraphic Palynologists. Technical problems were overcome by cooperation and compromise among paleontologists, hardware specialists, and software engineers. A group of paleontological research scientists designed and specified the overall user interface, relational database table structure, and primary functional requirements of the system from a user's perspective (overall work session flow, use of images as data elements, as well as other required equipment including microscopes and data input devices). Hardware and software engineers integrated these design parameters into a desktop hardware system. As one example of a cooperative solution, high resolution images were mandated by the requirements of many users regarding acceptable visual quality to make valid identifications or perform morphological comparisons. Existing analog optical disc storage technology did not have the required resolution to satisfy these users, and consequently digital image storage capabilities were also incorporated into PALCAT. The resultant combination of analog optical disc and high-capacity digital image storage devices is "transparent" from a user's perspective.
The basic PALCAT hardware configuration contains the following: (a) 386/486 computer and SVGA monitor for text data viewing, (b) 12" analog optical disk recorder/player or player-only for image storage, (c) 1 Gbyte removable cartridge erasable or WORM optical disk drive for storage of digital images as well as very large databases, (d) hi-res multisync monitor for image viewing, (e) hi-res image capture board, (f) microscope equipped with B&W or color video camera, and (g) optional digital flatbed scanner to capture existing photographic material. Variations on this basic set-up can be configured to meet specific needs and budgetary constraints of individual users. Several options to the hardware system include use of relatively inexpensive laservision players to view pre-recorded images, systems with digital record/analog view capability, and inclusion of a "live-video" window which displays a specimen being viewed under a microscope onto a monitor for comparison with recorded images from the database. Current development activity includes enhanced data display, search/retrieval optimization, expanded system hardware configurations, automatic compression/decompression of digital images, and possible implementation on UNIX and Macintosh operating systems.The system can also be incorporated into a local area network (LAN) which employs the client-server database architecture of Gupta's SQLBase.
The PALCAT system operates under Microsoft Windows 3.0 on PC DOS-compatible personal computers, and was developed using the SQLWindows/SQLBase relational database software from Gupta Technologies. The PALCAT system is designed to operate in conjunction with a wide range of associated paleontological software packages (DOS and Windows), including expert system shells, taxon identification keys (ANGIOKEY, DINOKEY), literature databases (PALYNODATA), biostratigraphic data entry utilities (BUGIN, RAGWARE), as well as optical scanning and image processing software.
PALCAT will include all search functionality of the SQLBase relational database software. The user simply specifies a set of appropriate criteria to initiate a search routine. The result of the search consists of the database records for one or more fossil taxa which meet the selection criteria, along with a series of recorded images for each taxon. As the user browses the textual records for each successive taxon on one monitor, the initial image for that taxon is retrieved from either the analog or digital optical disc and is displayed on a second (video) monitor; the user can then browse through the collection, or "stack," of successive images for that taxon or update text fields in the record.
All types of original image source material can be incorporated into the electronic catalog; images can be captured directly from both transmitted light and scanning electron microscopes via video or digital cameras, or by optical scanning of 35mm transparencies, photographic prints, and published photomicrographs. Ultimately, hundreds of thousands of images can be stored and accessed on a network using multiple, connected storage devices. Analog image storage clearly provides an incremental advantage over digital storage regarding media (disc) requirements and practicality for the end user. In addition, the analog format offers a considerable cost savings by requiring only one disc (capacity 108,000 images, either full-color or grey-scale) in comparison to the multiple digital optical discs that would be needed for an image library identical in size. PALCAT offers a practical, fast and efficient image storage and retrieval system at a relatively economical cost. Information technology in the form of analog image storage capability is such a critical element of the PALCAT architecture that it would not have been possible to build such a system without the analog medium.
The Ellis and Messina Catalog of Foraminifera (published by Micropaleontology Press, a division of the American Museum of Natural History in New York) is the first major paleontological catalog to be adapted (by ECS) for use on the PALCAT platform. The printed catalog consists of approximately 76,000 pages of fossil images and text, and is currently used by numerous industrial and academic research institutions throughout the world. The catalog images were scanned and recorded onto an analog optical disc. The catalog text was converted into ASCII files using OCR software; these files will be imported into the database after final editing at the American Museum. A dinoflagellate image library (developed by ImageWare, Richardson, Texas) containing approximately 25,000 images is currently in production, and additional regional- and/or group-specific databases are being planned by several third-party vendors.
PALCAT offers ease of updating the electronic catalog for both Micropaleontology Press as well as end users by eliminating the need to manually interleave new pages into existing volumes of the catalog each year. Furthermore the program offers the end user the ability to update an existing catalog with proprietary images and data, or to extract or construct an entirely new one within individual laboratories, including full image capture and retrieval capabilities, with its standard software. Finally companies and universities, who would not otherwise be able to justify a printed catalog, can now implement a PALCAT related image database as an easy-to-use reference work for educational and training purposes. PALCAT therefore widens the base of end users for the Ellis & Messina Catalog of Foraminifera; it provides an ease of production, distribution and updating not previously possible for both the publisher and user; and it significantly broadens the scope of database activities available to end users for a variety of research applications.
In the past, paleontologists have exchanged photographic information using traditional media - photographs, 35mm slides, or technical publications in scholarly journals - all of which are based on "hardcopy," or paper form. PALCAT offers the entirely new option of electronic dissemination of very large image data sets for scientific purposes, and thereby truly represents the future of data exchange for the science. However, the fundamental concept of the PALCAT system is not limited to paleontology. Numerous scientific, educational, and commercial applications exist which require a large image database. Potential future applications may include, among others, medical databases (e.g., histology, surgery, dermatology), botanical/zoological collections and identification guides, museum/research collections of cultural artifacts and fine arts, automotive or machine catalogs, and a host of others.
PALCAT offers any organization or individual conducting paleontological research the opportunity to create and use image-based databases and to bridge fundamental problems related to the standardization of image file formats. There are many digital file formats currently available for the digital storage of image data. This variety of digital formats creates difficulty regarding both standardization of one or more formats for use by an organization, and conversion of one digital file format to another for data exchange. PALCAT offers a global solution to the situation in two ways: (1) PALCAT will operate on any PC-based personal computer system anywhere in the world, and (2) the stored video images represent a universal standard because PALCAT is a "closed" system utilizing NTSC video images that can be recorded, exchanged and played by any paleontologist in the world using the system. Finally, although the system was originally designed in cooperation with and intended for use by a rather limited group of research scientists, PALCAT interfaces can be easily modified for other integrated image databases, and thus has the potential to provide a universal standard hardware and software platform for image databases in a wide variety of research and educational applications.
In summary, the PALCAT system offers significant potential as the first integrated and widely-supported platform utilizing a graphical user interface to electronically archive paleontological data. It creates more open access to data, resulting in standardized taxonomy and more efficient identification procedures, substantially reduced learning curves for persons unfamiliar with particular fossil groups, and more effective retention of the cumulative knowledge of experienced paleontologists.
Interested individuals should contact the following organizations for additional information concerning various aspects of the PALCAT system and products:
Dr. John van Couvering
American Museum of Natural History
79th Street at Central Park West
New York, NY 10024
(PALCAT program; Ellis and Messina Catalog of Foraminifera)
Mr. Terry Muncey, CEO
Electro Communication Systems, Inc.
2043 Empire Central
Dallas, TX 75235
(PALCAT hardware configurations and image processing services)
Barbara A. Goodman, President
ImageWare
2415 Fairway Drive
Richardson, TX 75080
(Dinoflagellate Image Library; PALCAT image processing services)