MyKey: a server-side software to create customized decision trees

Abstract

To facilitate the identification of specimens, biodiversity informatics has developed numerous new computer-aided tools which compete with the old, printed single access keys. Free access keys are accessible for many different taxonomic groups, but key-generating software are also helpful to construct single access keys. This paper presents a midfield solution to create customized decision trees (single access keys) through an interactive webbased interface. This solution offers an online service to create keys according to the parameters and context chosen by the final users themselves. It is also useful for the administrator of this online system, because of low-maintenance needs, limited to configuration files when new knowledge bases are added on the server side. Presently, the software is available with a French interface at the following URL: http://baron.snv.jussieu.fr/cgi-bin/david/MyKey.cgi.