Restricted Access Species Data: The Swedish Model

What this was about

Johan Liljeblad traced Sweden's handling of restricted species data from a simple role table in the first citizen-science observatory (2000) to the UserAdmin role system launched with Artportalen 2 (2014) and a federation system harvesting other datasets (2021). About 1.5 million of 158 million records, belonging to 111 species, are protected in diffusion classes (5, 25 or 50 km squares), with users also able to hide or diffuse their own records. He explained authorised access via contracts, three access systems and 'signal search', which tells authorised users whether any sensitive records exist in an area without revealing species, and noted the trend is to restrict less over time.

Why it matters. Illustrates a mature national approach with practical tools (signal search, logged searches, delegated role management) and identifies the need for standardised authorised APIs and verification categories to exchange sensitive data.

In the room

• Timeline: 2000 citizen observatory with one role per account; offline sensitive observation database until 2008; 2014 UserAdmin with Artportalen 2 allowing role switching; 2021 federation system harvesting other Swedish datasets via APIs; new version of UserAdmin a few years ago.
• About 158 million records in total, of which about 1.5 million are protected, belonging to 111 species; the list is published as an Excel spreadsheet.
• Protection classes generalise to 5, 25 or 50 km squares; users can hide their own observation until a future date (treated as class three) or privately diffuse it.
• The system is revised roughly every five years, and the trend is to restrict less, because hidden observations can't be protected if nobody knows about them.
• Access routes: ask authorised staff, signal search, or sign a contract giving access to certain classes, usually for a region and taxonomic group; accessed through Artsök, Navet (Swedish Forest Agency) and the Centre's own system.
• County administrative boards grant roles to their own staff, so role management is not centralised; searches are logged so leaks can be traced, though leaks usually come from Facebook groups or research papers.
• Signal search answers yes/no for whether sensitive data exist in an area for a list of species, with at least a one-year date window; large diffusion areas (e.g. nesting eagles) make it say yes for much of southern Sweden.

Notable moments