Fortunately, today such variability has largely been eliminated by the advent of global positioning systems with their improved precision and accuracy. Robin Sears of the New York Botanical Garden shed some insight into the extent of the georeferencing problem. She examined museum data on tree species used for timber. The group acknowledged that sampling bias is a problem with museum specimens. David Stockwell of the San Diego Super Computer Center pointed out that the random errors that crop up in museum data cancel out while those made in a systematic way do not.
Methods do exist to compensate for systematic errors in models.
The group acknowledged the need to explore the benefits and limitations of museum data, and to fill the data gaps. Standards are needed for collecting and labeling specimens, as well as measures to evaluate the collecting effort. Sears also pointed out the need for land use and social science data to validate the assumptions we make for models. To date, publications of monographs have been the only means by which such data exit the museum door and enter the scientific community. Johnson noted that using museum specimens as a source of point data to integrate with environmental data through the application of biodiversity models will provide new avenues of application for museum collections.