User Guide

Search Functionality

Lunaris provides powerful functionality to discover Canadian research data by using both text and map-based searching. This federated search tool aggregates metadata from a multidisciplinary variety of repositories. The full list of repositories indexed by Lunaris is available here: Source Repositories.

Keyword Search

Enter your search term (one or more words) into the search box, then click the search button or use the Enter key to submit. The search results will list datasets with a match on any of the words in any field.

Search Tips
  • Stemming: To improve retrieval, all words in your search term will have “stemming” applied. In general, this means that different forms of the same root word will retrieve the same results. Examples include singular and plural (“tree” and “trees”) and different verb forms (“run” and “running”). The stemming algorithm does not always include irregular words. Stemming is only applied to the title, description, keyword, and subject fields.
  • Accented characters: Accented characters are distinguished from unaccented characters. For example, a search for “Quebec” will return different results than a search for “Québec”.
  • Exact phrases: To find datasets with an exact phrase, use quotation marks. For example: “census profile”.
  • Boolean: Boolean terms (AND, OR, NOT) are case sensitive and can be used to join search terms. For example:
    • This search returns results with the word “lakes” in any field but omits results that also include the word “rivers”: lakes NOT rivers.
    • This search returns results with both the word “lakes” and the word “rivers” in any field: lakes AND rivers.
    • This search returns results with either the word “lakes” or the word “rivers” in any field: lakes OR rivers.

Map Search

The Lunaris map search is a tool powered by Geodisy that allows users to find data using an interactive map. The map search only includes datasets that contain geospatial information. Data is discoverable based on its location, which is determined from bounding box metadata, place name metadata, or geospatial files that can be interpreted by Lunaris’ software.

When turned on, the map search acts as a filter that limits the search results to only datasets with geospatial information that meets the aforementioned inclusion criteria. Once a map search is performed, hovering over a search result will reveal its location on the map in the form of a bounding box and the search results “Relevance” sort will prioritize bounding boxes most relevant to the selected map area. Keyword searches and filters can be used in combination with the map search. The map search can be accessed by clicking on “Map Search” on the homepage or by clicking the “Limit by map area” toggle on the search results page. Instructions for using the map search are provided below the map.

Advanced Search

The Advanced Search provides a tool for building detailed search queries. The following fields can be searched: Title, Author, Description, Keyword, Publication Date, Access, Author Affiliation, Contributor, Geolocation - Box, Geolocation - Point, Item URL, Publisher, Rights, Source Repository, and Series.

Search Results

The search results page displays search details and filters on the left, matching search results listed in the centre, and the expandable map search on the right. Records are listed with the following information:

  • The title of the dataset, which links to the dataset’s record page in Lunaris.
  • The name and logo for the dataset’s source repository. Lunaris harvests information about datasets (metadata records) from a number of Canadian research data repositories.
  • The author(s) of the dataset.
  • The date the dataset was published.
If the map search is turned on, a dataset’s bounding box will appear when hovering over its title in the search results list.

Filtering

The following filters are available to refine results:

  • Source Repository
  • Publication Date
  • Authors
  • Access

Publication Date

The publication date filter is applied as a data range. To use the filter, click on each date field and either select a date from the calendar pop-up or enter a date manually using the yyyy-mm-dd format. Then click “Apply.”

Source Repository, Authors, and Access

Select values in the filter to include results with that value. Selecting more than one value within the same filter will include results with any of the selected values, and selecting more than one value from separate filters will include results with at least one selected value from each filter. For example, selecting Open Data Canada and Polar Data Catalogue in the Source Repository filter in addition to John Doe and Jane Doe in the Authors filter would create the following search refinement: (Open Data Canada OR Polar Data Catalogue) AND (John Doe OR Jane Doe).

By default, values in the Author and Source Repository filters are sorted by the number of results (descending). There is a search bar at the top of the filter that can be used to search that filter’s values.

Sorting

The search results page has a drop down menu to specify the order that search results are displayed. Sorting can be specified by Relevance (default), Date Published, or Title.

By default, Search results are sorted by "Relevance" - a weighting scheme that favours matches found in the title first, then subject, then description. If turned on, the map search will impact the “Relevance” sort by prioritizing bounding boxes most relevant to the selected map area.

Record Pages

Each dataset record has a record page within Lunaris with information about that dataset. Basic metadata is listed, and values in the Authors and Source Repository fields can be selected to search Lunaris for all datasets associated with the selected value. Clicking either the “Access this dataset” button or the URL field link will take you to an external repository landing page where rules and access permissions are no longer controlled by Lunaris. Landing pages vary between repositories, but will include additional metadata and information on how to access the data file(s) to view or download.Each dataset record has a record page within Lunaris with information about that dataset. Basic metadata is listed, and values in the Authors and Source Repository fields can be selected to search Lunaris for all datasets associated with the selected value. Clicking either the “Access this dataset” button or the URL field link will take you to an external repository landing page where rules and access permissions are no longer controlled by Lunaris. Landing pages vary between repositories, but will include additional metadata and information on how to access the data file(s) to view or download.

Additionally, record pages include a geospatial information section and an additional metadata section if applicable. Clicking on the “View Citation” button will open a pop-up with a copyable APA citation or options to export information to a citation manager. A downloadable ISO 19139 XML metadata file is also made available for all records.

Geospatial Information

When available, geospatial information about a dataset is provided on the record page as a visual overlay. Any bounding boxes and geospatial files associated with the dataset are available to select. Individual geospatial files can be downloaded directly from the record page.

Advanced

Technical Infrastructure

Lunaris is hosted in the Alliance Cloud and uses a number of technologies, including:

  • Geodisy
  • Globus Search
  • GeoBlacklight
  • GDAL
  • GeoServer
  • API MapTiles
  • GeoNames

Adding a Repository to Lunaris

Lunaris is designed to index research data repositories in Canada and collections of data created by researchers at Canadian institutions. Repositories indexed by Lunaris include:

  • Data repositories hosted at Canadian universities, which serve as a deposit point for researchers working at those institutions
  • Government data portals
  • Domain-specific repositories hosted at larger or independent research centres, which are known to researchers working in a given field
  • National repository initiatives, including FRDR
  • International repositories with collections of data created by researchers at Canadian institutions
The Lunaris staff continually work to add new repositories to the index. Criteria which make a repository more likely to be prioritized include the following:
  • Support for one of the metadata API formats currently implemented in the Lunaris harvester. Currently, this is OAI-PMH, CKAN, CSW, MarkLogic, OpenDataSoft, Socrata, and certain repositories with Google Sitemaps. Support for additional formats may be added in the future.
  • If a repository holds more than just research data – for example, some university institutional repositories also hold theses and pre-print articles – it must have some method of querying for only research data.
  • A plausible workflow for plaintext/keyword search and retrieval of datasets from the repository.
  • The existence of a reliable point of contact at the host institution for resolving technical and/or metadata issues.
For more information, please see the Metadata Harvesting Policy. If you are interested in making your repository’s data discoverable in Lunaris, please contact us.

ProQuest Central Discovery Index

All datasets harvested by Lunaris are available via the ProQuest Central Discovery Index (CDI). These instructions provide the steps necessary to make the Lunaris collection discoverable in ProQuest interfaces, including Summon and Primo. By following the instructions, you will make all of Lunaris’ data – more than 80,000 datasets – visible for your users.

  1. Navigate to your library’s ProQuest Client Center: https://clientcenter.serialssolutions.com/CC/Login/Default.aspx
  2. Search for Database > Name Contains > FRDR
  3. Open the record found (code:MFDEJ). Click Edit and enable the inclusion in your ProQuest subscriptions, e.g. Summon.
  4. From that point on, all Lunaris records will be displayed for your users.

Please contact support@lunaris.ca if you need assistance.

We are aware that Alma users are unable to add the Lunaris collection at this time. More information and updated instructions will be added as soon as this issue has been addressed.