The Icelandic Institute of Natural History

The Icelandic Institute of Natural History (NÍ), an agency of the Ministry of the Environment, Energy and Climate is responsible for research and monitoring of the natural environment in Iceland. The website underwent a seamless upgrade from Drupal 7 to Drupal 9, with a fresh design and enhanced search functionality to make the information more accessible.

The Icelandic Institute of Natural History (NÍ) is an agency of the Ministry of the Environment, Energy and Climate, it is responsible for a broad range of research and monitoring activities related to the study and preservation of Iceland's natural environment. Its primary focus lies in conducting research in the fields of zoology, botany, and geology. This involves documenting and categorising the country's biota and maintaining the information in comprehensive scientific databases. 

A significant part of the work of NÍ revolves around monitoring and assessing the conservation value of natural sites, species, habitat types, and geological formations and offering guidance on responsible resource use. They also play a role in publishing red lists, documenting natural phenomena, and maintaining Iceland's Nature Conservation Register.

The existing NÍ system, built on Drupal 7, had become outdated and was in need of upgrading to integrate modern features and functionalities. The design required updating to make the site mobile-friendly and accessible.

One of the major features of the NÍ site is the extensive Biota data; the comprehensive databases of scientific research that categorise and monitor all organisms in Iceland. The handling and search capabilities of this valuable data needed improvement to make the information more accessible to users. An overhaul of the search functionality was required in order to make these valuable information resources more readily available and to improve the overall user experience.

The 1xINTERNET design team created a fresh modern design based on the former website with an improved navigation for better user experience. We upgraded the system to a new Drupal 9 environment, migrating content from the old Drupal 7 site and restructuring to improve accessibility. The new website is faster, more responsive and accessible on mobile devices.

The most important feature of the website is the enhanced search functionality implemented with ElasticSearch. The BIOTA search allows users to filter search criteria by animal kingdom, plant, fungi and all geographical information about protected sites in Iceland. A vast amount of important scientific data from multiple databases has been made more accessible to users. 

We also greatly improved the editorial experience in the new Drupal environment, streamlining manual editorial work and providing the NÍ team with a seamless content updating and maintenance process. We also made notable advancements to the translation feature of the core module, simplifying the overall translation process.

Why was Drupal a good fit for this project?

NÍ selected Drupal due to its foundation on open-source software and its ability to integrate with other systems. Given the client’s positive experience with Drupal and satisfaction with the service provider, it was a natural decision to continue with Drupal and upgrade to the latest version for enhanced functionality.

Drupal's flexible architecture enables seamless integration with ElasticSearch. This integration facilitated efficient handling and retrieval of the extensive Biota data, providing users with an enhanced search experience. Drupal's ability to handle structured data and integrate with external data sources made it an ideal choice for managing the Ní's scientific research and categorization needs.