Mindat.org
Mindat.org is a non-commercial online mineralogical database, claiming to be the largest mineral database and mineralogical reference website on the internet. It is used by professional mineralogists, geologists and amateur mineral collectors alike.
| Owner | The Hudson Institute of Mineralogy, Keswick, Virginia |
|---|---|
| Created by | Jolyon Ralph, et al. |
| Industry | Mineralogy |
| URL | www |
| Alexa rank |  |
| Commercial | No |
| Launched | 10 October 2000 |
| OCLC number | 643335336 |
It contains a significant database of minerals, localities and mineral photographs, and is updated constantly by registered users adding and editing entries.
As of 2016, it included:
- 45,289 mineral names (this includes mineral varieties, synonyms and discredited names), of which 5,091 are minerals or mineraloids recognized by the International Mineralogical Association.
- 261,955 mineral localities worldwide, with information on 903,204 mineral occurrences within these sites.
- Over 647,000 photos of minerals have been uploaded, arranged into galleries from collectors and institutions worldwide who wish to share their mineral collections online.
- 48,657 users registered to upload photos and/or edit data.
History
Mindat was started in 1993 as a personal database project by Jolyon Ralph. He then developed further versions as a Microsoft Windows application before launching a community-editable database web site in October 2000.[1]
Mindat.org is now part of the Hudson Institute of Mineralogy, a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit educational foundation incorporated in the state of New York.
Jolyon Ralph was awarded the Mineralogical Society of America's Distinguished public service medal in 2011 for his work on Mindat.org.[2]
References
- "History". Archived from the original on 2005-12-20. Retrieved 2005-10-16.
- Mineralogical Society of America