GONIAT is designed as tool for investigations of the Paleozoic ammonoids, their paleogeographic distribution, and their biostratigraphic range. This data base management system provides not only determinations based on morphological characteristics, but also information on occurrence, duration, literature, and phylogenetic relationships of every taxon of family, genus, and species levels.

GONIAT is a relational database. It consists of six independent data bases connected by three link information files: TAX for taxonomy, MORPHA and MORPHB for all distinctive morphological characters in adult or early and middle growth stages, LIT for literature, LOC for localities, and BOUND for biostratigraphy. In order to provide relevant time planes that can be used on a worldwide scale, radiometric dates as well as biostratigraphic names are used. Picture files are incorporated for illustration of ammomnoids and localities.

GONIAT is extensively described in: Kullmann et al. (1993): The Database System GONIAT - a tool for research on systematics and evolution of Paleozoic Ammonoids, Geobios M.S.15:239-245, Lyon. - Korn, Kullmann,J., Kullmann,P.S. & Petersen (1994): GONIAT, a computer-retrieval system for Paleozoic Ammonoids, Journal of Paleontology 68: 1257-1263.