ESM 261 - Fall 2008

Deliverable: Project Metadata

Background

While standard data formats do a good job of encapsulating structural metadata (i.e. how to extract individual values from a data structure), they often do a poor job of capturing semantic metadata (i.e. what the values mean). Instead, the issue of semantic metadata is usually addressed by content standards: lists or hierarchies of concepts that metadata values should represent. The most prevalent (but by no means the only) metadata content standard in the environmental information community is the Content Standard for Digital Geospatial Metadata (CSDGM) promulgated by the Federal Geographic Data Committee.

The CSDGM describes, in outline form, the kinds of metadata that should be captured in order to properly evaluate and interpret a geospatial dataset ("geospatial" here meaning "comprising spatial information referenced to the surface of the Earth"). The CSDGM doesn't prescribe a particular format for metadata, only what concepts should be represented and (to a limited extent) how they relate to each other. A simple text document in outline form, with the metadata elements clearly identified, is a perfectly adequate representation of a CSDGM report, although there are are several other common representations (e.g., indented text with {}'s, XML, etc.)

A CSDGM is typically used to describe a dataset (e.g. Landsat Thematic Mapper imagery), as opposed to a single object (e.g. a Landsat Thematic Mapper image). The report metaphor is therefore useful in that it tends to make you consider the "big picture": what does somebody need to know about this kind of stuff in order to make sense out of it and use it properly?

What you have to do

1. Select a non-trivial geospatial dataset for which a CSDGM report isn't currently available.
   • Ideally, this will be the dataset you selected for yout term project.
   • But, if that dataset isn't suitable (e.g. doesn't have a spatial component), or if you can't find a suitable dataset on your own, then see me, and I'll assign one to you
2. Prepare a CSDGM report for the dataset. There are several tools available to help you do this, most notably ArcCatalog's Metadata Editor, but don't get wrapped around picking the right tool. Ultimately, a CSDGM report is just a highly structured README file -- you really don't need anything more complicated than a word processor. The CSDGM Workbook contains some example reports.

Answer Questions

1. Were you able to provide values for all the required CSDGM elements? If not, why not?
2. Which elements were the most difficult to obtain values for?
3. Which CSDGM elements do you think will be the most useful to future users of the dataset? Which will be least useful (i.e. weren't worth the effort to obtain them)?

Hints

• Use the resources (tutorials, examples, etc.) on the CSDGM web site (but don't spend all your time there).
• Check out examples of CSDGM reports. A simple way to find some is to feed a CSDGM element name (e.g. "identification_information") to a web search engine (note the different formats -- text, HTML, etc. -- that the reports are presented in).
• Feel free to ask me questions (preferably by email, or make an appointment).

Deliverables

1. CSDGM report, as a text file or Word document (or XML, if you happen to be using a tool that generates it)
2. an "appendix" to the report answering questions 1-3 above

Due: Fri 24 Oct 2008

Additional Resources

Formal metadata: information and software

A web site maintained by the USGS with lots of tutorial information. See especially:

• Metadata in plain language: a nice step-by-step guide to filling out an FGDC CSDGM report
• ASCII template for metadata: a template for a complete FGDC CSDGM metadata report, as a text file you can edit with Notepad or Word (if using Word, be sure to save as the file a text document, not a Word document)
• Tkme: a (somewhat clunky) standalone visual metadata editor

"Working with metadata" [PDF]

The chapter from the ArcCatalog manual that describes how to use ArcCatalog to create and edit metadata

NOTE: the trick to using ArcCatalog to create a "standalone" metadata document is:

1. Make sure "View→Toolbars→Metadata" is checked
2. In the "Catalog" tree, browse to the directory you want to create the metadata file in.
3. Select the "Metadata" tab.
4. Select the "FGDC" stylesheet.
5. Select the "Edit metadata" icon.
6. Read "Help" in the "Metadata Editor" window.