2.1 Metadata Scheme

These are the elements that our group has defined to be necessary for the Simon Fraser University Spatial Data Dictionary (SDD).

General Information
Title - The title of the dataset
Creation Date - When the dataset was originally created
Abstract - A brief summary description of the dataset
Metadata Author - Who wrote the metadata
Point of Contact - Who to contact to acquire the dataset, or info. about it

Dataset Technical Information
Projection
Datum

Dataset History
Dataset History - Modifications, updates, etc.

Dataset Identification
Thematic keywords - Keywords related to the theme of the dataset
Place keywords - Keywords related to the region that the dataset covers
Other characteristics - Other notable characteristics
Geographic bounding box - The spatial limits of the dataset

Distribution Information
Introduction - A summary introduction of how to get this data
Publication Date - When the data was made available
Publication Format - The file format that the data is available in
Distributor - The distributor/storage location of the dataset
Access Information - Restrictions, Usage constraints, etc.

In our project, we had to make a choice between FGDC and ISO 19115. Our metadata scheme was built upon the ISO metadata scheme, but we later translated our ISO scheme into one based on FGDC. Initially, we had to develop a set of rules to implement within our metadata search engine regarding metadata creation. This is an important step for this project for the reason that we are trying to standardize all metadata that we publish for our service and for future users. Standardizing our metadata permits us to customize the XML tags referred to by Metadata Explorer used to summon various pieces of information from these tags. Furthermore, we are able to specify the XML tags that we want to be displayed for the search result. By specifying these tags, the results from the search will always display consistent information about the datasets. Therefore, information in the tags that are called on will always be present. This will improve interoperability within our datasets because there is a required set of tags, which must be completed in order for it to be published. This will allow users to use the diverse collection of data for research use without having to question if the datasets are compatible.