Metadata

Metadata, or "data about data," is an important part of any GIS system. It becomes even more important in an enterprise GIS system such as the North Dakota GIS Hub where there are many data contributors over a long time span and there are many users of that data who may never otherwise know where the data that they are using came from or how it was created.

The North Dakota GIS Technical Committee (GISTC) has developed the metadata standards that are used on the GIS Hub. Metadata on the GIS Hub can be searched and browsed using the Metadata Explorer. Use this tool to also find out data that is in progress.

» Start - Metadata Explorer

Using the Metadata Explorer

The Metadata Explorer can be used to find data using geographic extents, searching by keyword(s), browsing within folders containing similar data, filtering by themes, filtering by content type, or some combination of all. If you know exactly what kind of data you are looking for you should simply browse within a folder. For example, if you are wanting to download a shapefile of North Dakota counties, in the Folders section on the left you would click the link, "Downloadable GIS Hub Data," then the "Geo-Political" link and then browse the items listed in the main part of the page to find that data. You can rapidly narrow down to a single choice by entering "counties" (without the quotes) in the Words field on the left then clicking the Search button.

It is important to note that the various Metadata Explorer searching methods constantly work together to help refine your search. This is handy when one is trying to narrow down the search for an item such as the counties example above. But this can also get one into trouble if one has previously selected a content type, keyword, and theme that doesn't apply to what is being searched for currently. To help avoid this, you should get in the habit of looking at the list of search criteria that is listed near the top of the Metadata Explorer, just below the Catalog Results and Details tabs and above the menu area. To quickly remove all search criteria, simply click on the "All Records" link that will appear at the beginning of the list of search criteria.

One final suggestion is to compare the difference between using the Gallery view and the Summary view which can be toggled from a pull-down menu in the menu area above the listing of metadata items. The Gallery view shows only the thumbnails and the links to the metadata whereas the Summary view shows additional information.

Publishing Metadata to the Metadata Explorer

If you have North Dakota GIS data that you would like to "advertise" via the GIS Hub Metadata Explorer, you are welcome to publish your metadata to the Metadata Explorer. All we need from you is an FGDC-compliant metadata file (which can be created in ArcCatalog then exported). The export format is most readable in .txt or .xml format. If you would like to have thumbnail images displayed along with the metadata (useful to people looking for data), simply send along a corresponding .gif, .jpg, or .png file. These thumbnail images can be created in a number of ways but you might get the best results by simply doing a screen snapshot of your data as seen in ArcMap.

A couple of metadata hints prior to publishing on the Metadata Explorer:

1. If your data can be downloaded, you can set up a link in your metadata pointing to the download location. In the ArcCatalog metadata editor, under the Identification section (the default), click on the Citation tab then click on the Details button. In the Online Linkage field at the bottom, specify the download URL. This URL can be the actual location of the data to be downloaded, or your more general web site.
2. If you do not have your data set up to be downloaded and/or you would rather have someone contact you to arrange obtaining the data, please make sure your contact information is present in the metadata. At the minimum, in the Identification section, click on the Contact tab then click on the Details button to specify the contact information. Contact information also exists in the Distribution and Metadata Reference sections.
3. To facilitate searching, please be sure you have included keywords. These are entered by going to the Identification section, and clicking on the Keywords tab. Other important keywords to include are the theme keywords which are treated the same as the keywords you have already specified but their names have been standardized. For a list of these theme keywords, in ArcGIS 9 fire up ArcGIS help and in the search area type "theme codes." In the #1 ranked item titled, "Requirements for publishing metadata to an ArcIMS Metadata Service" expand the Theme Codes help item.
4. Whenever your data is updated, your metadata should probably reflect that. Please contact us with the updated metadata file.
5. The ArcCatalog metadata editor displays required (standards) fields in red. For more information on the required fields so that FGDC (Federal Geographic Data Committee) standards can be met, please visit the GIS Standards page then check out several of the links such as "Metadata" and "An Image Map of the Content Standard for Digital Geospatial Metadata."
6. For assistance with publishing your metadata to the North Dakota GIS Hub Metadata Explorer, please contact us.

Top

Back

Print Friendly Version