Center for International Earth Science Information Network


 

CIESIN Initiatives





CIESIN Metadata Guidelines

A key document that outlines the content specifications for describing data and information resources in an online environment. Designed to assist in the creation of descriptive catalog records for the CIESIN Gateway, this document was derived from bibliographic cataloging standards used by the library community and evolving metadata standards.



CIESIN Indexing Vocabulary

A document that contains CIESIN's controlled indexing term list for socioeconomic and environmental parameters or indicators.



Unified Metadatabase Design and Prototype

The Unified Metadatabase is a key component of CIESIN's integrated data and information management infrastructure. This database logically integrates data elements necessary to generate and manage CIESIN's diverse data, metadata, and document resource s. A prototype is being developed with the primary goal of generating a relational, normalized, and extensible data model which will support multiple metadata standards as well as a diversity of applications to generate CIESIN's metadata and data access products.

After conducting an analysis of the scope of the project, it was determined that database modeling should focus on the specific metadata requirements necessary to support the Federal Geographic Data Committee's(FGDC) Content Standards for Digital Geosp atial Metadata (CSDGM), the Directory Interchange Format (DIF), the Government Information Locator Service (GILS), and the Earth Observing System Data and Information System (EOSDIS) Information Management System (IMS) data order requirements. As a secon dary exercise, the data model will be extended with some additional content elements from the Anglo-American Cataloging Rules (AACR)/Machine-Readable Cataloging (MARC), and both MARC and Standard Generalized Markup Language (SGML) will be incorporated as data element tags into the data model.

Database modeling has resulted in a draft of the Third Normal Form Data Model. This draft incorporates all of the data elements within the CSDGM. It also includes all of the extensions that were made to this standard to accommodate raster data by the Idaho Geographic Information Advisory Committee, published as the Idaho Metadata Profile. Most DIF data elements have been incorporated as well, although some changes which have been made in the past 18 months to the DIF specification have not yet been incorporated. The data model is currently being reviewed and domain tables are being added.

Subsequent steps will include definition of functional requirements and specifications for selected key applications, preparation of a physical data model, and implementation and testing of a prototype system, expected during 1997. The prototype manag ement and access system(s) will initially be implemented using World Wide Web user interfaces.



CIESIN GILS Access System

To facilitate access to metadata resources, CIESIN has prototyped the CIESIN GILS Access System. The user interface is a WWW-based client which accesses a Z39.50-compliant server.Metadata records structured ac cording to GILS (Application Profile Version 2.0) are searched and retrieved by one or more user-selected metadata attributes. Metadata records are retrieved and displayed using familiar GILS attribute names. These records describe key information resourc es and data access systems associated with CIESIN and many of CIESIN's Information Cooperative partner organizations.

Future development plans include enhancing the Z39.50 search and retrieval capabilities to access multiple distributed servers, and allowing users to select a display option from among several metadata formats.



Federal Facilities Public Health Assessment Data Catalog

The Federal Facilities Public Health Assessment Data Catalog was designed and developed by the Center for International Earth Science Information Network (CIESIN) under Cooperative Agreement No. CX821505 wit h the US Environmental Protection Agency (US EPA) as part of a collaborative effort with the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR), the Department of Energy (DoE), and the Department of Defense (DoD).



Metadata Homepage

Metadata Overview

CIESIN Standards

CIESIN Documentation

Related Resources

Metadata Tools

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