A guide to metadata by
the Metadata Advisory Group of the MIT Libraries Federal
Geographic Data Committee (FGDC) Metadata
http://www.fgdc.gov
Objective/Definition:
“The objectives of the standard are to provide a common
set of terminology and definitions for the documentation of
digital geospatial data. The standard establishes the names
of data elements and compound elements (groups of data elements)
to be used for these purposes, the definitions of these compound
elements and data elements, and information about the values
that are to be provided for the data elements.” (FGDC,
CSDGM)
“The standard was developed from the perspective of
defining the information required by a prospective user to
determine the availability of a set of geospatial
data; to determine the fitness and the set
of geospatial data for an intended use; to determine the means
of accessing the set of geospatial data; and to successfully
transfer the set of geospatial data. As such,
the standard establishes the names of data elements and compound
elements to be used for these purposes, definitions of these
data elements and compound elements, and information about
the values that are to be provided for the data elements.
The standard does not specify the means by which this information
is organized in a computer system or in a data transfer, nor
the means by which this information is transmitted, communicated,
or presented to the user.” (FGDC, CSDGM).
Definition is Based on the Following Principles:
• availability -- data needed to determine the sets
of data that exist for a geographic location.
• fitness for use -- data needed to determine if a
set of data meets a specific need.
• access -- data needed to acquire an identified set
of data.
• transfer -- data needed to process and use a set
of data.
Constituency:
The Department of the Interior chairs the committee.
The FGDC is composed of representatives from:
• Departments of Agriculture
• Departments of Commerce
• Departments of Defense
• Departments of Energy
• Departments of Housing and Urban Development
• Departments of the Interior,
• Departments of State
• Departments of Transportation
• The Environmental Protection Agency;
• The Federal Emergency Management Agency
• The Library of Congress
• The National Aeronautics and Space Administration
• The National Archives and Records Administration
• The Tennessee Valley Authority.
Who Uses FGDC….
Originally only used by Federal Agencies, the FGDC format
is now widely used by state, city, research, and corporate
institutions. In many arenas FGDC metadata is thought of as
a way to protect an organizations investment in spatial data.
Evolution:
• Established by Office of Management and Budget Circular
A-16, the Federal Geographic Data Committee (FGDC) promotes
the coordinated development, use, sharing, and dissemination
of geographic data.
• In June 1992, the Federal Geographic Data Committee
(FGDC) initiated work on a common set of terminology and definitions
for the documentation of geospatial data.
• The Content Standards was derived as apart of the
FGDC’s creation of the National Spatial Data Infrastructure
(NSDI) to promote the sharing of geospatial data throughout
federal, state and local governments and through their constituencies.
• June 1994, The Contents Standards for Digital Geospatial
Metadata (CSDGM) was completed. Although CSDGM is the official
title the standard is usually referred to as FGDC.
• April 1994, Executive Order 12906, Co-ordinating
Geographic Data Acquisition and Access : The National Spatial
Data Infrastructure., mandated the collection of geospatial
metadata.
• 1995 , Executive 0rder goes into enactment. All new
geospatial data created by Federal Agencies must be documented
in FGDC and provided through a National Geospatial Clearinghouse.
• Responsibility of metadata creation lies with the
agency or the source of data.
• 1995, FGDC held a Metadata Implementers Workshop
to discuss the general issues surrounding the implementation
of the standard.
• 1997, a draft of CSDGM version 2.0 was released,
in an attempt to address issues raised in the Metadata Implementers
Workshop.
• 1998, CSDGM version 2.0 finalized and released. Prerequisites:
• Some familiarity with geospatial data
• FGDC can be written in several formats (txt, html,
xml, sgml), although SGML is the suggested format. Content:
The standard consists of seven main sections of metadata and
3 ‘support’ sections.
•Section 1 : Identification
Information ( Mandatory)
This includes the title, creator or originator of the data,
an abstract describing the content of the dataset, keywords
for search engines and a contact information for a person
or organization for questions pertinent to the content or
technical details about the data itself.
Section 2 : Data Quality Information
Contains information about the resolution or “ scale”
of the data, accuracy of the assignment of attributes and
the geo-referencing of the data. Important information in
this section are descriptions of technical processes and citations
for sources used in compiling the data whether they be hard
copy maps that were digitized, tabular information included
in a database, or digital data that was used in the creation
of the current data base.
Section 3 : Spatial Data Organization information
Tells the user whether this is vector or raster data and
provides relevant details about the vector objects or pixel
dimensions of raster data.
Section 4 : Spatial Reference Organization
Details the projection or coordinate system. Holds specifications
necessary for using the data or determining the usefulness
of the data.
Section 5 : Entity Attribute Information
Provides an overview or detailed information on the attributes
in the tables or fields in a database.
Section 6 : Distribution Information
Gives information about how the data is available, compression
schemes, if any, have been applied to the data set.
••Section 7 : Metadata Reference
Information (Mandatory)
Information about the format and creator of the metadata.
Support Sections
Section 8 : Citation Information
This section provides a means of stating the citation of
a data set, and is used by other sections of the metadata
standard. This section is never used alone.
Section 9: Time Period of Content Information
Information about the date and time of event. (Note : this
section provides a means of stating temporal information,
and is used by other sections of the metadata standard.)
Section 10 : Contact Information
Identity of, and means to communicate with, persons(s) and
organization(s) associated with the data set. (Note : This
section provides a means of identifying individuals and organizations,
and is used by other sections of the metadata standard. This
section is never used alone.)
Experts:
The current maintenance authority for the standard is the
FGDC Secretariat. The Federal Geographic Data Committee is
the approving authority for the standard. Questions concerning
the standard are to be addressed to the FGDC Secretariat,
in care of the :
U.S. Geological Survey
590 National Center
Reston, Virginia 20192
Copies of this publication are available from the Federal
Geographic Data Committee. Secretariat, in care of the U.S.
Geological Survey, 590 National Center, Reston, Virginia 20192;
telephone (703) 648-5514; facsimile (703) 648-5755; Internet
(electronic mail) fgdc@fgdc.gov.
The text also is available from anonymous File Transfer Protocol
(anonymous ftp) server fgdc.er.usgs.gov and at the FGDC web
site http://www.fgdc.gov/metadata.
List Serves:
Examples of Projects Using FGDC:
National Geospatial Data Clearinghouse
http://www.fgdc.gov/clearinghouse/clearinghouse.html
- Search a collection of 250 spatial data servers that have
digital geographic data for use in Geography Information Systems,
image processing systems, and other modeling software.
Pennsylvania Spatial Data Access (PASDA)
http://www.pasda.psu.edu/access/index.shtml
• PASDA allows users to search a listing of geospatial
data for Pennsylvania, using the FGDC metadata standard. This
is the best site to find data in Pennsylvania.
The Harvard Geospatial Library
http://hgl.harvard.edu/
• Users can search Metadata records to find geospatial
data around the world. Data located on their web site includes;
Digital Chart of the World, Census 2000 Block Groups and Tracts,
ESRI Data & Maps (6 CDs), MassGIS vector data, municipal
data for Boston, Cambridge, Brookline, and the National Transportation
Atlas.
MIT Orthophoto
http://ortho.mit.edu/
• Download Orthophotography and its FGDC metadata for
the Cambridge area.
Workshops / Tutorials:
Reading List:
Internet Resources
Federal Geographic Data Committee
http:// www.fgdc.gov
• Find the Contents Standards for Digital Geospatial
Metadata (CSDGM).
• Download the (CSDGM) workbook.
• Find metadata creation tools.
• Locate tutorials on FGDC metadata creation.
Pennsylvania Spatial Data Access (PASDA)
http://www.pasda.psu.edu/metadata/index.shtml
• General information on FGDC standard.
• Information on metadata creation.
Chandler, A. and Foley, Dan, “Mapping and
Converting Essential Federal Geographic Data Committee (FGDC)
Metadata into MARC21 and Dublin Core: Towards an Alternative
to the FGDC Clearinghouse” 12/4/1999, http://eeirc.nwrc.gov/pubs/crosswalk/fgdc-marc-dc.htm#Analysis%20of%20FGDC%20Metadata
Print references
Federal Geographic Data Committee. FGDC-STD-001-1998.
Content standard for digital geospatial metadata (revised
June 1998). Federal Geographic Data Committee. Washington,
D.C.
Federal Geographic Data Committee, FGDC-STD-001-1998. Content
Standard for Digital Geospatial Metadata Workbook version
2.0. Federal Geographic Metadata Committee, Washington DC.
5/1/200
Tschango, John Kim, “Metadata for geo-spatial data
sharing: A comparative analysis.” The Annals of Regional
Science (199) 33:171-181
Nedovic-Budic, Zorica and Jeffrey K. Pinto, “Interorganizational
GIS: Issues and Prospects.” The Annals of Regional
Science (1999) 33:183--195
Crosswalks:
Tools For Creation:
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