Lab 7: Metadata

Outline

1. Purpose
2. Introduction and background
3. Download data
4. Getting started
5. Using the FGDC editor and onboard help
6. Make some metadata
7. Using the Metadata Properties button
8. Import function and Templates
9. Exports
10. Conclusion (summary)
11. To turn in

1.0 Purpose

Make FGDC-standard metadata for GIS layer (e.g., shapefile, coverage, geodatabase, raster, folder, etc.) using ArcCatalog’s FGDC editor.

2.0 Introduction and background

Standards

In the lecture last week, we defined metadata for geo-spatial data, and discussed standards for creating metadata. A standard is a prescribed set of rules for consistently describing a geo-spatial dataset. You also learned that the Content Standard for Digital Geo-Spatial Metadata (CSDGM) or FGDC standard is the standard currently in use by the federal government for its datasets, and that it is the most widely used standard in the US. Another widely used standard is an international standard known as the ISO standard. In this lab we are focusing on the FGDC standard.

Both of these metadata standards allow groups of metadata users to add new elements to the standard, in order to better describe that community’s data. Such a modification is called a profile, and ESRI is one such “community” that has established a Profile of the CSDGM. When the federal government adopts the ISO standard sometime in the next year or so, it will adopt the North American Profile of the ISO standard 19115.

Metadata Editors

In the lecture we also mentioned metadata editors – software tools that help you write standard metadata for spatial data. ArcCatalog has built-in metadata editors for both FGDC and ISO standards. Each editor prompts you for information required for that standard. You were introduced to ArcCatalog in the first lab and have used its Metadata functions in several labs so far. You explored existing metadata, observed the behavior of metadata when importing source GIS data into a geodatabase, and created some metadata for a shapefile by importing the information from a text file.

ArcCatalog makes metadata that becomes an integral part of the GIS dataset – shapefiles, coverages, rasters, geodatabases. Now we are going to tour the FGDC metadata editor in ArcCatalog, and create original metadata for one of the sample datasets you will download.

Documention and Properties

The FGDC metadata standard describes both data Documentation and data Properties. Documentation is information about the dataset that is manually added in the editor—contact information, attribute definitions, dataset title, etc. These are elements that generally make your metadata “discoverable” in a catalog search.

Properties are characteristics inherent in the spatial dataset itself. When using the ArcCatalog editor, properties are automatically read by the ArcCatalog program–the coordinate system name, bounding coordinates, number of records, etc. Properties are automatically updated as the dataset is edited in ArcGIS. For example, as you add more points to a dataset, the bounding coordinates may expand and the number of records increases.

Many Properties are ESRI Profile elements, and not part of FGDC standard—such as dataset file name or number of entities (records). Even though you are using the FGDC editor, you can view the metadata record through several different stylesheets, a type of viewer. Most familiar is probably the “FGDC ESRI” stylesheet with the three tabs. If you switch to the “FGDC” style sheet, you will find an explanation of which elements are FGDC standard, and which are ESRI Profile elements.

Standard Compliance

We will explore the built-in tools in FGDC editor that help you create metadata that complies with the metadata standard of choice. In the lecture we learned the FGDC standard has seven main sections, and three supporting sections. ArcCatalog’s FGDC editor has seven data entry sections across the top of the editor, corresponding to the seven main sections of the FGDC standard. Clicking on any section opens multiple tabs or forms for that section.

The FGDC editor prompts for some of the standard metadata elements by including a reminder in red text. There are two additional help tools in the editor that will explain more about what kind of information you can input for each element to create FGDC-standard compliant metadata.

Metadata Completeness

The number of fields that should be completed is a function of the purpose for which the spatial dataset was created, and its intended audience. You have seen examples of metadata intended for distribution to a large audience in Lab 3. In Lab 7 we are going to focus on documenting a smaller core of metadata elements, and give you additional resources that support more intensive documentation.

3.0 Download data

Download the lab7.zip data archive onto your local or network drive. Unzip the archive. You should have a lab7 folder with some of the same spatial data used in earlier labs; however, these copies have been renamed to avoid confusion.

4.0 Getting started

Most of the time you will use the default settings that automatically create or update a metadata record when you view an item in the Catalog with the Metadata Tab. There are some situations, such as creating a metadata Template, when you want to turn off these automatic functions and use the Create/Update button to populate the metadata fields.

When the Create/Update functions are invoked, automatically or manually, the dataset Properties are filled out. This is the beginning of a metadata record, but it needs more.

• Open ArcCatalog, the Default Stylesheet should be “ESRI FGDC”
• Click on the Tools pull-down menu at the top of ArcCatalog, select Options, then open the Metadata tab .
• For now, turn off automatic options for both Creating metadata and Updating metadata.
• Make sure “FGDC Editor” option is selected in the Metadata Editor box.
• Press “OK” button to return to ArcCatalog.

• Connect to the Lab7 folder in the Catalog Tree (left panel) and click on the shapefile Lab7_cities.shp.
• Three main ArcCatalog tabs are available: Contents, Preview, and Metadata.
• Open the Metadata tab in the right panel.
• A screen appears with this message…

• Click on the green link below the blue message and follow instructions to manually create a metadata record.

• Re-set ArcCatalog options to automatically Create and Update metadata properties, using the same Tools | Options | Metadata dialog box you used at the beginning of this section.

5.0 Using the FGDC editor and onboard help

In an earlier lab you imported some Documentation details from an existing, external text file. We can also complete Documentation by using ArcCatalog’s FGDC editor to enter the details as required by the FGDC metadata standard.

In this section we will explore the metadata editor’s three on-board help functions for making FGDC-compliant metadata.

Using In-Context Help

• Connect to Lab7_cities.shp and open the metadata editor by clicking the Edit button.
• You should see the first help function. A message in red prompts you to enter data in many of the fields required by the FGDC standard (these prompts were gray when you viewed the metadata record, Description tab). Field content in black is dataset properties that were automatically entered by ArcCatalog.

• Cancel this Metadata edit session and click on the shapefile Lab7_countyp020.shp in your Lab 7 folder.
• Begin a new Metadata edit session on Lab7_countyp020. shp by clicking on the Edit button.
• Click on the ? in upper right corner of any metadata tab. A ? is added to your cursor:

• Move ?+cursor to any metadata field and click to reveal a pop-up hint about FGDC standard content wanted for this field.

• The word “Section” in the pop-up refers to the FGDC Standard section number for this element – you can find more information by looking up that section in the CSDGM Workbook.

Using the Help Button

• Using the Help button at the bottom of any Section or tab in the FGDC editor, answer the questions about hypothetical datasets:

• Click on Lab7_countyp020.shp and open the FGDC editor.
• For the Identification Section, fill out the Tab and value for each element in the table below. The first one is filled in as an example.

Question 4.

6.0 Make some metadata

• Make sure you are set to Create/Update metadata automatically.
• Connect to summer_water_temperature.shp in the “Watertemps” sub-folder of your Lab 7 folder.
• Click on the Metadata tab, and open the FGDC Editor.
• Complete the metadata record for this shapefile of historical stream temperatures on Sonoma Creek and several tributaries. Use the following information to fill out all the Red required fields. For extra credit fill out as many of the other fields as possible with the existing information.
• The shapefile was authored by Arthur Dawson, Historical Ecologist, Sonoma Ecology Center, P.O. Box 1486, Eldridge CA 95431 (707-996-0712, arthur@sonomaecologycenter.org).
• He used several on-the-ground stream surveys recorded from 1946 through 1977 by members of the California Department of Fish and Game. Temperature is one of several crucial factors that can determine a stream’s suitability as habitat for salmonids such as steelhead trout. To plan restoration of salmonid habitat, it is important not only to know temperatures today, but also how the temperatures are changing over time.
• Using “heads-up” digitizing, Mr. Dawson used the CDFG stream survey’s text descriptions of monitoring sites to approximate their locations in a shapefile.
• This project was completed and made available to the public in October 2005.
• There are no access constraints, but the user should be aware that the data used in this application are based on interpretation of available information and should not be construed as legally binding.

7.0 Using the Metadata Properties button

In the exercise above, you created a full metadata record for a dataset you did not create, and you based your documentation on information received, not your personal experience. This is a common situation in working experience. You may encounter one or more pieces of information, perhaps in a nearby folder, that tell you about the project that created the dataset, the geo-processing steps and the sources used, etc. Perhaps you summarized the information you found into the metadata you created, but there is more in these external files that is worth keeping.

You can optionally attach one or more such external files to the metadata that is now part of your ESRI dataset, by using the Metadata Properties button. The process incorporates a binary copy of the file within the ESRI xml file that contains your metadata. So inclusions of large files can make your entire ESRI dataset significantly larger. The enclosed file can be opened for reference while you are in ArcCatalog by using the Metadata Properties button again. You can again save it outside of the metadata document, and you can delete enclosed files.

This exercise takes you through the steps of enclosing a Word document with your metadata file.

• Click on summer-water_temperatures.shp and click on the Metadata tab.
• Click on the “Metadata Properties” button , and click on the Enclosures tab.
• Click on the “Add” button and browse to the Word file “Dawson Historical Temperature Project.doc” in the “Watertemps” sub-folder of your Lab 7 folder.
• Write a short description of the enclosure. Click “OK” when you are done.

• You will now see an icon has appeared in the enclosure window, with the file name under it.

• Double-click on the icon to open the file for viewing.
• You can enclose multiple files, but remember this increases the size of your metadata file and thus your entire spatial dataset
• Click OK to finish.
• In the Metadata tab, you will see a line has been added to the Description viewer/tab. This tells us that the Word document is now included in your shapefile’s metadata file.

8.0 Import function and Templates

Once you have completed a metadata record in ArcCatalog, it becomes an integral part of your GIS dataset, usually an XML file. Depending on the type of data being described, the file is either saved with the name metadata.xml or with the file name and the file extension followed by the .xml extension. This XML file contains both FGDC metadata elements and elements of the ESRI profile.

Sometimes formal FGDC metadata exists as external structured text files (you used them in Lab 3 and
Lab 4), and you have seen how these can be imported to become an integral part of your ESRI GIS dataset.

Another common use of the import function involves Metadata Templates. A Template is a stand-alone XML file that you import BEFORE adding more documentation details. It can contain any information that will be repeated for multiple datasets, such as main Contact information, Distribution and Metadata Contacts information, Access and Use Constraints, etc. You may want to make multiple templates for different purposes.

To make a Template:

• Use the Tools drop-down menu, Options, Metadata tab to turn OFF the automatic Create and Update functions.
• In ArcCatalog, connect to your Lab 7 folder.
• In the empty pane on the right, right-click and select “New”, then “XML Document”

• Save the file as YourName_Template.xml
• Click on the Metadata tab, and you see you have an empty file:

• Open this file with the Edit button, go to Identification Section, Contact tab, and fill in your name as the contact person and SSU as the organization
• Go to the Metadata Reference Section, the Contact Details button, and fill in the same details.
• Go back to the Identification Section, General tab, and type in “NONE” for both Access and Use Constraints.
• Save your edits and exit the editor. Set the automatic metadata Create and Update functions back to ON.
• Go back to your Lab 7 folder and create a new shapefile called “Testing.shp”. Choose all defaults, and any projection.
• Click on the Metadata tab, and explore your new shapefile in the Description tab. Most of the sections are empty (except for the prompt messages), except for a few properties that were automatically updated in the “Data Storage and Access” section.
• Click on the Import button, choose “Format: XML”, browse to your Template folder, select Yourname_Template.xml, and click OK to import.

• Look again at the Description tab, and click on “Data Storage and Access” section, and check the Constraints section. You will see it has changed.
• Check the “Details about this document” section, and see who created this metadata document.

There is more to using Templates, so be sure to check out the section in ArcGIS Help Desktop or Online at

http://webhelp.esri.com/arcgisdesktop/9.2/index.cfm?id=2543&pid=2535&topicname=Writing_metadata_documentation

Your template document (YourName_Template.xml) created in this exercise is a deliverable.

9.0 Exports

Metadata is often exported to share it with a colleague or to publish it in an online Metadata Catalog. Several export formats are available.

• FGDC CSDGM (XML) export copies only FGDC metadata elements into an XML file and leaves behind ESRI Profile elements (such as Enclosures!). It is often used to share metadata with other software
• FGDC CSDGM (TXT) export copies the FGDC metadata elements into a special format within a text file, such as the one you imported in Lab 3.
• FGDC CSDGM (HTML) export copies the FGDC metadata elements into a web page that can be viewed with a web browser. It is a web-version of the text file above.
• FGDC CSDGM (FAQ) export copies the FGDC metadata elements into a web page with a question/answer format and is easier for non-GIS experts to read.
• HTML exports the entire ESRI XML file as a web page that has the familiar 3-tab look of ArcCatalog. It will only work with Internet Explorer web browser, unless extra steps are taken.

For your final exercise and deliverable, export metadata from your summer temperature dataset to the HTML format.

10.0 Conclusions

We have used the ArcCatalog FGDC metadata editor to make metadata for a shapefile. We have used ArcCatalog to import and export metadata in various formats. We have made a sample metadata Template and imported it into a test shapefile.

11.0 To turn in

• The question sheet, with typed answers (Word document)
• Your template document (YourName_Template.xml)
• Exported metadata in HTML format (not XML!) for summer_water_temperature.shp

Submit electronic files via email to your instructor, with the subject "G387, Lab 7,
[your last name]".

This lab was designed by Pat Stiefer, Sonoma Ecology Center with funding from the Federal Geographic Data Committee, National Spatial Data Infrastructure Cooperative Agreement Program.

Web version by Matthew Clark, Geography and Global Studies Department, Sonoma State

This page was last modified on Aug 25, 2009 by Matthew Clark