# Presentation: 442982

## EETAP-Information System Technology

- Gaye Farris
- USGS National Wetlands Research Center

- Vijay Raghavan
- University of Southwestern Louisiana

- 16 November 1998

## Project Partners

- USGS National Wetlands Research Center (NWRC)
- USL Center for Advanced Computer Studies (CACS)
- NASA/USL Regional Applications Center (RAC)
- DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI)

## Goal:

- Development of Energy and Environmental Information Resources (EE-IR) Center:
- Integration of USGS NWRC Library and geospatial data
- Enhancement of NASA/USL Regional Applications Center
- Research activities at CACS Laboratory for Internet Computing (LINC)

## EE-IR Center Development

- Project aims:
- To provide tools to search for relevant information on the Internet
- To provide a local repository of digital data
- Building blocks:
- Digital library research
- Data mining research

## Investigators and Staff

## First Year Accomplishments

- Assembled team of investigators and staff
- Acquired and installed computer systems and software
- Research and development of software tools and metadata formats
- Organized advisory board

## EE-IR Center Library

- Library Subject Content and Metadata
- Digital Geospatial Data and the FGDC Content Standard
- FGDC/NBII Comparison
- Tools and Workflow

## Library Subject Content and Metadata

- Subject Content
- Metadata
- Dublin Core Metadata
- Cataloging Process

## Subject Content

- General: digital collection of text, numeric, and geospatial data on energy and the environment
- Special: pollution and contamination
- Geographic: coastal Louisiana, Lower Mississippi Valley, Gulf of Mexico

##  Metadata

- Structured “data about data” to discover, describe and index Internet resources
- Metadata at EE-IR Center:
- Dublin Core for Website data
- FGDC/NBII for geospatial and biological data
- USMARC

## Dublin Core Metadata

- Title                Contributor     Source
- Creator           Date               Language
- Subject           Type               Relation
- Description     Format           Coverage
- Publisher        Identifier         Rights

## Cataloging Process

- Use DC template to create DC record
- Attach DC record as HTML header to Web page
- Use DC/USMARC converter
- Upload USMARC record in OCLC’s WorldCat

## Digital Geospatial Metadata and the FGDC Content Standard

- The Federal Geographic Data Committee (FGDC)
- The FGDC Standard Elements
- Function of the Standard
- Executive Order 12906 - April 1994

## The Federal Geographic Data Committee (FGDC)

- Federal Geographic Data Committee coordinates the development of the National Spatial Data Infrastructure (NSDI). The NSDI encompasses policies, standards, and procedures for organizations to cooperatively produce and share geographic data.

## The FGDC Standard Elements

- Identification Information
- Data Quality Information
- Spatial Data Organization Information
- Spatial Reference Information
- Entity and Attribute Information
- Distribution Information
- Metadata Reference Information

## The Standard provides a way for data users to know:

- What data are available
- Whether the data meet specific needs
- Where to find the data
- How to access the data

## Executive Order 12906 - April 1994

- Section 3, Development of a National Geospatial Data Clearinghouse, paragraph (b) states:  “Standardized Documentation of Data,... each agency shall document all new geospatial data it collects or produces, either directly or indirectly, using the standard under development by the FGDC, and make that standardized documentation electronically accessible to the Clearinghouse network.”

## Comparison of FGDC/NBII Standards

- FGDC Content Standard
- Spatial data
- Required by Executive Order 12906

## Content Standard for NBII Metadata

- Biological resource data sets, both geospatial and non-geospatial
- Additional fields for
- Taxonomy
- Analytical tools
- Data collection methodology / procedures
- No Executive Order mandate
- NBII Metadata Clearinghouse--FGDC node

## MetaMaker

- http://www.nbii.gov/tools/index.html

## Other FGDC/NBII Standards Activities

- National Vegetation Classification & Information
- National Soil Digital Spatial Data Infrastructure
- Biological Nomenclature and Taxonomy
- Descriptors/Thesaurus
- Classification of Wetlands and Deep Water Habitats of the U.S.
- Spatial Data Transfer Standard
- Content Standard for Digital and Geospatial Metadata
- Cadastral Data Content Standards

## Tools and Workflow

- Collection Development Decision Process
- OCLC InterCat
- Dublin Core Metadata Template from Sweden
- USGS MetaMaker Tool
- Dublin Core -> MARC Converter
- Cuadra Star
- A range of access points
- Future directions

## Collection Development Decision Process 

- Data identified using various methods
- Data presented at weekly meetings
- Level of metadata for resources is debated

## OCLC InterCat

- Catalog of Internet resources
- Eliminate duplication of efforts

## Dublin Core Metadata Template from Sweden

## USGS MetaMaker Tool

## Dublin Core -> MARC Converter

- What is a crosswalk?
- Web based conversion tool

## HTML

## Dublin Core

## MARC

## FGDC

## Cuadra Star

- MARC standard is the core
- Integration of new metadata with old cataloging
- Web search interface

## Our range of access points

- EE-IR Center Web site
- Internet search engines (AltaVista, Lycos, Excite, etc.)
- Local Cuadra Star system
- USGS Union Catalog
- OCLC InterCat
- NBII Metadata Server
- FGDC Clearinghouse
- USGS NWRC node

## Future directions

- Future of FGDC initiative is unclear
- ISO spatial data standard
- MARC will remain stable
- Dublin Core will probably morph into XML
- Integration of EE-IR Center metadata with CACS tools

## EE-IR Center Web site