Creating FGDC and

NBII Metadata With

Metavist 2005

David J. Rugg

United States

Department of

Agriculture

Forest

Service

North Central

Research Station

General Technical

Report NC-255
Disclaimer

The computer program described in this publication is available on request with the understanding that the

U.S. Department of Agriculture cannot assure its accuracy, completeness, reliability, or suitability for any

other purpose than that reported. The recipient may not assert any proprietary rights thereto nor represent it

to anyone as other than a Government-produced computer program.

Mention of trade names does not constitute endorsement by the USDA Forest Service.

.

Table of Contents

Introduction ....................................................................................................................................... 1

Metadata Background ................................................................................................................... 1

XML Background ......................................................................................................................... 2

Installing Metavist 2005 ............................................................................................................... 3

Using Metavist 2005 ............................................................................................................................. 4

Data Format Conventions ............................................................................................................ 4

Design Overview .......................................................................................................................... 5

Menus ....................................................................................................................................... 7

Section 1. Indentification Information ....................................................................................... 10

Section 2. Data Quality Information ........................................................................................... 13

Section 3. Spatial Data Organization Information ...................................................................... 13

Section 4. Spatial Reference Information .................................................................................... 13

Section 5. Entity and Attribute Information ............................................................................... 14

Section 6. Distribution Information ........................................................................................... 17

Section 7. Metadata Reference Information ................................................................................ 18

Technical Support ...................................................................................................................... 18

Acknowledgments .............................................................................................................................. 20

Literature Cited .................................................................................................................................. 21

Appendix A. Colorized Version of Metadata Standard ........................................................................ 22

Published by:

North Central Research Station

Forest Service U.S. Department of Agriculture

1992 Folwell Avenue

St. Paul, MN 55108

2004

Web site: www.ncrs.fs.fed.us
Creating FGDC and NBII Metadata

With Metavist 2005

About The Author:

David J. Rugg is Research Data

Archivist with the USDA Forest

Service, North Central Research

Station, 1992 Folwell Ave., St. Paul,

MN 55108; Phone: (651) 649-5173;

e-mail: drugg@fs.fed.us.

INTRODUCTION

Metavist 2005, a software tool for the metadata

archivist, is used to create metadata compliant with

two of the Federal Geographic Data Committee

(FGDC) metadata standards—“FGDC Content

Standard for Digital Geospatial Metadata” (FGDC

1998) and “FGDC Biological Data Profile of the

Content Standard for Digital Geospatial Metadata”

(FGDC 1999). This manual does not define the

elements present in the standards. Rather, its

purpose is simply to help you successfully use the

software. Because thorough knowledge of metadata

and the FGDC metadata standards are not

prerequisites, a brief overview of those topics is

provided.

Metadata Background

Definition of metadata

Metadata are data that describe data. Metadata are

used to answer such questions as what data were

collected, how they were collected, why they were

collected, how reliable they are, and what issues

should be accounted for when working with them.

Metadata also describe how data are stored, how to

access the data, what tools are needed to work

with the data, and related matters. The most

common objectives of metadata collection are to

(1) provide internal data documentation, (2)

enhance current data sharing, and (3) enhance the

future utility of data archives.

The FGDC spatial metadata standard

Since 1995, the Federal Government has been

required to create metadata for geospatial data it

produces, and make those data available to the

public (Executive Order 12906). The common

understanding of geospatial data is that it

references specific places on the planet via a

coordinate system suitable for use on a map or in

geographic information system (GIS) software. The

FGDC was created to address how to deal with this

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requirement; use of its standard is mandatory for

the Federal Government. Further information

about the standard and related activities can be

found at the FGDC’s Web site (www.fgdc.gov). Two

benefits of the formal standard are consistency of

(1) documentation elements and (2) terminology.

The known structure lends itself to automated

searching for candidate data sets based on their

metadata. To facilitate this, the FGDC operates the

National Spatial Data Clearinghouse. The

clearinghouse provides a way to conduct searches

against the metadata and find what spatial data sets

the Government has created (although the data

sets themselves are not housed in the

clearinghouse). In addition to delineating metadata

for general geospatial data, the current version of

the standard (FGDC 1998) provides a mechanism

for other organizations to add elements and

collections of elements, called “profiles.”

The FGDC Biological Data Profile

A significant portion of biological research either

has no spatial component or has substantial

aspects besides the purely spatial. The National

Biological Information Infrastructure (NBII), part

of the Biological Resources Division of the U.S.

Geological Survey (USGS), is responsible for

developing a metadata standard covering such

research. To accomplish this task, NBII developed

a Biological Data Profile (FGDC 1999) to enhance

the FGDC Standard. The NBII profile has been

approved for use by the FGDC. While the profile is

specifically designed for biological data, it is

defined broadly enough to be applicable to other

scientific research. Thus, the profile can be used to

describe spatial data, nonspatial numeric data, and

nonspatial nonnumeric data— just about anything

of scientific interest. Further information about

this profile, NBII’s metadata clearinghouse, and

other activities can be found at NBII’s Web site

(www.nbii.gov).
2

Organization of the metadata standard

As defined by the FGDC, the standard’s elements

are organized into 10 sections. There are seven

main sections:

• Identification (mandatory),

• Data Quality Information,

• Spatial Data Organization Information,

• Spatial Reference Information,

• Entity and Attribute Information,

• Distribution Information, and

• Metadata Reference Information (mandatory).

The five sections that are not mandatory are all

“mandatory if applicable”: if a section is relevant to

your data set then you have to fill in that section.

The other three sections defined by the standard—

Citation Information, Time Period Information,

and Contact Information—are supporting sections

that are referenced by the main sections. Each

section contains a number of elements. Some of

these are “simple” elements—items for which you

provide information. Other elements are

“compound”—elements that organize a related set

of simple elements. The elements may be

mandatory, mandatory if applicable, or optional.

Optional elements do not need to be filled in, even

if they are applicable.

Official definitions for the elements are provided

by the FGDC (FGDC 1998, FGDC 1999); this

manual does not reproduce those definitions.

Another useful document is the metadata

workbook (FGDC 2000). The FGDC (1998)

manual and workbook can be found at the FGDC

Web site (www.fgdc.gov); the Biological Profile

manual can be found at the NBII Web site

(www.nbii.gov). These documents are also

included in the Metavist 2005 package and are

installed in the application directory (default

location c:\program files\metavist). The metadata

workbook includes two spatial data examples—

one for a USGS digital line graph, and one for

National Wetlands Inventory wetlands data. Two

additional examples documenting actual data sets

are installed in the application directory; one

describes an oceanographic data set

(Schweitzer_oceanography.xml), the other a

volcano atlas shape file (volcano.shp.xml) (ESRI

2003). Finally, a color-coded graphical overview of

the standard is reproduced in appendix A. Printing

the graphics prior to creating metadata is strongly

recommended. They are very helpful for both

understanding the standard and recalling how

information is organized when creating metadata.

XML Background

Storing metadata as XML

There are many formats for digitally storing

metadata—word processor, spreadsheet, database,

ASCII text, etc. Unfortunately, many of these formats

do not work well across multiple computer platforms

or need to have their format updated over time as

versions of the creating software become obsolete.

While text suffers less from these problems, it tends to

be difficult to search. A relatively new technology that

addresses these issues is Extensible Markup Language,

XML. XML is a tag-based language, like HTML for the

Web, but the tags are user-defined. It is stored in a

modern text format using Unicode characters. The

Unicode representation makes XML portable across

all computing platforms and durable over time. By

defining the tag structure, XML files can be searched

fairly easily. To make the metadata available as widely

as possible, facilitate automated searches, and

minimize the effort required to maintain a usable

format over time, Metavist 2005 uses XML as its

native file format. The encoding for Unicode in the

software is UTF-8.

Although you can view an XML document in a

program like Windows Notepad, to fully understand

the document you need to understand the tag

structure. Tag structures can be defined using a

document type definition or a schema; Metavist uses

the newer schema approach. The schema, contained

in ncMetadata.xsd, is provided as part of the

installation. Because the schema defines what a

proper document looks like for this application, it can

be used to verify that a particular XML document

structure conforms to the metadata formatting

requirements. This verification checks for required

tags and for the proper formatting of element

content—number, date, text, etc. However,

comparing a candidate document to the schema

cannot tell you whether mandatory if applicable

elements that are not included should have been. Nor

can it provide an opinion on the quality of the

content. Author and peer review remain critical

components of ensuring quality metadata.
3

It is often easier for people, as opposed to other

computers, to view a more verbose rendition of the

raw XML. For this purpose, XML provides style

sheets that can transform an XML document into a

number of other formats—another XML

document, text, HTML, PDF, etc. Microsoft

Internet Explorer (version 4 and higher) comes

with a default XML style sheet built in. While its

collapsible tree structure is useful, what it presents

is still the raw XML. Metavist provides a style

sheet, NBII_classic.xsl, to generate a more personfriendly display in a browser. This style sheet is

provided as part of the installation. By default,

when Metavist creates a metadata document, it

assumes that the style sheet is in the same

directory as the metadata file. Changing the

location, or the style sheet reference, is discussed

in the “Options menu” section (page 9 of the

manual).

Installing Metavist 2005

The program requires Microsoft® Windows® 2000

or XP and the Microsoft .Net Framework version

1.1. The target display resolution is 800x600 or

higher. The .Net Framework requires about 30MB

of free disk space; Metavist requires about 5MB.

The .Net Framework installation program comes

with the program; you will need Administrator

rights to successfully install it. Installation of

Metavist itself does not require Administrator

rights. Because Metavist was written in a .Net

language, you can simply copy the executable file

anywhere on your hard drive and it will run

successfully. Nonetheless, installing via the setup

program is recommended. The installation

program will add an entry to Add/Remove

Programs, put an icon on your desktop, and create

an entry in the Start menu.

To install the software, first unzip the software

package if necessary. Second, run Setup and follow

the instructions on-screen. If Setup indicates that

your machine needs the .Net Framework, the

recommended approach is to exit Setup, run

‘dotnetfx.exe’ to install the .Net Framework, then

re-run Setup to install Metavist. Alternatively, you

can continue the installation and Setup will

attempt to retrieve and install the 25MB .Net

Framework via the Internet. Installing the .Net

Framework takes a while and may require a

reboot; installing Metavist is much simpler and

faster. After a successful installation, the program

directory (default of c:\program files\metavist)

contains:

• the program file, Metavist.exe

• this manual

• PDF versions of the FGDC standard

definition (FGDC 1998), the Profile

definition (FGDC 1999), and the FGDC

workbook (FGDC 2000)

• the XML schema for this implementation

• an XSLT style sheet for viewing NBII

metadata files in a Web browser such as

Microsoft Internet Explorer, version 5.0 or

later

• two examples
4

USING METAVIST 2005

Data Format Conventions

To facilitate data entry, Metavist’s user interface

attempts to present data elements in commonly

used formats. However, the metadata documents it

creates conform to required standard formats. As

specified in FGDC (1998), these formatting

conventions are used in the output files: ∆ Calendar Dates (Years, Months, and Days) • Common Era (C.E.) to December 31,

9999 C.E.—Values are formatted as YYYY

for years, YYYYMM for a month of a year,

and YYYYMMDD for a day of a year.

• Before Common Era (B.C.E.) to 9999

B.C.E.—Values are formatted as for

Common Era dates but are preceded by

“bc” (e.g., bcYYYY for years).

• Before Common Era before 9999

B.C.E.—Values consist of as many

numeric characters as needed to represent

the number of the year B.C.E., preceded

by lower case letters “cc” (e.g.,

ccYYYYYY). Months and days are not

relevant for this timeframe.

·

• Common Era after 9999 A.D.—Values

consist of as many numeric characters as

needed to represent number of the year

C.E., preceded by the lower case letters

“cd” (e.g., cdYYYYYY). Months and days

are not relevant for this timeframe.

∆ Time of Day (Hours, Minutes, and Seconds) • Because some geospatial data and related

applications are sensitive to time of day

information, three conventions are

sanctioned. When authoring a metadata

document you may choose which

convention will be used, but you must

use that convention throughout the

document. The conventions are: — Local Time. Values follow the

24-hour timekeeping system for

local time of day in the hours,

minutes, seconds, and decimal

fractions of a second (to the

precision desired) without

separators convention (general

form of HHMMSSSS).

— Local Time with Time Differential

Factor. Values follow the 24-hour

timekeeping system for local time

of day in hours, minutes, seconds,

and decimal fractions of a second

(to the precision desired) without

separators convention. This value

is followed, without separators, by

the time differential factor. The

time differential factor expresses

the difference in hours and minutes

between local time and Universal

Time (Greenwich Mean Time). It is

represented by a four-digit number

preceded by a plus sign (+) or

minus sign (-), indicating that

hours and minutes local time is

ahead of or behind Universal Time,

respectively. The general form is

HHMMSSSSshhmm, where

HHMMSSSS is the local time using

24-hour timekeeping, ‘s’ is the plus

or minus sign for the time

differential factor, and hhmm is the

time differential factor. (This

option allows authors to record

local time and time zone

information. For example, Eastern

Standard Time has a time

differential factor of -0500, Central

Standard Time has a time

differential factor of -0600, Eastern

Daylight Time has a time

differential factor of -0400, and

Central Daylight Time has a time

differential factor of -0500.)

— Universal Time (Greenwich Mean

Time). Values follow the 24-hour
5

timekeeping system for

Universal Time of day in hours,

minutes, seconds, and decimal

fractions of a second (expressed

to the precision desired)

without separators convention,

with the upper case letter “Z”

directly following the low-order

(or extreme right hand) time

element of the 24-hour clock

time expression. The general

form is HHMMSSSSZ, where

HHMMSSSS is Universal Time

using 24-hour timekeeping, and

Z is the letter “Z”.

∆ Latitude and Longitude

• Values for latitude and longitude are

expressed as decimal fractions of degrees.

Whole degrees of latitude are represented

by a two-digit decimal number ranging

from 0 through 90. Whole degrees of

longitude are represented by a three-digit

decimal number ranging from 0 through

180. When a decimal fraction of a degree

is specified, it is separated from the whole

number of degrees by a decimal point.

Decimal fractions of a degree may be

expressed to the precision desired.

— Latitudes north of the Equator

are specified by a plus sign (+),

or by the absence of a minus

sign (-), preceding the two

digits designating degrees.

Latitudes south of the Equator

are designated by a minus sign

(-) preceding the two digits

designating degrees. A point on

the Equator is assigned to the

Northern Hemisphere.

— Longitudes east of the prime

meridian are specified by a plus

sign (+), or by the absence of a

minus sign (-), preceding the

three digits designating degrees

of longitude. Longitudes west of

the meridian are designated by

minus sign (-) preceding the

three digits designating degrees.

A point on the prime meridian

is assigned to the Eastern

Hemisphere. A point on the

180th meridian is assigned to

the Western Hemisphere. One

exception to this last convention

is permitted. For the special

condition of describing a band

of latitude around the Earth, the

East Bounding Coordinate data

element shall be assigned the

value +180 (180) degrees.

— Any spatial address with latitude

of +90 (90) or -90 degrees will

specify the position at the North

or South Pole, respectively. The

component for longitude may

have any legal value.

∆ Network Addresses and File Names

• Values for file names, network addresses

for computer systems, and related

services use the Internet’s Uniform

Resource Locator (URL) convention when

possible. The link referenced in the

FGDC manual for additional details about

URLs is no longer accessible. You can use

your Web browser to access the URL

“http://www.ling.upenn.edu/advice/urlprimer.html” if you require basic

information about URLs.

Design Overview

Metadata experts generally encourage incremental

creation and updating of metadata throughout the

course of a research project. To accommodate this

approach, Metavist does not require that metadata

be complete before it will save a document.

Metavist behaves like a standard Windows

program. One limitation is that, like Windows

Notepad, it can deal with only one document at a

time. Also like Notepad, you can run more than

one instance of the program at a time. Text hints

and tool tips are generally available in the program

(fig. 1). Tool tips are usually associated with the

input boxes, not their labels. Some sections

contain an additional information tab. Data entry is

accomplished using standard controls such as text
6

boxes, numeric controls, and dropdown list boxes.

Things to be aware of for these controls:

• Text boxes allow copy and paste operations

both within the application and between

applications. Thus, you can write longer

elements in a word processor, check the

grammar and spelling, and then copy the

final text into Metavist. Note that special

attributes like bold, italic, and superscript

will not appear in the metadata output.

• You can include many special characters in

your metadata by taking advantage of the

Unicode character sets in Windows. The

Unicode characters are easily accessed using

the Character Map utility

(Start...Programs...Accessories...System

Tools). Some special characters do not render

properly in Metavist, but do render properly

when the output file is displayed in a

browser.

• Numeric controls have a default number of

decimal places. If you want your metadata to

display fewer decimal places than generally

displayed in the control, simply delete the

extra digits (and the decimal point, if

desired). If your metadata require more

decimal places, you can enter them into the

numeric field. They won’t display on-screen,

but will be output to the metadata file.

Clicking on the up button will increment the

value by 1; the down button will decrement by

1. Continuing to press on a button will cause

the appropriate action to be repeated. Similar

behavior can be generated by placing the cursor

in the control and pressing the up or down key.

All the numeric controls have minimum and

maximum values. Values you enter are checked

against these bounds before metadata are written

to file. If you want to force a check for a

particular control, put the cursor in the

appropriate field and press the Enter key.

• Generally, dropdown boxes will allow you to

type in your own text to correctly describe an

item not covered by the responses defined in the

standard (i.e., the element’s domain includes

“free text”). In some cases, the standard only

allows values from a certain set. For these cases,

the dropdown boxes will not permit text editing.

• Some elements can have multiple entries. The

entries are displayed in a list box and are

manipulated using the associated Add, Edit, and

Delete buttons.

• Radio buttons are used in a number of places to

affect what fields are available for editing.

Disabled sections are visually grayed out. (Radio

buttons are shown in figure 6 where they are

used to select the type of date and the type of

calendar).

Figure 1.—On-screen help is

provided via text hints (1), tool

tips (2), and information tabs

(3). Recall that a tool tip

displays for a limited time when

the mouse cursor rests on a

control that has a tip associated

with it. Not all controls have

associated tool tips. In the

example screen, the tip is

associated with the ‘Clear fields’

button and you can see the

cursor resting on the button.
7

While a number of elements can be specified in

the primary program window, many elements will

generate child windows specific to the element.

Drilling down to a particular element may generate

as many as six windows on-screen at one time.

Menus

The File menu and the toolbar buttons (fig. 2) will

let you create a new file or open an existing

metadata file. Existing metadata files must be XML

files having the ‘xml’ extension and proper

formatting. Metavist creates appropriately

formatted files, as does ESRI’s ArcCatalog software.

ArcCatalog files include additional information

associated with ESRI’s Profile for FGDC. This

material is not read into Metavist, nor is it saved in

Metavist documents. Conversely, Metavistgenerated files are readable by ArcCatalog (select

the FGDC XML import option), but the Biological

Profile elements will not be processed.

Figure 2.—Metavist 2005 at startup

(colors will vary with system

configuration).

The Help menu is limited in this version. The

About item provides some basic information about

the software, but the Metavist Help item only tells

where additional information is located. Help is

currently provided by on-screen text and tool tips.

A future version of Metavist may incorporate a

more comprehensive formal help system.
8

When you create a new document, the application

looks like figure 3. Because Metavist works with

only one document at a time, the New button has

been grayed out. The Open button remains active.

The Options menu and Save button have been

activated, as have the Save and Save As menu items

in the File menu. When the Open button, or menu

item, is used to load an existing document, the

program does not save existing metadata, nor does

it present a “Do you want to save?” dialog box.

Therefore, make sure to save the metadata before

exiting if the updated version is the desired one.

This approach follows the user interface structure

recommended in Cooper and Riemann (2003).

Figure 3.—A new document in

Metavist 2005. Notice that the

two scroll bars are at the top of

their ranges, indicating the

presence of additional data entry

items further down in the

window.

Figure 4.—Example error

message when file being opened

is not valid XML. The message

displays what the program

knows about where the XML

error is.

When you open an existing file, which must have the

extension ‘xml’, the program checks the content to

ensure it is validly formed XML. If this is not the case,

an error message appears with an explanation of the

problem (fig. 4), and the program returns to its

previous state. If the file is valid XML, then the

contents are read into memory and the metadata

elements interpreted. If an element contains content

that does not match its type, the program displays an

error message (fig. 5). Unless indicated otherwise,

errors result in the illegal value being set to whatever

the metadata standard’s default value is for that

element. Processing errors can take some time and

this can suggest that the program has stopped
9

running properly. A sense for the processing time

delay can be obtained by first opening the volcano

atlas example (which is entirely well formed) and

then the oceanography example (which generates

the error described in figure 5). Depending on

your system speed, the volcano atlas file should

open almost immediately. The oceanography

example should be noticeably slower the first time

you open it.

If you close and then open the oceanography

example a second time, the program will process

the errors much faster. The first time the error is

encountered, the program has to load error

processing code; the second time the error is

encountered, that error processing code is already

loaded and therefore displays the error message

faster than the first time. Metavist is designed to

load as much of the valid metadata as it can find in

the file; errors in the file should cause error

messages to appear and the related metadata

elements to be left blank or otherwise modified as

described in the error message.

When working with metadata, the main part of the

window is filled with objects (fig. 3). Under the

toolbar is a set of primary tabs corresponding to

the seven major stand–alone sections of the

standard. Each primary tab has its own set of

secondary tabs. In figure 3, the secondary tabs for

Identification Information are Basic Info,

Keywords, Spatial Domain, etc. The subsections

generally have the same order as in the official

documentation to facilitate reference to that

documentation.

In addition to their titles, the secondary tabs have

icons that denote whether those subsections are

Mandatory (lightning bolts), Mandatory if

Applicable (faucet – turn it on when needed), or

Optional (birthday cake – a tasty offering to the

Figure 5.—Example error message

when element content does not

match required type. Distribution

Information: Transfer Size should be

a real number > 0 but the value

contains the text “megabytes”. The

default value of ‘0’ will be used

instead of the illegal value. ‘214’ by

itself would have been valid—

integers can be converted to real

numbers without loss of

information.

consumer of your metadata). These icons reflect

only the most demanding level of the elements on

the tab. For example, a tab with a Mandatory icon

may also contain main elements that are

Mandatory if Applicable or Optional. Tabs with an

Optional icon will not contain Mandatory or

Mandatory if Applicable main elements. Labels for

each data element, or group of elements, are

presented in boldface, regular type, or italic. These

correspond to Mandatory, Mandatory If Applicable,

and Optional. Optional elements are also marked

with the keyword ‘optional’ in parentheses by the

label. Be aware that an optional compound

element may contain simple elements that become

mandatory once you’ve chosen to fill in the

optional compound element. An example is

Identification—Miscellaneous—Cross Reference.

Providing a cross-reference citation is optional. If

you choose to provide one, then providing

information on the cross-reference’s originators,

publication date, etc. is mandatory, just as it is for

any citation using the Citation Information

structure.

Options menu

There are two options under the Options menu.

The first option is specifying how time is

represented in the metadata. By default, time is

assumed to be Local, but it can be changed to

Universal or Local + Differential. If you create

some time elements under one time representation

and then change the representation, the earlier

time elements will not be correct. Although the

program will warn you about the problem when

you perform a save, it will complete the operation

using the flawed metadata. When a metadata file is

read into the software, the time convention

element (Metadata Reference Information Section)

is read first to set the time option. The program

does attempt to format time elements encountered
10

in the rest of the metadata according to the option

specified in the time convention element. If no

time convention element is present, then any time

elements encountered will be formatted using the

default Local time option.

The second option is specifying the name of the

file containing the style sheet used to display the

metadata in a browser (so this style sheet reformats the XML as HTML in browsers such as

Internet Explorer and Mozilla that understand this

XML processing instruction). By default, the file

‘NBII_classic.xsl’ is used. This style sheet is based

on the “classic” style sheet used by ESRI and FGDC

to display FGDC metadata, but enhanced to

handle the additional elements in NBII metadata.

The lack of path information in the default style

sheet name means that the style sheet file must be

in the same directory as the metadata file to view

the formatted metadata in a browser window. If

you select ‘New URL’, you can either type in a file

name (and path, if relevant) or use the Browse

button to find the file of interest. If the URL is set

to an Internet URL, then the metadata will only

display successfully when the computer is

connected to the Internet. If you set this option to

‘No style sheet’, Internet Explorer (5.0 and later)

will use its internal style sheet to render the XML

(color coded, tags visible and collapsible). Behavior

in other browsers will vary; some will simply

refuse to display the metadata at all.

Saving metadata

Use the File menu or keyboard shortcuts to invoke

the standard Save or Save As dialog box. The Save

button will either save to the existing file name or

invoke the Save As dialog if the metadata

document doesn’t have a name yet. In Metavist

2005, metadata files are always saved with the

‘xml’ extension and are written in XML that

conforms to the schema that accompanies the

software. Elements that lack an entry but are

known to always be required are given an attribute

that displays a reminder in red print when viewed

in a browser using the NBII_classic style sheet.

Elements that lack an entry even though required

in the particular instance are simply output with a

blank entry. For example, in the Browse Graphic

element of the Identification Information section, if

the file name and file type are present but not the file

description, then the file description is output with a

blank entry.

When you’ve completed a set of metadata, you can

exit the program in any of the usual ways or go to

File...Close to close the current metadata file and be

able to start a new one. It is important to be aware

that simply closing a file does not save the metadata,

nor does the program present a “Do you want to

save?” dialog box. Similarly, exiting the program

neither saves the current metadata nor presents a

confirmation dialog box. This follows recommended

interface design (Cooper and Reimann 2003).

With the program basics covered, let’s discuss some

aspects of processing metadata that are not apparent

from the program interface. This discussion will be

organized by section.

Section 1. Identification Information

Time Period of Content (Basic Info tab)

In the Time Period Information subsection of this

element (use the scroll bar on the right hand side of

the window to bring this section into view), the

program has a number of conventions for handling

Gregorian dates. These are described below in the

three date handling lists. The conventions listed

under “Date handling when working inside the

program” are also relevant for Geologic Ages dates.

Date handling when reading a file:

• If a Single Date/Time has Unknown as the date

value, the program selects the Unknown radio

button (fig. 6).

• If a Single Date/Time in Multiple Dates/Times

has Unknown as its date value, that date is

ignored. If ignoring these dates results in only

one date/time being entered, the program will

downgrade from ‘Multiple dates’ to ‘A single

date’. If it results in no dates being entered, then

the program will select the Unknown radio

button.

• If either the beginning or ending date in Range

of Dates/Times has Unknown as its date value,

the entire range is treated as unknown.

• Any time entry that has Unknown as its value is

ignored (since it is an optional element).
11

Date handling when working inside the program:

• Changing the selection from Single, Multiple,

or Range to Unknown also clears all entered

dates and times.

• Changing the selection from Single to

Multiple has no effect on the dates/times;

changing from Single to Range sets the Single

value as both the beginning date and the

ending date. Editing this to create a proper

range is encouraged.

• Changing the selection from Multiple to

Single retains only the first of the multiple

dates/times; changing from Multiple to Range

sets the first of the multiple dates as the

beginning date, and the last of the multiple

dates as the ending date. This result will

sometimes require editing to have the proper

values anchoring the range.

• Changing the selection from Range to Single

sets the beginning date as the single date;

changing from Range to Multiple sets the

beginning date and the ending date as the

first two entries in the multiple date

collection.

Figure 6.—The Time Period of

Content controls. Notice that the

scroll bar on the right hand side of

the window is at the bottom of its

range.

Date handling when saving a file:

• Errors in associating day of month to month

are not checked in this version of the

software. So it is possible to put February 30

in the date field. This flexibility will probably

be reduced in future versions of the software.

• If there is only one date/time in the

collection, it is output as a Single Date/Time,

regardless of the radio button selection.

• For Range, the program does not verify that

beginning date is earlier than ending date

when reading or saving a document. Ranges

that are created in the program are required

to have proper date structure, but errors

introduced via an input file will be retained

unless the range is edited in Metavist. Proper

date structure is defined to include the

trivially correct case of the beginning date

and ending date being the same. Time, if you

provide it, is not checked.

• If the Unknown radio button is selected, then

a Range will be written to the file with the

beginning and ending dates having the

Unknown value. This is done because Time

Period of Content is a mandatory element

and most data sets are collected over a period

of time.
12

• If the Unknown radio button is not selected,

but there are no dates in the collection, then

the program acts as though the Unknown

radio button was selected.

The Currentness Reference for the oceanography

example illustrates poor form for this element.

While Metavist will let you type in a single line of

similar length, this type of information is better

suited to the Source Citation in Lineage (Data

Quality Information). A more appropriate choice

would have been “ground condition”.

Data Set G-polygons (Spatial Domain

tab)

If you are describing the polygons with G-ring

points, Metavist reminds you to enter at least three

points and that closing the polygon will be done

automatically. This closure is implicit. So while the

metadata document will contain all the required

points, the data entry display lacks the closing

point.

Taxonomic Classification (Taxonomy

tab)

In the Taxonomy subsection, the Taxonomic

Classification requires a technical description of

the species covered by the data set (example in

table 1). If you need help with the technical

description, there is a link in the Add Child and

Edit windows to the Integrated Taxonomic

Information System (ITIS) Web site run by USDA.

These windows also have a supplemental

information tab with a description of how to use

ITIS.

If you read the formal documentation for the

standard, you might have some difficulty figuring out

how to describe multiple species if those species

reside in multiple Kingdoms. The program provides a

cheat for your use. Metavist defines a new taxonomic

rank called Empire (it’s at the top of the dropdown list

of defined rank names). Empire has only one

taxonomic rank value, Biovitae (Latin, more or less,

for ‘biological life’), and one associated common name

(‘carbon-based life forms’). These are automatically

filled in when you choose the Empire rank name. You

can attach as many Kingdoms to Empire as needed.

Point of Contact (Access tab)

The standard specifies that each line of an address

resides in its own Address element. The oceanography

example contains an error in the structure of the

Contact Address—a multi-line address in the Address

element. Metavist reads this incorrect format

successfully. If the metadata are saved, they are

written correctly without any user intervention.

Analytical Tool (Analytical Tools tab)

The main concept to keep in mind with this element

is that it references tools that are “intrinsically bound”

to the data set. Basic data containers (e.g.,

spreadsheets or databases) and standard analysis tools

(e.g., statistical or GIS software) don’t fall into the

category. An example of an analytical tool is a

specialized meteorological model—the data being

analyzed are heavily manipulated versions of raw

data, and an average researcher could not recreate the

data used in the analysis without recourse to the

specialized tool(s) used to process the raw

observations.

Table 1.—Taxonomic Classification for “red maple” or Acer rubrum var. rubrum reproduced from FGDC

(1999)

Taxon rank name Taxon rank value Applicable common names

Kingdom Plantae plants

Division Magnoliaphyta

Class Magnoliopsida

Subclass Rosidae

Order Sapindales

Family Aceraceae maples

Genus Acer maples

Species Acer rubrum var. rubrum red maple
13

Browse Graphics (Miscellaneous tab)

The FGDC spatial data standard defines these as

static pictures in formats such as JPEG and GIF.

The Biological Profile allows other types of files for

describing the data set, including audio and video

file types. These files may describe study sites, data

collection methods, and other related information.

Also note that this set of elements simply describes

the browse graphic—the graphic is not included

with the metadata. While the Browse Graphic File

Name element is free text, a URL pointing to the

location of the browse graphic can be specified.

Cross Reference (Miscellaneous tab)

Formally, the Cross Reference element provides

citations for related data sets. It also seems

reasonable to provide citations to papers that cited

the data set.

Section 2. Data Quality

Information

When saving metadata to file, this section is

processed only if at least one of the three

mandatory elements contains content. Thus, the

program checks the Logical Consistency Report

and Completeness Report for the presence of text,

and then checks for the presence of at least one

Process Step (Lineage tab). If any of these are true,

then the whole collection of elements is evaluated.

If none of these are true, then none of the section

is saved—even if some non-mandatory elements

are present. For the case in which at least one of

the reports contains text but no Process Steps were

described, when the metadata document is saved

Metavist provides a default Process Step: Process

Description = “No process steps have been

described for this data set” and Process Date =

“Unknown”.

In the Lineage subsection, the program does not

enforce the rule that Citation Abbreviations used in

Process Steps must be defined in a Source

Information entry. This is done to facilitate

episodic creation of metadata. Process Steps with

real or placeholder Citation Abbreviations can be

created during the analysis process, and then

cleaned up and augmented with Source

Information at a later time.

In the Source Information subsection of Lineage,

the rules for Time Period of Content are the same

as for the comparable collection of elements in the

Identification Information section. What differs is

that you are describing data you used but which

was collected and made available to you by others.

Section 3. Spatial Data

Organization Information

In ‘Point and Vector Object Information’, the

maximum value for the optional ‘Point and Vector

Object Count’ element is currently 1 million. In

‘Raster Object Information’, the maximum value

for the optional ‘type Count’ elements is currently 1

billion.

Section 4. Spatial Reference

Information

Horizontal Coordinate System

Definition

The Geographic and Local definition elements are

straightforward. Here are some tips for dealing

with Planar definitions:

• Map Projections and Grid Systems—When

working in the Parameters window, the only

controls enabled are those used by the

particular projection. These controls also

have a check mark in the checkbox at their

left. If you uncheck the box, that parameter

will be assigned a blank value in the output

file, rather than whatever happens to be in

the control when you click OK in the Planar

Parameters window. The one exception to

this rule is for projections that can specify 1

or 2 Standard Parallel values. If the check box

for the second Standard Parallel is

unchecked, then the output file simply does

not contain an entry for the second Standard

Parallel. However, if you later edit the

parameters you will need to uncheck the box

again.

• Map Projections—False Easting and False

Northing are arbitrarily bounded at ±500

million; Scale Factor elements at 500.

• Map projection: Space Oblique Mercator—

Landsat Number has a maximum value of 50;

Path Number has a maximum value of 500.
14

Because these bounds are much larger than

current actual values for these parameters, it

is not difficult to provide incorrect

information on these elements in the

metadata.

• Map projection: Other—If you need to

describe a map projection other than one of

the 21 projections defined by the metadata

standard, click on Add User-Defined

Projection Type to provide a name to the new

projection. This name will be added to the

list of options and automatically chosen as

the projection to work with. Then click on

Edit Parameters to provide a written

description of the projection.

• Grid coordinate system: Universal Polar

Stereographic (UPS)—One of the UPS Zone

Identifiers must be highlighted. Scrolling

through the list and stopping at the correct

identifier is not sufficient; the correct

identifier must be clicked on to select it.

• Grid coordinate system: State Plane

Coordinate System—Zone Identifier is

specified using a numeric control that

constrains values to four-digit numbers.

Therefore, Zone Identifiers that contain

leading zeros will not show those leading

zeros during editing. However, the leading

zeros are added to the values before metadata

are written to file.

In the Geodetic Model subsection, default values for

Semi-major Axis and Denominator of Flattening Ratio

are provided. Therefore, if you want this collection of

elements to appear in the metadata output, you need

to specify the Ellipsoid Name.

Section 5. Entity and Attribute

Information

Although the icons on both the Detailed Descriptions

tab and the Overview Descriptions tab suggest that

both subsections are mandatory, the actual rule is to

choose one, the other, or both. When describing data

that do not have a geospatial component, it is

probably easier to use the Overview Description than

the Detailed Description.

Detailed Description

Detailed Description (fig. 7) is probably the most

complex part of the metadata standard, and its tab has

the least intuitive layout. The dropdown boxes

contain lists of their respective elements (Entity Types,

Attributes, and Domain Values). The Add, Edit, and

Delete buttons behave just as they do in other parts of

Figure 7.—The Entity &

Attribute: Detailed Descriptions

controls.
15

the program. The complexity is in linking the

pieces to create the Detailed Descriptions. The

Information tab contains a brief summary of how

to do this, but a detailed guide is provided below.

The arrow button to the right of each element type

will post the selected element to the “Manipulate

attachments” section. The eligibility rules for

posting in Root and Branch are shown at the

bottom of the “Manipulate attachments” section

(fig. 7). The placement rules are:

Element: Entity Type

Rule: Always post to Root, even if

another object is already

present.

Element: Attribute

Rule: Post to Root if empty.

Rule: Post to Branch if Root is filled

but Branch is empty.

Rule: If Root and Branch are filled,

display error message.

Element: Domain Value

Rule: Enumerated and Range—post

to Root if it is empty, otherwise

post to Branch even if another

object is already present.

Rule: Codeset and Unrepresentable—

always post to Branch, even if

another object is already

present.

When there is an element displayed in Root,

pressing the View Existing Branches button will

display the elements currently attached to the Root

element. This can be helpful for ensuring that all

the branches that are supposed to be attached to

root have been. When there are appropriate

elements displayed in Root and Branch, pressing

the Attach button will graft the branch to the root.

Similarly, pressing the Detach button will sever the

branch from the root. These changes are reflected

in the View Existing Branches display immediately.

Detaching a branch does not, however, remove it

from the relevant element list. There are two

reasons for this behavior. First, when creating the

Detailed Descriptions you can attach a branch to

more than one root, so the detached branch may

be required for a different root. Second, the order

of branches displayed in View Existing Branches is

the same as the order the branches will appear in

the metadata output. By detaching and reattaching, you can alter the display order. For

example, you might want descriptions of valid

attribute values to precede descriptions of codes

for missing data. When work on a root/branch pair

is completed, pressing ‘Clear fields’ will clear the

Root and Branch fields.

Step by step: top-down approach

Step 1. Define the entities, attributes, and domain

values.

Step 2. Place an entity into Root, place an

attribute into Branch, and click Attach.

Step 3. Click ‘Clear fields’.

Step 4. Repeat steps 2 and 3 for each attribute of

each entity.

Step 5. Place an attribute into Root, place a

domain value into Branch, and click

Attach.

Step 6. If additional domain values are to be

associated with the attribute, place each

one into Branch and click Attach. ‘Clear

fields’ between these steps is not necessary.

Step 7. Repeat steps 5 and 6 for each attribute.
16

If the steps are reversed, first attaching domain

values to attributes then attaching attributes to

entities, the resulting metadata structure is the

same. Defining of entities, attributes, and domain

values can be done as needed; these objects can

also be edited after being attached and the updated

information will be incorporated into the saved

metadata without additional action.

Two examples

As the entity-attribute-domain value structure may

be unfamiliar, here are two examples.

Example 1.

Entity: person

Attribute: sex

Enumerated Domain value: male

Enumerated Domain value: female

Attribute: income

Range Domain value: $0 to $1 million

Enumerated Domain value: > $1 million

Enumerated Domain value: not available

Example 2.

Entity: person

Attribute: income

Range Domain value: $3000 to $95000

Attribute: sex

Enumerated Domain value: male

Attribute: prostate cancer

Enumerated Domain value: yes

Enumerated Domain value:

treated successfully

Enumerated Domain value: no

Enumerated Domain value: female

Attribute: number of pregnancies

Enumerated Domain values: 0,

1, 2, 3, 4, 5+

Multiple occurrences of domain values

and attributes

As noted above, you can attach a given branch to

more than one root. For example, the volcano

example uses the Unrepresentable Domain “Numbers

for the features.” in multiple attributes. When creating

metadata, you can create this domain definition once

and re-use it as many times as needed, and it will only

appear in the Domain Values list only once. When

reading metadata into the program from a file, if

multiple attributes have the same Codeset Domain or

Unrepresentable Domain, they will reference a single

entry in the Domain Value dropdown list. However, if

multiple attributes have the same Enumerated

Domain or Range Domain, those attributes will

reference different entries in the Domain Value

dropdown list. Because these two domain types can

accept additional attributes, the software does not

attempt to compare a new domain being read in to

the domains already read in.

Re-used attributes behave like Enumerated Domains.

When you are creating metadata, you can create the

attribute definition once and re-use it as many times

as needed, and it will appear in the Attributes list only

once. However, when reading metadata from a file,

each instance of the attribute will generate an entry in

the dropdown list.

Editing attributes and domain values

When editing an Attribute, you will see a dropdown

list for Attribute Domain Values (fig. 8). This list is

not editable; it simply shows what Domain Values are

currently assigned to the Attribute, just as View

Existing Branches does from the main window.

Suppose you want to describe Attribute Value

Accuracy Information, but need to deal with an

attribute that does not have a numeric value. In this

case, set the required numeric accuracy to be some

arbitrary value other than 0.00, and provide the text

description of accuracy in the Attribute Value

Accuracy Explanation. If Attribute Value Accuracy is

set to 0.00, the program assumes that these optional

elements should not be included in the output.
17

Figure 8.—The Attribute

description window.

When describing Attribute Domain Values, there is

a disagreement between the written standard and

the graphical rendition. The written standard

specifies that there is at most one Enumerated

Domain, with an unlimited number of Enumerated

Domain Values beneath it. The graphical rendition

shows an unlimited number of Enumerated

Domains, each with at most one Enumerated

Domain Value. Metavist implements the standard

according to the graphical rendition. Judging from

the construction of their XSLT style sheet, and the

volcano metadata file, this is also how ESRI

implements the standard. The volcano atlas

example shows a number of ways that enumerated

domains can be described. The oceanography

example offers another approach to enumerated

domains that Metavist is able to create.

Section 6. Distribution Information

When a Distributor is added or edited, a

Distribution Information window is drawn with

tabs for information about the Distributor,

Ordering, and Prerequisites. This is the only

window that has its Okay and Cancel buttons on

an isolated tab. While the Distributor is mandatory

if Distribution Information is to be included in the

metadata, the information on the other tabs is not.

Putting the OK and Cancel buttons on their own

tab is designed to provide a subtle reminder to

enter any appropriate information in those other

tabs before returning to the main window.
18

There are a few additional issues to be aware of in

this section, all dealing with the Digital Form for a

Standard Order Process. The Digital Form data

entry window can be generated by adding a

Distributor, selecting the Ordering tab, adding a

Standard Order Process, selecting the Digital radio

button for format, and adding a Digital Form. The

issues are:

• The standard specifies that if Format is

present then either Format Version Number

or Format Version Date must also be present.

ESRI’s metadata frequently do not follow this

rule. To avoid losing the information

provided by ESRI in the Format Specification

element, Metavist fills the Format Version

Number element with the value “see Format

Specification” when necessary.

• The mandatory if applicable element File

Decompression Technique defaults to the

value “No compression applied”. If you do

not want this element to appear, simply

delete the text from the box.

• The oceanography example contains an error

in the Transfer Size element. The element is

supposed to contain a real value > 0 that

describes the size of the file in megabytes.

The oceanography example contains the

value “214 megabytes” for two of its Digital

Forms. Metavist does not attempt to parse

values that cannot be converted to numbers.

• Metavist deviates from the standard by not

providing any capability to describe Dialup

Instructions in the Online Option is not

available in Metavist. Dialing into a machine

is very rare in today’s Web-oriented

environment and this collection of elements

is slated for elimination in the new

international spatial metadata standard.

• The volcano example contains an unusual use

of Offline Media in the Offline Option

subsection (drill down to the example’s

Digital Form window then click the Edit

button associated with Digital Transfer

Option). If you need to describe such a

situation, it is better form to simply set

Offline Media to be “CD-ROM” and place

other information into the Compatibility

Information element.

Section 7. Metadata Reference

Information

Metadata dates (Metadata information

tab)

These elements are specified user calendar controls.

When you click on the dropdown a navigable monthbased calendar appears, from which you can choose

the date of interest. The Metadata Review Date and

Metadata Future Review Date elements become

available for editing when you choose to check the

box by the appropriate element name. Metavist does

not check that review date is later than creation date,

nor that future review date is later than review date.

Metadata Time Convention element

There is no data entry component associated with this

mandatory if applicable element. Instead, when

saving a metadata document Metavist determines

whether a time element is used in the metadata. If

there is at least one, then the program creates this

element and sets its value to the currently selected

time convention (local, local + differential, or

universal). The time convention option was described

previously.

Metadata extensions

Metavist 2005 is not extension-aware. Therefore,

there is no ability to specify online linkages or profile

names other than the Biological Profile. As noted

earlier, this means that ESRI profile elements will not

be read into Metavist, nor will they be saved in

Metavist-generated files.

Technical Support

If you have questions, comments, or suggestions

about the software or the manual, please direct an email to drugg@fs.fed.us.
19

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Many thanks to those who reviewed this manual and the software; your contributions were invaluable in

improving the quality of the final product. Special thank you’s to Dr. Linda Donoghue, Station Director, and

(posthumously) Dr. David Shriner, Assistant Director for Research. Linda and Dave were key forces in

initiating and nurturing the data archiving program at the Station, which resulted in the creation of this

software.
20

LITERATURE CITED

Cooper, Alan; Reimann, Robert. 2003.

About Face 2.0: the essentials of interaction design. Indianapolis,

IN: Wiley Publishing. 540 p.

ESRI. 2003.

ESRI Data & Maps 2002. Redlands, CA: ESRI. CD 2 of 8.

Federal Geographic Data Committee. 1998.

Content standard for digital geospatial metadata (revised June

1998). FGDC-STD-001-1998. Washington, DC: Federal Geographic

Data Committee. 90 p.

Federal Geographic Data Committee. 2000.

Content Standard for Digital Geospatial Metadata Workbook

Version 2.0. Washington, DC: Federal Geographic Data Committee.

126 p.

FGDC Biological Data Working Group and

USGS Biological Resources Division. 1999.

Content standard for digital geospatial metadata – Biological Data

Profile. FGDC-STD-001.1-1999. Washington, DC: Federal

Geographic Data Committee. 58 p.
21

APPENDIX A

Colorized Version of Metadata Standard, FGDC-STD-001.1-1999

Content Standard for Digital Geospatial Metadata, 1998

Part 1: Biological Data Profile, 1999

This color-coded graphical overview shows the organization of all the elements, their optionality, and

presence in both the NBII and FGDC Standards or just the NBII Standard. The graphics for sections 1, 2, 6,

8, 9, and 10 plus the extended elements are TIF images available at the NBII Web site (http://www.nbii.gov/

datainfo/metadata/standards/index.html). The graphics for sections 3, 4, 5, and 7 are GIF images available at

the NBII Web site.

The graphic titled “Biological Data Profile Extended Elements” has three color-coding errors (Metavist is

correctly coded.):

l In “ASCII File Structure”, “Authentication” is shown as optional. It is actually mandatory if

applicable.

l In “ASCII File Structure”, “Quote Character” is shown as optional. It is actually mandatory if

applicable.

l In “Geologic Age”, “Geologic Citation” is shown as mandatory. It is actually optional.
22
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24
25
26
27
28
29
30
The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) prohibits

discrimination in all its programs and activities on the basis of

race, color, national origin, sex, religion, age, disability, political

beliefs, sexual orientation, and marital or family status. (Not all

prohibited bases apply to all programs.) Persons with disabilities

who require alternative means for communication of program

information (Braille, large print, audiotape, etc.) should contact

USDA’s TARGET Center at (202) 720-2600 (voice and TDD).

To file a complaint of discrimination, write USDA, Director,

Office of Civil Rights, Room 326-W, Whitten Building,

1400 Independence Avenue, SW, Washington, DC 20250-9410

or call (202) 720-5964 (voice and TDD). USDA is an equal

opportunity provider and employer.
Rugg, David J.

2004. Creating FGDC and NBII metadata with Metavist 2005.

Gen. Tech. Rep. NC-255. St. Paul, MN: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, North Central Research Station. 30 p.

This report documents a computer program for creating metadata

compliant with the Federal Geographic Data Committee (FGDC) 1998

metadata standard or the National Biological Information Infrastructure (NBII) 1999 Biological Data Profile for the FGDC standard. The

software runs under the Microsoft Windows 2000 and XP operating

systems, and requires the presence of Microsoft’s .Net Framework

version 1.1. The metadata are output in XML format for portability and

automated handling.

KEY WORDS: Metadata, FGDC, NBII, Biological Data Profile, XML,

data documentation.

MISSION STATEMENT

We believe the good life has its roots in clean air, sparkling water, rich soil, healthy economies and

a diverse living landscape. Maintaining the good life for generations to come begins with everyday

choices about natural resources. The North Central Research Station provides the knowledge and

the tools to help people make informed choices. That’s how the science we do enhances the

quality of people’s lives.

For further information contact:

Or visit our web site:

www.ncrs.fs.fed.us

North Central

Research Station

USDA Forest Service

1992 Folwell Ave., St. Paul, MN 55108