Geospatial Metadata February 2005

WHAT ARE METADATA? 

Recognize this? It’s the nutrition 

label required by the U.S. Food 

and Drug Administration on all 

food packaged for retail sale. As 

a nation, we have been putting 

some form of labels on our food 

since 1913. Today, this label 

with its mandatory and 

voluntary components, tells the 

consumer everything they need 

to know to make an informed 

decision about the food's 

ingredients and nutritional 

content. 

FEDERAL GEOGRAPHIC DATA COMMITTEE EMAIL: FGDC@FGDC.GOV 

590 NATIONAL CENTER FAX: 703-648-

5755 

RESTON, VIRGINIA 20192 HTTP://WWW.FGDC.GOV 

Sound familiar? Just as food is 

our body's fuel, spatial data is 

the GIS‘s fuel. How do you 

determine the "really good stuff" 

from the "junk food"? How do you know if the spatial 

data is "good" for your system? How do you know how 

to read the ingredient list and what the terms mean? 

 

In 1994, and with a subsequent revision in 1998, the 

Federal Geographic Data Committee, FGDC, adopted 

the Content Standard for Digital Geospatial Metadata 

to label or document geospatial datasets. Like the 

nutrition label for a company whose product is food, 

the metadata standard documents the characteristics of

data to allow consumers to determine the data's fitness 

for their use. 

WHY METADATA?

The major uses of metadata are: 

• organize and maintain an organization's internal 

investment in spatial data, 

• provide information about an organization's data 

holdings to data catalogues, clearinghouses, 

and brokerages, and 

• provide information to process and interpret data 

received through a transfer from an external 

source. 

THE STANDARD

What do we need to know about our datasets? The 

standard provides a common set of terminology and 

definitions for the documentation of geospatial data, 

including data elements for the following topics: 
Identification Information – the basic information about 

the data set. Examples include title, geographic area 

covered, currentness, and rules for acquiring or using 

the data. 

Data Quality Information − assessment of the quality 

of the data set. Examples include positional and 

attribute accuracy, completeness, consistency, sources 

of information, and methods used to produce the data. 

Spatial Data Organization Information − the mechanism

used to represent spatial information in the data set. 

Examples include the method used to represent spatial 

positions directly (such as raster or vector) and indirectly 

(such as street addresses or county codes) and the 

number of spatial objects in the data set. 

Spatial Reference Information − description of the 

reference frame for, and means of encoding, 

coordinates in the data set. Examples include the name

of and parameters for map projections or grid 

coordinate systems, horizontal and vertical datums, and 

the coordinate system resolution. 

Entity and Attribute Information − information about 

the content of the data set, including the entity types 

and their attributes and the domains from which 

attribute values may be assigned. Examples include the 

names and definitions of features, attributes, and 

attribute values. 

Distribution Information − information about obtaining 

the data set. Examples include contact information for 

the distributor, available formats, information about 

how to obtain data sets online or on physical media 

(such as cartridge tape or CD-ROM), and fees for the 

data. 

Multi-use Sections - the standard has multi-use 

sections, or templates, that allow one to “re-use” 

metadata elements in various sections of the standard. 

For example: contact information for organizations or 

individuals that developed the data, in Identification 

Information, and distribute the data set, in Distribution 

Information, provide for the entry of the same type of 

information in two distinct sections of the standard. 

Note: - The metadata standard does not specify how the 

dataset is to be organized in a computer system, or in 

data transfer, or the means by which the data is 

transmitted or communicated to the user. The metadata

standard provides information structure and content to 

describe the characteristics of the dataset. 

Extensibility - the standard provides a methodology and 

process for data producers or the user community to 

profile and extend the metadata standard beyond the 

base standard to meet individual organizations and 

discipline metadata requirements. 

FGDC/ISO METADATA STANDARD DEVELOPMENT AND HARMONIZATION

Since 1996, the FGDC has been actively involved with 

the International Organization for Standardization 

Technical Committee 211 in the development of an 

International Metadata Standard. In 2003, the 

American National Standards Institute formally 

adopted ISO 19115 Metadata Standard. ISO Technical 
Specification 19139, XML implementation of ISO 

19115, is expected in 2005. The FGDC will then 

follow with the U.S. National Profile based on the Final 

Technical Specification 19139. FGDC plans to 

develop a workbook and graphic depiction of the U.S. 

National Profile to assist ISO metadata implementation. 

 

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

The standard and other metadata information are online 

at http://www.fgdc.gov/metadata/metadata.html or 

contact Sharon Shin, FGDC Metadata Coordinator at 

303-202-4230 or sharon_shin@fgdc.gov