FEDERAL GEOGRAPHIC DATA COMMITTEE PHONE: 703-648-5514 

590 NATIONAL CENTER FAX: 703-648-5755 

RESTON, VIRGINIA 20192 HTTP://WWW.FGDC.GOV E-MAIL: FGDC@FGDC.GOV

The FGDC Biological Metadata Profile August 

2003

Development of a biological "profile" of the Federal 

Geographic Data Committee (FGDC) metadata 

standard is one of the primary areas of emphasis of 

the FGDC's Biological Data Working Group. 

Metadata are data which serve to describe data sets, 

databases, or information products (such as maps or 

technical reports) by documenting such things as 

subject matter; how, when, where, and by whom the 

data were collected; accuracy of the data; and 

availability and distribution information. Although 

the FGDC "Content Standard for Digital Geospatial 

Metadata" (CSDGM) provides for excellent 

documentation of data from the geospatial 

perspective, it can be limited, and in some ways, 

inadequate, for describing data sets or information 

products from the biological perspective. For 

example, one consistent need in describing different 

biological data sets so that they can be compared, 

shared, and integrated is to document the biosystematics aspects of the data (that is, the taxonomy 

and nomenclature for species and higher taxonomic 

groups). Obviously, the FGDC geospatial metadata 

standard was not intended to focus on this type of 

thematic requirement specific to the biological 

science/ biological resources community. 

In 1998, the FGDC approved Version 2 of the 

CSDGM 

<http://www. fgdc. gov/ metadata/ contstan.html> 

One of the key changes made in Version 2 of this 

standard was to provide guidelines for the 

development of different thematic or communityspecific "views" of the base standard. These views are 

known as "profiles" and they allow a community of 

data and information providers and users, such as the 

biological sciences community, to follow the FGDC's 

metadata standard, while also extending or enhancing 

this standard so it is more useful and effective for 

describing their community's data (e. g., biological 

data). 

The Biological Data Profile <http:// www. fgdc. gov/ 

standards/ status/ sub5_ 2. html> includes all of the 

elements of the FGDC geospatial metadata standard, 

while adding elements that help make this generic 

standard more useful for describing biological data 

sets. Because the Biological Data Profile includes all 

the elements of the "base" FGDC geospatial metadata 

standard, software tools and protocols used for 

collecting, indexing, or exchanging FGDC metadata 

are compatible with metadata produced according to 

the profile. 

In accordance with FGDC operating procedures, the 

Biological Data Working Group sought input from a 

broad array of interested participants in developing 

and refining the Biological Data Profile. The draft 

profile was initially reviewed by Federal and nonFederal members of the Working Group and the 

FGDC Standards Working Group, before a 90-day 

public review and comment period. The comments that 

 resulted from this review were then used to make final 

revisions to the profile before it was submitted for 
endorsement by the full FGDC. In addition, the nonFederal biological sciences community has been 

extensively involved in the development and 

refinement of the profile. This input has been 

coordinated mainly through two national-level 

panels of biologists convened by the American 

Institute of Biological Sciences to provide peer 

review of the profile during key stages of its 

development. 

Development of the Biological Data Profile is an 

important component of the National Biological 

Information Infrastructure (NBII) program. The 

NBII <http:// www. nbii. gov> is a collaborative 

effort to create a distributed electronic "federation" 

of biological data and information products from 

many different sources around the U. S. and the 

world. Use of a consistent metadata format allows 

NBII users to quickly and easily compare and 

contrast among all of these different distributed data 

and information sources to locate and choose those 

which best meet their needs. 

Metadata created according to the Biological Data 

Profile can be added to the NBII Metadata 

Clearinghouse <http:// www. nbii. gov/ search/ 

clearinghouse/ index. html>. This clearinghouse 

serves as an online, searchable "card catalog" 

containing metadata descriptions of hundreds of 

different biological data sets and information 

products from many different agencies and 

organizations. The NBII Metadata Clearinghouse is 

also linked to the FGDC's National Spatial Data 

Infrastructure (NSDI) Clearinghouse, which provides 

online access to metadata descriptions of thousands 

of different geospatially-oriented data sets. 

 

For More Information 

Visit the FGDC Biological Data Working Group web 

site at: 

 

http:// biology. usgs. gov/ fgdc. bio/ index. html 

Or learn more about the National Biological 

Information Infrastructure program at: 

 

http:// www. nbii. gov 

Or contact: 

Kate Kase, NBII Program Manager 

US Geological Survey Biological Resources 

12201 Sunrise Valley Drive, MS 300 

Reston, Virginia 20192 

Phone 703-648-4216 

Fax 703-648-4224 

kate_kase@usgs.gov