FGDC standards create only a flat view of what actually exists in the biological database. We are working towards a way of describing the data on a multidimensional level as to accurately portray the database. Conclusion A complete infrastructure for metadata requires tools to create, store, and search combined with people who can create accurate and useful content. The tools, while not in one package, are available and meet the basic needs of FGDC metadata. Creating content has been the primary challenge of the metadata initiative.
Content is difficult from two standpoints.
The first is trying to record the details for a variety of different types of data in the FGDC standard. Recording biological data has presented the greatest challenge thus far but groups creating remote sensing metadata have also had difficulties. The second difficulty is organizing the metadata in the most useful manner. Searching metadata by project, sensor, quality, etc is only possible if the content is of the appropriate format. More work can be done to improve and further the metadata initiative but with this infrastructure in place the progress should prove increasing less difficult.