Is used to facilitate information discovery and retrieval in a networked environment. It manages large amounts of data with low network bandwidth. Metadata addresses the issue of indexing large quantities of data of various types without requiring enormous network bandwidth. What gets indexed is the representational data rather than the information object itself. It integrates heterogeneous information resources.
Information resources exist in different formats with different features in heterogeneous databases.
Standard metadata description permits the comparing, sharing, integrating and reusing of various types of data in a distributed network environment. It is an important approach for finding information in heterogeneous databases. It controls restricted access information. Metadata can manage restricted-access information and services to users, e.g. billing, filtering and rating, privacy, and security. Metadata serves a gatekeeper function, an indispensable feature electronic commerce.