The Questions 1.
Metadata describe the the content, quality, condition, and other characteristics of a data set.
The main objective when creating metadata is to enable others who have no prior knowledge of a data set to effectively use the data set. For further details about metadata, see the Metadata Links page that provides links to the metadata home pages of the FGDC, USGS, and several universities. The FGDC is an agency dedicated to metadata standards. The Federal Government requires all spatial data sets produced to have FGDC Compliant Metadata. Therefore, these standards are the standards of all government agencies, including the National Park Service.