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Metadata and Interoperability, Geospatial

  • Reference work entry
Encyclopedia of GIS

  • 179 Accesses

Synonyms

Marginalia; Summary information; Supplementary material; Legend; Catalog entry; Interoperability; ISO 19115; Interoperability, technical; Interoperability, XML schema; Semantic; Standards

Definition

Geospatial metadata is metadata about spatial information concerning objects or phenomena that are directly or indirectly associated with a location relative to the Earth; auxiliary information which provides a better understanding and utilization of spatial information. Metadata is a primary interoperability enabler.

ISO 19115 Geographic Information – Metadata defines metadata as “data about data.” The Techweb Encyclopedia http://www.techweb.com/encyclopedia defines “data” as “any form of information whether on paper or in electronic form. Data may refer to any electronic file no matter what the format: database data, text, images, audio and video. Everything read and written by the computer can be considered data except for instructions in a program that are executed (software).”

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Recommended Reading

  1. Federal Geographic Data Committee (FGDC). Geospatial Metadata. http://www.fgdc.gov/metadata

  2. Moellering, H. (ed.): World Spatial Metadata Standards. Elsevier, Oxford. (2005)

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  3. Dangermond, J.: Speaking the Language of Geography – GIS, ArcNews. Fall (2004). http://www.esri.com/news/arcnews/fall04articles/speaking-the-language1of2.html

  4. Chan, L.M., Zeng, M.L.: Metadata Interoperability and Standardization – A Study of Methodology Part 1, D-Lib Magazine. 12(6) (2006). ISSN 1082–9873. http://www.dlib.org/dlib/june06/chan/06chan.html

  5. National Aeronautics and Space Administration Geospatial Interoperability Office: Geospatial Interoperability Return on Investment Study, Greenbelt, MD, USA, April (2005). http://gio.gsfc.nasa.gov/docs/ROI%20Study.pdf

  6. Longhorn, R.: Geospatial Standards, Interoperability, Metadata Semantics and Spatial Data Infrastructure, background paper for NIEeS Workshop on Activating Metadata, Cambridge, UK 6–7 July 2005. http://archive.niees.ac.uk/talks/activating_metadata/Standards_Overview_and_Semantics.pdf

  7. National Information Standards Organization: Understanding Metadata. NISO Press, Bethesda, MD (2004). ISBN: 1-880124-62-9. http://www.niso.org/standards/resources/UnderstandingMetadata.pdf

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. ESRI, Vienna, VA, USA

    David M. Danko

Authors
  1. David M. Danko
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Faculty of Computer Science and Engineering, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN, 55455, USA

    Shashi Shekhar (McKnight Distinguished University Professor) (McKnight Distinguished University Professor)

  2. Management Science and Information Systems Department, Rutgers Business School Newark and New Brunswick Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey, Newark, NJ, 07102, USA

    Hui Xiong (Assistant Professor) (Assistant Professor)

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© 2008 Springer-Verlag

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Danko, D. (2008). Metadata and Interoperability, Geospatial. In: Shekhar, S., Xiong, H. (eds) Encyclopedia of GIS. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-387-35973-1_780

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