Metadata are data about data. We provide geospatial metadata, information about geospatial data such as images of the earth, maps and the geographical features that maps represent. Geospatial metadata are structured in a consistent way so that once you get used to the format, like cards in a library catalog, it becomes easy to find out what you need to know.
Writing metadata? Get tools and help at <http://geology.usgs.gov/tools/metadata/>
People who produce geospatial data are concerned about how to document the data resulting from their studies. But people who manage a collection of metadata have a number of different concerns that often aren't discussed in metadata-training materials, and extend beyond the relatively simple matter of making a collection accessible through the Clearinghouse. If you're managing a collection of metadata, you might be interested in these reports:
- Diagram showing how metadata are processed
- How the metadata records are maintained in this catalog
- Improving access to metadata using keywords from controlled vocabularies
- Using scripts to fix common metadata problems thoughout a collection
- Modifications to Isite code to support enhanced logging
- Use of this catalog to download metadata records
- by real people using the web
- by people using the National Geospatial Data Clearinghouse
To comply with IT security requirements, On 28 May, 2004 Geo-NSDI became accessible only through "reverse proxy", a system that permits web services but does not support other internet protocols. Consequently after this date, Z39.50 services have not been supported on this clearinghouse node.
Month 2003 2004 January 285 139 February 311 65 March 175 168 April 219 1715 May 202 66 June 118 July 108 August 170 September 160 October 83 November 146 December 893
using this catalog (USGS Geoscience data):
using other catalogs of the NSDI