Abstract:

Reviewing and editing geospatial metadata

In the past ten years, technical documentation has become a
regular feature of geospatial scientific datasets submitted
for publication.  Reviewers and editors may find this
information problematic because it combines substantive
scientific text, with which most editors are familiar, with
technical details of the structure, format, content, and
suggested use of data files.

Proper review of geospatial metadata typically includes an
assessment of the structure and format of the data package
as a whole, its data files, and the metadata.  In reviewing
the formal metadata record, it is helpful to look first at
the structure and format of the document, then examine the
textual content.  Software tools specifically designed to
carry out these types of reviews are available on the Internet.
Likewise helpful are software tools for examining the data
files themselves, to determine whether the metadata produced
by the authors accurately reflects the data.

While most of the problems one may encounter while reviewing
metadata are not specific to the earth sciences, editors will
often find it helpful to seek and, where possible, encourage
or enforce consistency in the expression of earth-science
concepts and terminology.  This applies mostly to keywords
and the texts explaining the scientific meaning of numerical
values and abbreviations found in the data files.

Finally, there are a number of consistently confusing elements
in geospatial metadata.  In some cases these should be made
clear by engaging authors in discussion.  In other cases the
lack of consistent usage throughout the broader community
argues against spending significant effort to generate a
correct answer to the relevant question.

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Plan of the talk:

Overview of the concepts of metadata: what's it for
Relationship of metadata to data: semantics, structure of files
Overview of software tools that may be helpful for review
Consistency and common problems, conceptual and detailed
What's worth arguing about and what isn't
A word about technical support