Comparison of CEN, FGDC and ISO standards for metadata

Ing. Jan RuzickaInstitute of Economics and Control Systems

VŠB – Technical university Ostrava17. listopadu 15, 708 33 Ostrava – Poruba

E – mail: jan.ruzicka@vsb.cz

Ruzicka, J.: Comparison of CEN, FGDC and ISO standards for metadata

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Metadata

– data set identification (title, version, etc.) overview (abstract, spatial schema, language, purpose of

production, etc.) quality elements (lineage, positional accuracy, etc.) related documents related data sets spatial reference system extent (spatial, temporal) content (data structure, classification, etc.) administrative metadata (point of contact, distribution) metadata of metadata (author, dates)

CEN, FGDC, ISO

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Ruzicka, J.: Comparison of CEN, FGDC and ISO standards for metadata

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Compared standards

• Pre-standard "ENV 12657:1998 Geographic information – Data description – Metadata“ -CEN

• Working draft ISO/CD 19115 - ISO

• Standard for Digital Geospatial Metadata - FGDC

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Ruzicka, J.: Comparison of CEN, FGDC and ISO standards for metadata

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Structure and expressive expedients of standards - ISO

• Textual description organised in paragraphs

• UML (Unified Modelling Language) diagrams – well-arranged

– do not give full description of metadata elements

• Textual description organised in tables– not well arranged

– necessary to UML diagrams

– short names (XML, SGML)

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Ruzicka, J.: Comparison of CEN, FGDC and ISO standards for metadata

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Structure and expressive expedients of standards - CEN

• Textual description organised in paragraphs

• EXPRESS-G schemas (diagrams) – well - arranged– do not give full description of metadata elements

• EXPRESS schemas– full description in textual form– structured text

• Textual description organised in tables

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Ruzicka, J.: Comparison of CEN, FGDC and ISO standards for metadata

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Structure and expressive expedients of standards - FGDC

• Structured text– well - arranged– easily comprehensible– simple structures– full description in textual form– easy to use without knowledge of UML or

EXPRESS

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Ruzicka, J.: Comparison of CEN, FGDC and ISO standards for metadata

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Classification• CEN - optional classification using thesaurus and

thesaurus elements• ISO - mandatory clsssification using category

(list), optional by thesaurus• FGDC - mandatory classification using thematic

thesaurus • FGDC and ISO do not give possibility to specify

version and thesaurus administrator, CEN do not need classification - big defficiency

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Ruzicka, J.: Comparison of CEN, FGDC and ISO standards for metadata

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Administrative metadata

• Point of contact– CEN - optional, FGDC and ISO - mandatory

• Data access– CEN - free text, FGDC, ISO - well -formed

structure - access, usage and security of data

• Support services– CEN - free text, ISO - what to update and

update frequency, FGDC update frequency only

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Ruzicka, J.: Comparison of CEN, FGDC and ISO standards for metadata

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Metadata of metadata

• FGDC requires metadata author and description of metadata access, usage and security - it useful for metainformation systems

• FGDC does not make difference between date of birth and update date

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Ruzicka, J.: Comparison of CEN, FGDC and ISO standards for metadata

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CEN ISO FGDCmetadata language + + -metadata character set - + -standard name - + +standard version - + +data set name + + +abstract + + +data set language + + +data set character set + + +spatial schema + - -date of metadata born + + +date of metadata update + - -date of metadata revision + - -spatial extent + - +temporal extent + - +quality elements + - -organisation + + +point of contact - + +category - + +purpose of production - - +frequency of updates - - +restriction of metadata access and usage - - +

Mandatory metadata elements JR

Ruzicka, J.: Comparison of CEN, FGDC and ISO standards for metadata

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Conclusion• ISO, FGDC - more concrete in metadata

description

• CEN - gives only themes how to describe metadata elements

• FGDC, CEN - useful metadata elements optional

• ISO - useful metadata elements optional

• FGDC, CEN - well arranged documentation

• ISO - not well arranged documentation

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Ruzicka, J.: Comparison of CEN, FGDC and ISO standards for metadata

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Recommendation• ISO - international standards

• ISO replaces CEN

• Metainformation systems based on CEN - have to move to ISO– first phase: metadata exchange in conformity to ISO,

three main targets – mandatory classification, mandatory point of contact and implementation of useful lists given by ISO standard

• Metainformation systems based on FGDC - in general - in conformity to ISO

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