Preparing Metadata Records
Suresh K.S. VannanORNL , Oak Ridge, [email protected]
Viv HutchisonUS Geological Survey, Denver, [email protected]
Data Management Practices for Early Career Scientists2013 NASA Terrestrial Ecology Science Team MeetingMay 2nd , 2013
NASA TE Best Data Management Practices, May 2, 2013
•Measure– Identify Information to be collected in a metadata record
•Explain– Explain metadata collected for data descriptiveness
•Test– Test the Quality of information presented
•Advertise– Publish the information using metadata standards
Metadata Topics
3
NASA TE Best Data Management Practices, May 2, 2013
Soil Moisture at field sites
From Field Notes to Datasets
Site Soil Moisture Standard Deviation
Number of Observations
Minimum Soil Moisture
Maximum Soil Moisture
Harvard Forest 4.4 --- 1 4.4 4.4
Walker Branch 7.0 3.0 3 4 10
Ozark 10.0 --- 1 10 10
Howland Forest 10.5 2.0 11 9 16
Duke Forest 11.0 15.5 2 0 22
Tonzi Ranch 11.5 4.5 17 3 22
Sky Oaks 12.5 5.5 897 0 28.8
Santarem-Km77 13.2 5.6 569 -1 32
Niwot Ridge 13.3 5.9 16 4 27
5
NASA TE Best Data Management Practices, May 2, 2013
Metadata is a critical part of the data picture
8
NASA TE Best Data Management Practices, May 2, 2013
• Providing data to another researcher: – What parameters are contained in the data?– Which temporal and spatial region does this data cover? – What limitations, if any, do the data have? – What does the data describe? – How should the data be cited if it is re-used in a new study?
• Receiving data from another researcher:– What are the parameters characterized in this data– What are the data uncertainties?– How was the data measured/?– Are there any fees associated with the data?– In what scale were the data created? – What do the values in the tables mean?– What software do I need in order to read the data?– What projection are the data in?– Is this data set restricted?
The end is where it begins…..
9
NASA TE Best Data Management Practices, May 2, 2013
Test
14
• City of Salem
• 44,-123
• 44.992575,-123.056853
NASA TE Best Data Management Practices, May 2, 2013
• Organize your information• Review for accuracy and completeness• Do not use jargon • Use informative title that includes topic, timeliness of the data,
and geography• Use “none” , “unknown”, and “nodata” meaningfully• Be specific and quantify when you can• Select keywords wisely –
http://gcmd.nasa.gov/learn/keywords.html • Remember: a computer will read your metadata• Fully define entities, attributes, units of measure
Steps to Create Quality Metadata
15
NASA TE Best Data Management Practices, May 2, 2013
Tools for capturing metadata
• You - Data creator
• Metadata Editors commercial and Open Source– ArcGIS desktop– Oxygen– USGS metadata editor– Metacat
• Documentation
16
NASA TE Best Data Management Practices, May 2, 2013
• Share your metadata with other researchers
Examples of metadata search portals:
– ORNL DAAC • http://daac.ornl.gov
– Reverb• http://reverb.echo.nasa.gov/reverb/
– Data.gov• http://data.gov
Advertise Your Metadata and data: Publish
17
NASA TE Best Data Management Practices, May 2, 2013
Let’s Address Concerns…
Concern Solution
workload required to capture accurate robust metadata
incorporate metadata creation into data development process – distribute the effort
time and resources to create, manage, and maintain metadata
include in grant budget and schedule
readability / usability of metadata use a standardized metadata format
discipline specific information and ontologies
use ‘profile’ standard to require specific information and use specific values
18