Comparison of CEN, FGDC and
ISO standards for metadata
Ing. Jan Ruzicka
Institute of Economics and Control Systems
VŠB – Technical university Ostrava
17. listopadu 15, 708 33 Ostrava – Poruba
E – mail: [email protected]
RJ
Metadata
CEN, FGDC, ISO
– 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)
Ruzicka, J.: Comparison of CEN,
FGDC and ISO standards for
metadata
2
RJ
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
Ruzicka, J.: Comparison of CEN,
FGDC and ISO standards for
metadata
3
Structure and expressive
expedients of standards - ISO
RJ
• 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)
Ruzicka, J.: Comparison of CEN,
FGDC and ISO standards for
metadata
4
RJ
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
Ruzicka, J.: Comparison of CEN,
FGDC and ISO standards for
metadata
5
Structure and expressive
expedients of standards - FGDC
RJ
• Structured text
–
–
–
–
–
well - arranged
easily comprehensible
simple structures
full description in textual form
easy to use without knowledge of UML or
EXPRESS
Ruzicka, J.: Comparison of CEN,
FGDC and ISO standards for
metadata
6
RJ
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
Ruzicka, J.: Comparison of CEN,
FGDC and ISO standards for
metadata
7
RJ
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
Ruzicka, J.: Comparison of CEN,
FGDC and ISO standards for
metadata
8
RJ
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
Ruzicka, J.: Comparison of CEN,
FGDC and ISO standards for
metadata
9
RJ
Mandatory metadata elements
metadata 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
Ruzicka, J.: Comparison of CEN,
FGDC and ISO standards for
metadata
CEN
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
-
ISO
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
-
FGDC
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
10
RJ
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
Ruzicka, J.: Comparison of CEN,
FGDC and ISO standards for
metadata
11
Recommendation
RJ
• 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
Ruzicka, J.: Comparison of CEN,
FGDC and ISO standards for
metadata
12