Center for International Earth Science Information Network (CIESIN), United States

Center for International Earth Science Information Network (CIESIN) modernizes metadata management

worker The Challenge:

CIESIN’s existing metadata was outdated and incomplete. Further, the center’s Web-based Metadata Administration Tool (MAT) was inadequate and produced metadata at a minimum level of compliance with contractual requirements.

The Project Objectives:

Train existing staff and set a higher standard for metadata creation, update, and maintenance
Create and maintain contractually required geospatial metadata to fully comply with the standards required by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA,) the Federal Geographic Data Committee (FGDC), and other funding agencies and partners
Implement automated metadata tool(s) that can operate with minimal support from the information technology department

The Solution:

When CIESIN moved from Saginaw, Michigan, to Palisades, New York, in 1998, the geospatial metadata management staff chose not to relocate. The existing metadata soon became outdated and incomplete, and the Web-based Metadata Administration Tool (MAT) developed in-house was inadequate. Additionally, MAT produced metadata at a minimum level of compliance with contractual requirements.

Implementing needed changes to the existing MAT system was economically unfeasible, so CIESIN identified and purchased a solution capable of meeting contractual requirements, using limited resources. The Spatial Metadata Management System (SMMS) was the system of choice.

SMMS is a complete solution – incorporating use, search, evaluation, and management reporting capabilities to help users better understand spatial data. Learning the presentation, navigation, and overall functionality of SMMS required very little time, and content-sensitive Help (definitions, sample metadata) for each element helped the staff acquire a better understanding of the Federal Geographic Data Committee (FGDC) Content Standard for Digital Geospatial Metadata (CSDGM).

The ability to import standardized metadata files saves time in cataloging records from external sources. Additionally, SMMS’ ability to import Keyword Thesauri and to create user-defined fields enables CIESIN to be interoperable with standards set forth by the FGDC CSDGM, the NASA Global Change Master Directory (GCMD) Directory Interchange Format (DIF), and the Earth Observing System Data and Information System.

CIESIN has created tools that ingest SMMS records for conversion to the NASA GCMD DIF standard, the NASA GCMD Service Entry Resource Format (SERF), and a newly developed NASA standard, the Eos ClearingHOuse (ECHO). CIESIN has become integrated with the Columbia University GIS community by delivering SMMS records to the Academic Information Systems Electronic Data Service for visibility in its DataGate catalog.

Users can create, update, maintain, and deliver metadata quickly and easily with SMMS. The new system manages metadata for 500 data sets, applications, and services, with contributions from 70 disparate sources.

Future Plans:

CIESIN plans to use SMMS metadata in implementing a Data Set Catalog Browse feature providing users with multiple avenues to access datasets and their resources. The SMMS metadata will also play a role in the development of a Center of Excellence on Global Data (CEGD) for studying human interactions in the environment and the National Biological Information Infrastructure (NBII) Northeast Node.

For additional information on the FGDC CSDGM, refer to www.fgdc.gov/metadata/contstan.html.

For additional information on CIESIN metadata, refer to http://sedac.ciesin.columbia.edu/metadata/.

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