Metadata catalog Cookbook for Argentina's SDI
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| Number of Parts | 295 | |
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| License | CC Attribution 3.0 Germany: You are free to use, adapt and copy, distribute and transmit the work or content in adapted or unchanged form for any legal purpose as long as the work is attributed to the author in the manner specified by the author or licensor. | |
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Library catalogMetadataLibrary catalogLecture/Conference
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Self-organizationGeometryStandard deviationLevel (video gaming)Centralizer and normalizerDialectDifferent (Kate Ryan album)Local ringMultiplication signBitDivision (mathematics)Lecture/Conference
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Local GroupLibrary catalogSelf-organizationSubgroupSeries (mathematics)Open sourceTrailStandard deviationPressure volume diagramSet (mathematics)Type theoryCharacteristic polynomialCategory of beingTransformation (genetics)Process (computing)MetadataRepresentational state transferAbstractionComputing platformGeometrySelf-organizationLibrary catalogSocial classBuildingGroup actionNormal (geometry)MetadataDatabaseProfil (magazine)Object (grammar)Template (C++)Endliche ModelltheorieInformationNetwork topologyData structureVideoconferencingSeries (mathematics)Process (computing)Computer animation
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Programmer (hardware)Normal (geometry)Computer animation
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Normal (geometry)InformationTemplate (C++)Library catalogUniformer RaumMetadataMappingSoftwareComputer animation
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Standard deviationMetadataSoftwareLibrary catalogMedical imagingSource code
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NP-hardSoftwareForm (programming)Perfect groupText editorComputer animation
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NamespacePerfect groupOrder (biology)Computer animation
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Programmable read-only memoryCycle (graph theory)InformationVideo gameLevel (video gaming)Self-organizationPoint (geometry)Different (Kate Ryan album)Coefficient of determinationSoftwareSoftware crackingInstance (computer science)Process (computing)Limit (category theory)GeometrySystem administratorServer (computing)MetadataFlow separationField (computer science)Library catalogAbstractionText editorRevision controlComputer animation
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HierarchyHierarchySelf-organizationLevel (video gaming)MappingDifferent (Kate Ryan album)InformationRight angleMetadataComputer animation
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Constraint (mathematics)Self-organizationMetadataLibrary catalogWave packetMIDIJSONXMLUML
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Wave packetProcess (computing)MetadataForm (programming)Self-organizationMereologyWave packetOpen sourceSoftwareVideoconferencingComputer animation
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FreewareOpen sourceTemplate (C++)Plug-in (computing)BitProfil (magazine)Core dumpMetadataElement (mathematics)Well-formed formulaMultiplication signComputer animation
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Text editorDifferent (Kate Ryan album)InformationMultiplication signView (database)Complete metric spaceMetadataBitComputer animationPanel painting
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Web pageTemplate (C++)Formal languageCondition numberMetropolitan area networkSoftwareComputer fileArithmetic meanDrawing
Transcript: English(auto-generated)
00:07
Hi everybody, my name is Malena, I'm from Argentina, and I'm going to present some thoughts on how to build a metadata catalog
00:21
based on the recommendations of Argentina's national SDI. Just so you have a reference, Argentina is in South America and it's a really, really large country. It has 24 different provinces or regional divisions, so it has many SDI initiatives on national, regional and local level
00:51
and they are all in different stages. So the national SDI works to build standards and to be able to publish
01:01
all the geo data as normalised as possible. The national SDI is not an organisation yet, it's a community and it works in two ways. It has an assembly that governs it, but also it has working groups.
01:24
One of the working groups is the metadata work group. What we do is build the templates and the profiles for the metadata, but we also do manuals to be able to build the metadata catalogues. We did best practices and recommendations document because there was not much knowledge
01:47
about how we should be doing the metadata and building the catalogues. We needed these best practices to push the metadata building because no one wants to do it.
02:05
It's boring for everybody. One of the first things we say is you need to be able to establish a series of steps before starting to do the metadata catalogues and the documentation
02:21
to know how your organisation produces the geo information. For that, the first thing we ask is to ask the right questions to be able to know how the geographic information and your database is structured. These are just a few of the questions we wrote
02:43
to be able to do that. There are many more. What we do is just a trigger to be able to think outside the geographic information making process and think of how we document metadata. Once we know what we are producing,
03:08
we need to match everything we need to document to the ISO. For that, we need to go to the ISO norm and see the UML model to be able to find
03:24
all the objects and classes that match the documentation we need. And there's panic because the UML, no one knows how to read it in the geographic information community. For programmers, it's easy, but people who do actually produce the data,
03:43
they don't know how to read it, so it's really hard to read the norm. Once you have that, we have a national template we can use and with that and the information from the norm, you can build your own template or templates because it's not always the same information you're going to document.
04:04
You need to document maps and books and publications and layers inside the maps and it's not always that linear and it's not always one kind of metadata you need to do. For that, we have our template up in GitHub and everybody can use it
04:26
and implement it in either GeoNetwork or whatever catalog software they are using. And you have to touch the XML and it's so, so ugly that no one ever understands it
04:42
and there's not much software to be able to read it besides the metadata catalog software. So people panic, but it's not that hard. You can use the software like GeoNetwork that has forms and you can add it via the editor view, but it doesn't stay perfect
05:08
as you add it via the XML because the namespaces for the ISO need to be perfect in order to be validated. So then you still have to establish the metadata lifecycle.
05:22
Earlier this morning, the people from GeoCAD were talking about the process of the lifecycle of the metadata. This is really important and I'm so glad they added this new feature to the new version of GeoNetwork because it's really important for the editor to know they can do the metadata in draft
05:44
and then our reviewer can make sure everything is okay because we tend to be really lazy when we complete metadata. So we really need those steps to make sure the metadata we are publishing is really, really done and completed.
06:02
And not only harvest from the WMS, it's a common practice in Argentina, and that's it. And they don't do keywords or document the contact information. It's really, really hard to make them do everything. So pushing them to write down the lifecycle of the metadata helps them
06:24
realize it's more than one step and you really need all the information. But people are going to try to kill you because they hate it. So something else that I saw in Argentina is that people try to...
06:44
They build their own metadata catalog and they use other organization's layers as a base map and they add that to the metadata catalog without harvesting or without cascading inside the map server or the GeoServer.
07:01
So that creates a mess because you have several metadata catalogs that have, for instance, the administrative limits of Argentina and they all have different points of contact and different lineages and different abstracts. It's a mess.
07:20
So we are really, really, really, really insisting on people to please, please, please harvest from other metadata catalogs or cascade the WMS. So no documenting layers from other organizations. And people, when you say harvest in Argentina, think of this.
07:41
So they imagine I am in the field with all the tools, but no. It's in GeoNetwork and it's really easy and you don't have to duplicate the information. So the other thing to take into account is I was talking about the different kinds of metadata that you should be able to build in your organization
08:02
because you don't always do only layers. Maybe you are publishing maps to print and they have inside many layers. So you have to document that with the right hierarchy and granularity to be able to have everything documented because if not, you are missing
08:21
a lot of information on how the map was built and when were the layers last updated. It's really important to take this into account and I think I have seen very few organizations use it and maybe not many people know about it. So it's a mess. It's everything on top of each other.
08:41
No one understands who's the father, who's the son, what's the granularity. So then you have to talk with the legal department to be able to have the right license for your organization. This is really important because not all organizations have every data that produces public.
09:02
Not everything is public. Some organizations, especially in government, have data that has to be confidential but maybe they need it in their metadata catalog because it's going to be published inside a book, in a map, I don't know, but not the whole data.
09:22
So you need to be able to talk to the legal department and have the right legal constraints published. And last, this is the part that everybody in the organization hates, is the training because everyone wants to come to the training course because they get credit but then they really have to build the metadata.
09:42
So it's important to create a metadata culture inside the organizations for people to stop being so lazy because you ask them, okay, I need the source, I need the bibliography, I don't know how to say it in English, sorry. I need to know when it was last updated,
10:00
I need to know what the processes in the desktop GIS were and they answer yes or okay. It was me. And well, I ask you ten questions. I'm completing the form for you but you need to answer my questions.
10:21
Okay, apple, orange. They don't know how to answer them. So creating a culture for metadata inside the organizations, we think it's really important because in Argentina there are not so many people that work on GIS so imagine if that is reduced to three people in metadata
10:42
that really, really know how to use it. Two people are here. So it's a long run and we really, really need to keep making an effort. So what? How do we do this? In the national SDI what we recommend is open source.
11:04
Especially we have been using GeoServer, GeoNetwork because it's the most complete. We have been using, some SDIs use GeoNode but the problem with GeoNode is that the metadata is only the doubling core
11:22
and it's not that easy to personalize so because we have a personalized profile for the Argentina metadata we need something we can really add a template. That's why I was asking about the QGIS plugin.
11:44
If we could add a template because we need it to be a little bit more flexible but not to see all the elements in the ICO because people won't fill them. If they see 40, 50 elements no one will complete the formula.
12:02
So that's why open source is important because if you have someone who can dedicate a little bit of time you will be able to personalize it, whatever you need and make it easier for the editors to be able to make the metadata like constraining the simple view so they don't have to see every time their general contact information
12:24
because it's always the same. Or maybe they don't need to see if it is UTF-8 or the ICO because they are not going to modify it so you can create different editor views
12:43
to be able to simplify the completion of the metadata. So that's it. I took it a little fast. But that's all we have for now. We have been working on people to really implement these recommendations
13:02
but there are not many catalogs that are really worked on and completed in Argentina and that's what we need to do. But I think it's useful for people to think this way first and then start making the metadata because if you don't think it this way what you are doing is completing a formula
13:23
you don't understand about data you didn't produce and publishing right away and maybe two days later you have to modify it or you duplicate it because you don't understand or you harvest directly from the WMS and what happens in Argentina if you go to the national SDI
13:44
is you will find so many layers the contact information is Tolomeo. It's the standard in GeoServer when you install it, Tolomeo is the contact information and so many layers in Argentina have been produced by Tolomeo
14:04
so we need for people to be able to change that and realize they shouldn't leave that information there. So that's it. Thank you.
14:27
Thank you. Will there be any questions? Thank you for your presentation. I have two questions. The first one is do you have any special metadata profile
14:43
which you use in your country in Argentina? I think you're based on ISO 115. Yes. And what about the profile? Yes, we have a personalized profile based on the ISO. Is it special for you or just for the country? Yes, but it's only an extract from the ISO
15:02
and we have it published in national. No additional elements or something? No, it's the ISO just an extract. What the national SDI says it's the minimum amount of information required to have a completed metadata.
15:21
As you know, there are some regional profiles, North American profile or inspired something like that. There is a regional profile. It's the Latin American profile. It's built with the Pan American Institute of Geography and History along with the National Geography Institute from Spain.
15:41
They have built a regional profile for Latin America, but it's also just an extract from the 19.115 ISO. Okay. What we have is a more detailed profile. We just mentioned the elements that are basic for us because without that information,
16:02
the Argentinian information is not completely documented. Okay. But we don't have additional elements and we just use that. You only selected some elements, you made some of them mandatory, something like that? Yes, and it's all published in the national SDI web page.
16:23
The name of the national SDI, it's... Sorry? Is it accessible, your profile? Yes, it's accessible. All the documents, including the one I based in my presentation, are in the IDERA web page. They are in Spanish because we don't have other languages in Argentina.
16:43
Okay. And we also have the template for GeoNetwork with all the folders and the schematron files uploaded to the GitHub for IDERA. Okay. What about the best practices and documentation, is it also there? Yes. Yes, there's a document that's called Buena Practicas in Spanish.
17:04
Okay, thank you. You're welcome. Any more questions? Okay, well, thank you very much. Thank you.