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General Metadata Information |
Metadata provides context for data. Its purpose is to facilitate the understanding, characteristics, and management usage of data. The metadata required for effective data management varies with the type of data and context of use. For example, metadata written for a field survey measuring the population density of snails in a local marsh might include the size of the area sampled, the species of snails observed, the GPS coordinates of the site, and the date and time of observation.
In 1994 the federal government mandated that "... all new geospatial data collected or produced, either directly or indirectly…[be accompanied by] standardized documentation electronically accessible to the Clearinghouse network (Executive Order 12906).” To facilitate this order, the Federal Geographic Data Committee (FGDC) created a metadata standard to ensure uniformity and transferability. Dauphin Island Sea Lab (DISL) has also taken efforts to aid in metadata creation by providing personnel training and access to MERMAid, a metadata writing tool that produces FGDC-compliant metadata records.
Completed metadata records, compliant with the FGDC standard, can be published to a variety of clearinghouses; central locations for collection, classification, and distribution of information.
Within clearinghouses metadata records are searchable be keyword, location, and originator, which ultimately promotes data discovery.
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