Metadata Product
Each of NEPTUNE Canada's data products shall be accompanied by metadata. Metadata files give information about all aspects of data. They are in a way 'data about data'. The metadata data product shall come as a separate search result for every search header group.
Metadata contain information on the source of the data, the observatory, the instrument/sensor, the data themselves, and other background information.
NEPTUNE Canada adopted the guidelines from the US Federal Geographic Data Committee who revised their standard in 1998; for reference:
Federal Geographic Data Committee. FGDC-STD-001-1998. Content standard for digital geospatial metadata (revised June 1998). Federal Geographic Data Committee. Washington, D.C.
Parameters
The metadata list the following:
- Identification Information
- Citation
- Description
- Time Period
- Status
- Maintenance and Update Frequency
- Progress
- Spatial Domain
- Keywords
- Point of Contact
- Data Set Credit
- Data Quality Information
- Attribute Accuracy
- Logical Consistency Report
- Completeness Report
- Positional Accuracy
- Lineage
- Spatial Data Organization
- Point and Vector Object Information
- Spatial Reference Information
- Horizontal Coordinate System Definition
- Vertical Coordinate System Definition
- Entity and Attribute Information
- Detailed Description
- Overview Description
- Distribution Information
- Standard Order Process
- Metadata Information
All details about the purpose of these fields can be found at:
http://www.fgdc.gov/metadata/csdgm
Metadata Standard Name: FGDC Content Standards for Digital Geospatial Metadata
Metadata Standard Version: FGDC-STD-001-1998