Definition
Geospatial metadata is metadata about spatial information concerning objects or phenomena that are directly or indirectly associated with a location relative to the Earth; auxiliary information which provides a better understanding and utilization of spatial information. Metadata is a primary interoperability enabler.
ISO 19115 Geographic Information – Metadata defines metadata as “data about data.” The Techweb Encyclopedia http://www.techweb.com/encyclopedia defines “data” as “any form of information whether on paper or in electronic form. Data may refer to any electronic file no matter what the format: database data, text, images, audio and video. Everything read and written by the computer can be considered data except for instructions in a program that are executed (software).”
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Recommended Reading
Chan LM, Zeng ML (2006) Metadata interoperability and standardization – a study of methodology part 1. D-Lib Mag 12(6). ISSN 1082-9873. http://www.dlib.org/dlib/june06/chan/06chan.html
Dangermond J (2004) Speaking the language of geography – GIS, ArcNews. Fall. http://www.esri.com/news/arcnews/fall04articles/speaking-the-language1of2.html
Federal Geographic Data Committee (FGDC), Geospatial metadata. http://www.fgdc.gov/metadata
Longhorn R (2005) Geospatial standards, interoperability, metadata semantics and spatial data infrastructure, background paper for NIEeS workshop on activating metadata, Cambridge, 6–7 July 2005. http://archive.niees.ac.uk/talks/activating_metadata/Standards_Overview_and_Semantics.pdf
Moellering H (ed) (2005) World spatial metadata standards. Elsevier, Oxford
National Aeronautics and Space Administration Geospatial Interoperability Office (2005) Geospatial interoperability return on investment study, Greenbelt. http://gio.gsfc.nasa.gov/docs/ROI%20Study.pdf
National Information Standards Organization (2004) Understanding metadata. NISO Press, Bethesda. ISBN: 1-880124-62-9. http://www.niso.org/standards/resources/UnderstandingMetadata.pdf
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Danko, D.D. (2017). Metadata and Interoperability, Geospatial. In: Shekhar, S., Xiong, H., Zhou, X. (eds) Encyclopedia of GIS. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-17885-1_780
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