Glossary: Metadata Terms

Abstract

a brief narrative summary of the data set.

Access Constraints

restrictions and legal prerequisites for accessing the data set. These include any access constraints applied to assure the protection of privacy or intellectual property, and any special restrictions or limitations on obtaining the data set.

Attribute

a defined characteristic of an entity.

Attribute Accuracy

an assessment of the accuracy of the identification of entities and assignment of attribute values in the data set.

Attribute Accuracy Report

an explanation of the accuracy of the identification of the entities and assignments of values in the data set and a description of the tests used.

Beginning Date

the first year (and optionally month, or month and day) of the event.

Bounding Coordinates

the limits of coverage of a data set expressed by latitude and longitude values in the order western-most, eastern-most, northern-most, and southern-most.

Citation

information to be used to reference the data set.

Citation Information

the recommended reference to be used for the data set.

Classification System Citation

a citation for the classification system or authority used, this might include monographs (e.g., a regional flora) or on-line data sets (e.g., the USDA PLANTS database), etc.

Classification System/Authority

information about the classification system or authority used.

Completeness Report

information about omissions, selection criteria, generalization, definitions used, and other rules used to derive the data set.

Contact Information

identity of, and means to communicate with, person(s) and organization(s) associated with the data set.

Contact Person Primary

the person, and the affiliation of the person, associated with the data set. Used in cases where the association of the person to the data set is more significant than the association of the organization to the data set.

Cross Reference

information about other, related data sets that are likely to be of interest.

Currentness Reference

the basis on which the time period of content information is determined. ("ground condition" "publication date" or free text)

Data Quality Information

a general assessment of the quality of the data set.

Data Set Credit

recognition of those who contributed to the data set.

Description

a characterization of the data set, including its intended use and limitations.

Description of Geographic Extent

Short description of the geographic areal domain of the data set. Examples include, "Manistee River watershed", "extent of 7 ½ minute quads containing any property belonging to Yellowstone National Park", or "ponds and reservoirs larger than 2 acres in Jefferson County, Colorado". This is especially important when the extent of the data set is not well described by the "Bounding_Rectangle_Coordinates".

Distribution Information

information about the distributor of and options for obtaining the data set.

Distribution Liability

statement of the liability assumed by the distributor.

Distributor

the party from whom the data set may be obtained.

East Bounding Coordinate

eastern-most coordinate of the limit of coverage expressed in longitude.

Ending Date

the last year (and optionally month, or month and day) for the event.

Entity and Attribute Information

details about the information content of the data set, including the entity types, their attributes, and the domains from which attribute values may be assigned.

Entity Type

the definition and description of a set into which similar entity instances are classified.

Geospatial Data Presentation Form

the mode in which the geospatial data are represented. ("atlas" “audio” "diagram" “document” "globe" "map" "model" “multimedia presentation” "profile" “raster digital data” "remote-sensing image" "section" “spreadsheet” “tabular digital data” “vector digital data” “video” "view" free text)

Identification Information

basic information about the data set.

Indirect Spatial Reference

name of types of geographic features, addressing schemes, or other means through which locations are referenced in the data set.

Keywords

words or phrases summarizing an aspect of the data set.

Keywords/Taxon

Taxonomic ranks or common groups characterized by the data set.

Lineage

information about the events, parameters, and source data which constructed the data set, and information about the responsible parties.

Logistical Consistency Report

an explanation of the fidelity of relationships in the data set and tests used.

Maintenance and Update Frequency

the frequency with which changes and additions are made to the data set after the initial data set is completed. ("Continually" "Daily" "Weekly" "Monthly" "Annually" "Unknown" "As needed" "Irregular" "None planned" or free text)

Metadata Access Constraints

restrictions and legal prerequisites for accessing the metadata. These include any access constraints applied to assure the protection of privacy or intellectual property, and any special restrictions or limitations on obtaining the metadata.

Metadata Contact

the party responsible for the metadata information.

Metadata Date

the date that the metadata were created or last updated.

Metadata Future Review Date

the date by which the metadata entry should be reviewed.

Metadata Reference Information

information on the currentness of the metadata information, and the responsible party.

Metadata Review Date

the date of the latest review of the metadata entry.

Metadata Standard Name

the name of the metadata standard used to document the data set.

Metadata Standard Version

identification of the version of the metadata standard used to document the data set.

Metadata Time Convention

form used to convey time of day information in the metadata entry. Used if time of day information is included in the metadata for a data set. (“local time” “local time with time differential factor” “universal time”

Metadata Use Constraints

restrictions and legal prerequisites for using the metadata after access is granted. These include any metadata use constraints applied to assure the protection of privacy or intellectual property, and any special restrictions or limitations on using the metadata.

Methodology

information about a single step of field and/or laboratory work.

Methodology Citation

information referencing the methods used.

Methodology Description

equivalent to "Materials and Methods" in a journal article. Describe the physical methods used to gather data, the experimental design, sample frequency, treatments or strata, statistical and spatial design of the sampling, and sample completeness, representativeness, and biases. For example, in a bird survey, relevant elements would include the methods used to detect species occurrences (casual sightings, transects, focal point surveys, vocalizations, mist nets), whether or not evidence of breeding activity was required, descriptions of the habitat strata in a stratified design, and known biases (e.g., non-territorial birds were undersampled, and some juveniles could not be identified to species.)

Methodology Type

the type of methodology being documented, such as field or laboratory methodology.

North Bounding Coordinate

northern-most coordinate of the limit of coverage expressed in latitude.

Online Linkage

the name of an online computer resource that contains the data set. Entries should follow the Uniform Resource Locator convention of the Internet.

Originator

the name of an organization or individual that developed the data set. If the name of editors or compilers are provided, the name must be followed by "(ed.)" or "(comp.)" respectively.

Other Citation Details

other information required to complete the citation.

Place

geographic locations characterized by the data set.

Place Keyword

the geographic name of a location covered by a data set.

Place Keyword Thesaurus

reference to a formally registered thesaurus or a similar authoritative source of place keywords.

Point of Contact

contact information for an individual or organization that is knowledgeable about the data set.

Process Description

an explanation of the event and related parameters or tolerances.

Process Step

information about a single event.

Progress

the state of the data set. ("Complete" "In work" "Planned")

Publication Date

the date when the data set is published or otherwise made available for release.

Publication Information

publication details for published data sets.

Publication Place

the name of the city (and state or province, and country, if needed to identify the city) where the data set was published or released.

Publisher

the name of the individual or organization that published the data set.

Purpose

a summary of the intentions with which the data set was developed.

Range of Dates/Times

means of encoding a range of dates and times.

Resource Description

the identifier by which the distributor knows the data set.

South Bounding Coordinate

southern-most coordinate of the limit of coverage expressed in latitude.

Spatial Domain

the geographic areal domain of the data set.

Status

the state of and maintenance information for the data set.

Supplemental Information

other descriptive information about the data set.

Taxonomic Classification

information about the range of taxa addressed in the data set or collection. It is recommended that one provide information starting from the taxonomic rank of kingdom, to a level which reflects the data set or collection being documented. The levels of Kingdom, Division/Phylum, Class, Order, Family, Genus, and Species should be included as ranks as appropriate.

Taxonomic Keyword Thesaurus

reference to a formally registered thesaurus or similar authoritative source of taxonomic keywords.

Taxonomic Keywords

common-use words or phrases describing the taxonomy covered by the data set.

Taxonomic System

documentation of taxonomic sources, procedures, and treatments.

Taxonomy

Information on the taxa (1 or more) included in the data set, including keywords, taxonomic system and coverage information, and taxonomic classification system.

Theme

subjects covered by the data set

Theme Keyword

common-use word or phrase used to describe the subject of the data set.

Theme Keyword Thesaurus

reference to a formally registered thesaurus or a similar authoritative source of theme keywords.

Time Period Information

information about the date and time of an event.

Time Period of Content

time period(s) for which the data set corresponds to the currentness reference.

Use Constraints

restrictions and legal prerequisites for using the data set after access is granted. These include any use constraints applied to assure the protection of privacy or intellectual property, and any special restrictions or limitations on using the data set.

West Bounding Coordinate

western-most coordinate of the limit of coverage expressed in longitude.