Metadata education: Why is metadata important?

provides information to data catalogs and clearinghouses
provides flexibility in searching to support interdisciplinary usage
a key element in the future of spatial data sharing (an excerpt from class notes by Paul Cote, Harvard University)

Limits Liability: can prevent data from being inappropriately used or provides protection if data is inappropriately used
Can prevent embarrassing or expensive disasters (case example)
Evidence of prudent data stewardship: an organization that takes the time to create and maintain quality metadata will also mostly likely take the time to develop good quality, clean data
Reduces workload associated with questions about data: users don't have to keep asking producers questions
Cuts overall costs: allows automation of tools which ease overall burden and cost of data population and maintenance

"This label tells the consumer everything they need to know to know to make a decision about the packaged food's ingredients and nutritional content. Using this label, the consumer can make an informed decision about the product's fitness for use or consumption.

Just as food is our body's fuel, spatial data is the fuel for GIS. How to you determine the "really good stuff" from the "junk food"? How do you know if spatial data is "good" for your system? Metadata is the nutritional label for GIS datasets. In a standard format, metadata documents the characteristics of data so that consumers can determine the data's fitness for their purpose."

Excerpted from the Federal Geographic Data Committee's brochure, "Geospatial Metadata".

The FGDC has another useful brochure, The Value of Metadata.

What costs/benefits are associated with metadata?

Benefits Exceed Associated Costs (WAGIC)

Costs associated in creating and maintaining metadata are identifiable, manageable and short term
Most cost-effective to generate metadata as integrated step of data creation
Costs vary with complexity, level of detail, and age of data set
Benefits associated with having and using metadata are identifiable, immediate, and increase over time

Cost Saving & Avoidance Examples

Internally - saves 4 hrs research 10 times a year = (4*10*$50) = $2,000 (time it takes to look up or contact someone for information about a dataset)
External Questions - refer 30 inquires/year (1hr/inquiry) = (30*1*$50)=$1,500 (time it takes to answer calls from people who want to use the data or find out more about it)
Enable future reuse/enhancement -$5,000 to $25,000
Limit Liability - lawyer & court costs $$$

"Agencies invest large sums of money developing GIS data sets and, indeed, data collection is the most expensive part of a GIS. The knowledge about methodologies, data sources and other pertinent information is easily lost when employees leave or data is passed to another agency, if metadata has not been recorded.

Creating and maintaining metadata is a great way of ensuring a continued return on the investment of GIS data. Likewise, request metadata when receiving data from other sources, it may not be what you expected. Recording this type of information is so important, that North Carolina has passed legislation requiring basic indexing of GIS data sets to help inform the public about the data out there." (NC-CGIA)

"Metadata may soon play an important role in the provision of actual insurance policies within the GIS profession. In an article for URISA News (Gary Hunter, Issue 155, September/October 1996, pp. 1-3) on the implications of the increasing trend toward purchase of database insurance policies for spatial data sets used in high-risk GIS application areas, e.g. emergency response. Hunter points out that insurance companies will likely require conditions for the issuance of such policies ranging from detailed background information on the organizations producing and using the data to a certified quality assurance program in place. Another obvious condition would be comprehensive metadata on the data sets in question." (Hart and Philips)

If metadata is so important, what's the big issue?

Metadata is important. Metadata is also complex, initially difficult to read, and initially difficult and time-consuming to produce. The geospatial data that metadata documents is essentially a representation of some aspect of the earth's surface, and representing the earth in all its forms is an incredibly complex undertaking. There are many different kinds of geospatial data in many different kinds of representations. To adequately describe the complexity of data, metadata must likewise be complex. The good news is, that while the learning curve may be steep initially, it will soon level off, but the associated benefits will continue to increase.

Metadata specialists, like librarians, are specially trained to deal with the creation and cataloging of metadata. However, you don't have to be metadata specialist to reap the benefits of metadata, you just have to know some background information, just as you need to know some basics in order to use a library:

If you are a user of geospatial data, you should know how to read metadata, just as you read a nutritional label on a package of food.
If you are a producer of geospatial data, you should know the elements of metadata, be responsible for creating them, and making them accessible to metadata specialists.
Metadata specialists are responsible for formatting and cataloging the metadata just as librarians are responsible for processing new material coming into a library.

Content vs. Format
For the average user and producer, metadata content is the most important thing to be informed of. Details relating to the specific format of the content are certainly helpful, but not necessary. Formats change rapidly like every other technology does these days, and it can be a drain on time trying to keep up with them. Content may change slightly over time, but not enough to be a major concern, just as the advent of computer-catologing did not drastically change the content of a library card catalog, only the format of it.

Unfortunately, too much attention has been focused on the format of metadata content, which has caused much frustration and lack of motivation to use or create metadata. A shift of focus back to the basic content can reverse this trend, and at the same time help educate the users and producers in the rapidly expanding field of spatial technologies such as GIS, GPS and remote sensing.

"When I first started creating metadata a headache was all I got. The aspirin which cured it was finding out how many people were using the metadata. Users ordering data would comment on the time they spent looking at the metadata, showing it to another colleague and using it to determine the data's worth to them. This was time I didn't have spend on the phone and the client didn't have to wait on my availability. Internally, the metadata has become THE written records of the data and are used by all levels of our staff. The process is now much easier." Ken Shaffer (NC-CGIA)

References

Washington Geographic Information Council instructor's presentation.

North Carolina Center for Geographic Information and Analysis (NC-CGIA) Tutorials http://cgia.cgia.state.nc.us/tutorials/index.html

The Metadata Primer by David Hart and Hugh Philips http://www.lic.wisc.edu/metadata/metaprim.htm

Back to Course Topics

(307) 766-2532 | webmaster@wygisc.uwyo.edu