In April, 1994, Executive Order 12906 was signed, requiring all Federal agencies to initiate documentation of geospatial data that they create (whether directly or by contract). This was intended to reduce duplication of effort in creating data and increase the possibility for sharing or locating existing data , thus reducing costs for the Government. The Federal Geographic Data Committee (FGDC), as directed, has put together standards for the creation of metadata (data about data). They are also fostering the sharing of data and metadata through the National Spatial Data Infrastructure (NSDI). The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) has delayed implementation of metadata creation and data sharing (with the exception of the National Wetlands Inventory office) until more of our staff could be trained in the metadata standard and tools to implement the standard were available.
At this point in time there have been several training opportunities on the metadata standard, and most of the GIS coordinators in the regions are familiar with the standard. Many users are also aware of the need to document data. Tools are being developed, although none of them has been finalized. There is such a surge of GIS use and data creation, however, that waiting longer could create a large backlog of data to be documented. It appears that future changes to the metadata standard or tools will not be major, so a package of guidance on what to document, and tools to use in documenting data is being distributed through various media to FWS GIS staff.
Remember, all offices are responsible for documenting data that they cause to be created. This DOES NOT include data received from sources such as the US Geological Survey (USGS) or the National Wetlands Inventory (NWI), but may include data received from contractors that have edited USGS or NWI data. Contractors should be required to supply documentation with data; most large contractors are already familiar with the requirements. If a contractor is not familiar with metadata requirements, they can contact the GIS Steering Committee members or Regional GIS Coordinators for background.
This also does not mean that all legacy (historic) data and all data you are currently creating must be documented immediately. There are obviously no new staff or dollars attached to perform this documentation. New data and data which would be difficult or expensive to recreate should probably have the first priority for metadata creation. Most offices know which data is most valuable to their operations; document that data first and other data that you feel warrants documentation as time allows.
While this documentation is targeted at finished data files you may find it advantageous to work on the metadata while you are working on the data. That way, you do not need to go back months later and try to remember what you did, and in what order. The intermediate files are certainly important to the office using them; documentation on intermediate files could be shared if you see a value in letting others know what is in progress. That is a judgement call for the office creating the data.
The GIS Steering Committee and the National Data Administration Office have been working together to create some workable metadata guidelines and related tools for GIS users in the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. The complete metadata standard created by the FGDC can be intimidating due to its complexity and scope. There is within the standard a smaller set of elements labeled "mandatory" by the FGDC that was used to form the basis of a subset of elements for FWS GIS users to document. To those mandatory elements several other elements have been added, based on comments from the steering committee.
This subset of information is considered the minimum necessary to document data not only for sharing, but for internal use as well. This does not mean users are limited to those elements - anyone wishing to document additional information is certainly free to do so! Also, particularly for legacy data (historical data), not all of the information may exist. The recommendations here for metadata documentation are guidance, not standards. The staff who have worked on the recommendations believe they make sense and are workable, and request FWS GIS users do their best to follow them.
In addition to documenting data, Federal agencies were charged with sharing that data. The Data Administration Office of IRTM will host metadata files on this server for FWS offices. If you want to share metadata via this server, please contact Deb Southworth Green for the specifics. Some regional GIS coordinators will probably be sharing metadata for their regions via the Internet as well: Region 1 is already doing this.
There are a number of documents and programs available to assist with metadata creation. There are also some programs used to put metadata into specific formats needed to be compatible with the FGDC clearinghouse server. The plan is to be able to connect via a network of data servers and search for data nationwide. FWS will be trying to keep its official metadata files in a format compatible with this plan in the hopes that it will succeed.
To share your metadata on the Data Administration WWW server
For additional information regarding this Web page, contact Deb Southworth Green, in the Division of Information Resources and Technology Management, at Deb_Green@fws.gov
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Keywords=GIS, data, metadata, steering, standards
Last Modified March 22, 2001 03:30 PM