Skip to main content

Geospatial Metadata

  • Living reference work entry
  • First Online:
Encyclopedia of Database Systems
  • 63 Accesses

Synonyms

Geographical metadata

Definition

Geospatial metadata are C a type of metadata used to describe geospatial data. Data described by geospatial metadata relates to objects that have an explicit or implicit geographic extent or position on the surface of the Globe. Geospatial metadata can be used to create metadata catalogues or directories that describe geographic features of data stored in any environment, ranging from data stored in geographic information systems (GIS) to simple documents, datasets, images, or even services. Geospatial metadata captures the basic characteristics of geospatial data and represents the what, the when, the where, and the who of the geospatial data. A typical geospatial metadata record includes catalog elements such as title, abstract, and publication data; geographic elements such as geographic extent and projection information; and database elements such as attribute label definitions and attribute domain values.

Historical Background

The interest...

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Institutional subscriptions

Recommended Reading

  1. ANZLIC Metadata Working Group. ANZLIC Metadata Guidelines: Core metadata elements for geographic data in Australia and New Zealand, Version 2. http://www.anzlic.org.au/get/2358011755.

  2. Major G, Olsen L. A short history of the DIF. On GCMD website, http://gcmd.nasa.gov/User/difguide/.

  3. Metadata Ad Hoc Working Group Federal Geographic Data Committee. FGDC website, http://www.fgdc.gov/metadata/csdgm/.

  4. Ordnance – National Mapping Agency of Great Britain. Ordnance Survey Ontologies. Ordnance Website, http://www.ordnancesurvey.co.uk/oswebsite/ontology/.

  5. Wolfe R. MIT Libraries website, http://libraries.mit.edu/guides/subjects/metadata/standards/fgdc.html.

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Bugra Gedik .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

Section Editor information

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2016 Springer Science+Business Media LLC

About this entry

Cite this entry

Gedik, B. (2016). Geospatial Metadata. In: Liu, L., Özsu, M. (eds) Encyclopedia of Database Systems. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4899-7993-3_908-2

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4899-7993-3_908-2

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Publisher Name: Springer, New York, NY

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-4899-7993-3

  • eBook Packages: Springer Reference Computer SciencesReference Module Computer Science and Engineering

Publish with us

Policies and ethics