Lecture

Metadata: Importance in GIS

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Description

This lecture emphasizes the crucial role of metadata in describing datasets used in geographical information systems. It covers the types of information stored, such as name, description, creation date, and type of content. Standardization efforts have aimed to provide a unified description of datasets, which are utilized in national data infrastructures like the geoportals in France, Belgium, and Switzerland.

In MOOC

Geographical Information Systems 1

In this first part of the course, we will focus on the digitization and the storage of geodata. In particular, you will learn:

To characterize spatial objects and/or phenomena (territory modeling) with respect to their position in space (through coordinate systems, projections, and spatial relationships) and according to their intrinsic nature (object/vector mode vs. Image/raster mode);
About the different means used to acquire spatial data; including direct measurement, georeferencing images, digitiza

Official source

Related concepts (6)

Metadata

Metadata (or metainformation) is "data that provides information about other data", but not the content of the data, such as the text of a message or the image itself. There are many distinct types of metadata, including: Descriptive metadata – the descriptive information about a resource. It is used for discovery and identification. It includes elements such as title, abstract, author, and keywords. Structural metadata – metadata about containers of data and indicates how compound objects are put together, for example, how pages are ordered to form chapters.

Metadata registry

A metadata registry is a central location in an organization where metadata definitions are stored and maintained in a controlled method. A metadata repository is the database where metadata is stored. The registry also adds relationships with related metadata types. A metadata engine collects, stores and analyzes information about data and metadata (data about data) in use within a domain. Metadata registries are used whenever data must be used consistently within an organization or group of organizations.

Metadata standard

A metadata standard is a requirement which is intended to establish a common understanding of the meaning or semantics of the data, to ensure correct and proper use and interpretation of the data by its owners and users. To achieve this common understanding, a number of characteristics, or attributes of the data have to be defined, also known as metadata. Metadata is often defined as data about data.

Geographic information system

A geographic information system (GIS) consists of integrated computer hardware and software that store, manage, analyze, edit, output, and visualize geographic data. Much of this often happens within a spatial database, however, this is not essential to meet the definition of a GIS. In a broader sense, one may consider such a system also to include human users and support staff, procedures and workflows, the body of knowledge of relevant concepts and methods, and institutional organizations.

Geographic information science

Geographic information science (GIScience, GISc) or geoinformation science is a scientific discipline at the crossroads of computational science, social science, and natural science that studies geographic information, including how it represents phenomena in the real world, how it represents the way humans understand the world, and how it can be captured, organized, and analyzed. It is a sub-field of geography, specifically part of technical geography.

Related lectures (4)

Metadata: Introduction to Geographic Information Systems MOOC: Geographical Information Systems 1

Covers the importance of metadata in geoinformation and international standards like ISO/TC 211 and the INSPIRE directive.

Metadata: General Principles and Standards MOOC: Geographical Information Systems 1

Covers the importance of metadata in geographic information systems, focusing on standards and principles.

Metadata: Importance and Standardization MOOC: Geographical Information Systems 1

Highlights the importance of metadata in describing datasets for geographic information systems.

Data, big data, clouds and IoT