2. Training Structure Agenda Metadata Creation Considerations
Metadata Development Solutions
Developing a ‘Metadata Implementation’
EPA Example
Creating and Using Templates
Using the EPA Metadata Editor (EME)
Materials
Metadata Tools Comparison Sheet
Sample Template
This session will focus on how to make metadata production easier through the use of a combination of tools. This session will provide a broad overview of using templates and tools; the intermediate session will get into the specifics of using the EME in much more detail.

3. Learning Objectives After completing this module the student can:
Describe what tools are available to make metadata production easier
List some considerations for creating a metadata implementation
Describe what a metadata implementation is and what it is not
Describe what a template is and how to create and use one
Describe how to use the EPA Metadata Editor (EME)

4. Metadata Creation Considerations
FGDC Compliancy is likely not be the only ‘requirement’ for your records
Geospatial One Stop (GOS)
Resource Types
Correct online linkage associations
ISO Keywords
Catalog implementations with validation turned “on”
Title
Publisher
Resource type
Agency Requirements/Needs
Security Information
Keywords
Distribution Liability
The resulting picture can be confusing!
FGDC requirements are one part of the metadata requirements puzzle, but in many cases organizations will have additional requirements to include in their records.
Many agencies want to share their metadata by contributing it to GOS. GOS has some requirements in addition to those specified by FGDC, such as specific resource types and correct online linkage associations. Additionally, ISO keywords are used for classifying your data. Not all of these are ‘requirements’ necessarily; your metadata can still be published to GOS without having these components documented correctly, but the information will be harder to find because it won’t show up correctly when users perform certain types of searches. So, it is important to include these requirements in your metadata if you are planning to post your records to GOS.
Additionally, there are catalog implementations that may include requirements if you have validation turned ON.
Finally, there are other agency needs that may impact your metadata creation requirements, such as security information, keywords, distribution liability, etc.
The final picture that results from all of these can be confusing!

5. Metadata Development Solutions
How can I make this process easier?
Define an ‘implementation’ for your agency that can meet all needs at once
Develop a template for your group/agency
Determine which tools can best meet your needs (EPA Metadata Editor developed for EPA; can be extended)
The combination of these will vary based on your metadata needs
There are some ways that you can simplify this complex picture and make the process of creating metadata simpler.
Implementation: At EPA, we created an EPA implementation that specified all of the needs for metadata at once. This means that metadata developers do not have to go back and forth across multiple different resources to understand requirements.
Templates: We also created some templates that had the defaults provided by this implementation in it.
Tools: Finally, it’s important to use the right tools for your editing needs. For EPA, we created the EPA metadata editor that helps simplify the editing process by making EPA’s requirements clear and providing drop-downs, etc. This editor is also relatively flexible and can be used by other groups to easily document your resources.
--We’ll go through each of these in the upcoming slides.

6. Metadata Implementations
What is a metadata implementation?
FGDC CSDGM ‘interpretation’
Standardizes how a group produces metadata
Defines wording for some free-text fields
May have additional requirements
Not an extension or profile
No new elements; clarity for existing fields only
Why is this important?
Improves consistency across offices
Reduces confusion: all requirements in one standard
EPA’s Implementation
Requires the use of five sections rather than two
Includes all requirements for different needs
FGDC Compliancy
ESRI Catalog requirements
GOS requirements
Agency Concerns
First – what is an implementation?
An implementation is the first step in simplifying/clarifying the metadata creation process at your organization. Usually, if you work with a number of other GIS analysts you will want to have an ‘implementation’ that everyone can point to for consistency across different groups.
An implementation is
An interpretation of the FGDC CSDGM that standardizes how an Agency/group produces metadata
Defines wording for free-text fields
May require the use of some elements that are not required for FGDC
Not an extension or profile: No new elements; clarity for existing fields only – extensions and profiles add elements to the standard; an implementation really just clarifies a standard and may have more rigorous requirements.
EPA-Compliant records are FGDC-Compliant. They are also compatible with GOS and ESRI catalogs, and they satisfy EPA’s needs for specific concerns. So, if you are looking to define an implementation for your organization, it is often useful to look across the realm of issues that are important to your group and then define or clarify those fields for your group.

7. Metadata Implementations
EPA’s Geospatial Metadata Technical Specification
This is a graphical representation that shows how EPA’s implementation lines up with the FGDC CSDGM requirements. EPA went as far as publishing their implementation as a technical specification and it is actually available to the public at

8. Metadata Templates What is a template?
Used as a basis for metadata development to save time in creating compliant metadata.
Provide default settings for information common to multiple datasets
Templates can dramatically save time and reduce effort by providing default values for your metadata fields associated with a record. Once you have a template customized for your specific project, that template can be exported and used as the default for metadata values across multiple datasets.
How do you get a template?
Templates an be downloaded, in this example we used an EPA specific template. EPA sample templates can be found in your sample files.
Can create your own by exporting a commonly used file’s metadata for use as a template

9. Creating and Using a Template
Import Metadata Button
Importing Metadata templates which have been downloaded
Notice highlighted dataset (shapefile) currently contains no metadata.
To import a metadata template, you’d click the Import Metadata Button in ArcCatalog. Then browse to the location of the template on your network and select the template.
Note that you’ll want to be careful with the ‘Enable automatic update of metadata’ checkbox. This does not actually mean that you are enabling/disabling the ability for the imported template to update your record. It actually means that you are enabling/disabling ESRI to synchronize the content in your record with the information about the data set. As we discussed earlier, you may not want to allow ESRI to perform these ‘updates’ for you, depending on your needs for your metadata. You should also note that this check box is always checked every time you use the import metadata button. Just because you unchecked it last time, does not mean that it will be unchecked the next time you import metadata.

10. Creating and Using a Template
After importing, specified fields have been populated from the template.
This example if from the EPA downloadable data template. As I mentioned earlier, the EPA developed templates for downloadable data, apps, live data and maps.
The benefits of using templates are saving time and reducing the opportunity for mistakes to be made by manually typing in the information multiple times.

11. Example: EPA Template for Web Feature Services
After importing the template, click the Edit Metadata button to add remaining values and specifics of the file.

12. Create Your Own Template
You can create a template from scratch.
- OR -
If you have a pre-existing record associated with a data set that contains most of the documentation you need, this can be exported using the ‘Export Metadata’ button.
So if you can’t use any downloadable templates or if you don’t have any of the downloadable templates, don’t be discouraged! You can make your own!!! If a metadata file already exists, use it for similar files with common field values within the metadata by exporting it and creating your own template. You do that by using the “Export Metadata” button in Arc Catalog.

13. Metadata Editing Tools
What are my needs?
Freeware or commercial?
Types of files in need of metadata?
Easily distribute to others?
What features are important to you?
Desktop/web-based
Support for all FGDC CSDGM fields
Simple interface
Integrated with COTS products (ESRI)
Import capabilities
Automated pick lists & defaults
Customizable?
Clear requirements
Easy access to support/help
When deciding to use a metadata editing tool, you first need to decide on some parameters.
Some questions you may ask yourself are:
Do I want freeware or so I already have a commercial product that will work?
What kind of files to I have that need metadata (shapefiles, tables, image data)?
What features are important in a metadata editor (auto import, templates, support/help, adding metadata to an existing dataset)?

14. Some Common Metadata Editors
EPA Metadata Editor (EME)
ArcCatalog
NPS Metadata Tools and Editor
Three Tab Editor
DBFmeta
MetaVist
Many others!
To help you make informed decisions on which metadata editor suits your specific needs, there is a sample spreadsheet of metadata editors located in your training packet:
EME, ArcCatalog, NPS editor, Three tab editor, DBFmeta, MetaVist

15. EPA Metadata Editor (EME)
What is the EME 2.1?
Simple, flexible geospatial metadata editing tool
Based on 3-Tab approach used by the Coeur D’Alene tribe
Why was it developed?
Simplify metadata creation
Improve consistency
Meet EPA Geospatial Metadata Technical Specification Requirements
So now I’m going to go a little more in depth into the EPA Metadata Editor.
The EPA Metadata Editor is a simplified editing interface for ArcCatalog that comes with basic EPA defaults and an EPA metadata validation service. It is an extension to ArcGIS 9.2 designed to help EPA personnel easily document metadata that meets the EPA Geospatial Metadata Tech Spec 1.0.
The three tab design was adopted from the Coeur D’Alene tribe, who developed the original 3-tab editor using VB – our user base liked the Coeur D’Alene approach, so we modified the original three tab design to make it align with the EPA Tech Spec and to make the defaults database-driven, while providing some additional functionality. Additionally, we updated the code base to .NET. On that note, we will be providing the source code to folks – we will follow-up with the exact URL to people who are interested. The developer is cleaning up some final components in the code to make it shareable.

16. EPA Metadata Editor 2.1
DEMO of EME 2.1

17. Metadata Tools and Templates Resources
Some Key Resources for Peaceful Metadata Editing
Metaparser
FGDC CSDGM Graphical Image Map
Metadata Toolbox
Set Working Synchronizers
ESRI’s EDN site (for additional custom tools)
EPA’s Metadata Editor (EME)
Fixing these can be tricky depending on your needs.
If you can start from scratch, it can be useful to turn synchronizers off.
If already have a record and want to fix the elements, you can edit the attributes section
You can also use a text editor to find and replace bad elements and remove them. This can be tricky.\
Setting synchronized properties

18. Metadata Tools and Templates
Tools & Templates Quiz
What does a metadata implementation NOT provide?
A single description of all metadata requirements in one place
A way to avoid creating metadata
A means for improving metadata consistency across a large organization
A way to simplify metadata creation
If you have synchronizers turned off your metadata will not automatically be updated with information from the data set in ArcCatalog
True or False?
What can help make metadata process easier?
Templates
Developing an Implementation
Using Metadata Tools
All of the Above