1. Overview of key concepts and features
FAO Statistics Division – FENIX Documentation
FENIX Metadata
Overview of key concepts and features

2. FAO Statistics Division – FENIX Documentation
Objectives
Efficiently document FAO and non-FAO resources (datasets, geospatial data, texts, etc.) and provide users with comprehensive metadata
Make resources available and searchable through the FENIX catalog
Enable data and metadata exchange using the main metadata standard specifications such as SDMX, DDI, ISO, DCMI

3. Metadata creation process
FAO Statistics Division – FENIX Documentation
Metadata creation process
Review the metadata specifications of the main international standards (SDMX, DDI, ISO, DCMI)
Select key metadata elements from the above sources and define the FENIX metadata specs, taking into account the application requirements
Consider compatibility issues with other metadata (e.g. different codelists, metadata fields, etc.) to enable import/export in different metadata formats
It was important to take various aspects into account, and in particular:
ensure compatibility with other standards for supporting data exchange
2) ensure the efficiency of the metadata for data discovery through the catalog of resources (registry)

4. Applicability of the FENIX metadata
FAO Statistics Division – FENIX Documentation
Applicability of the FENIX metadata
Designed to describe any resource (e.g. datasets, GIS layers, satellite images, text, documents, etc.) and not just datasets
Able to describe any data structure
Allows flexible use of coding/classification systems for describing metadata concepts

5. Resources described by the metadata
FAO Statistics Division – FENIX Documentation
Resources described by the metadata
Dataset: an identifiable collection of data organized in a statistical data matrix
Geographic layer: collection of geo-referenced data described through the raster or vector model
Codelist: predefined list of numeric or alphanumeric codes and definitions (labels) from which statistical concepts take their values

6. FAO Statistics Division – FENIX Documentation
Metadata components
Descriptive metadata: provides information about the content, methodologies, distribution policies related to the resource
Data Structure Definition (DSD): describes the structure of the data
Codelists: predefined list of numeric or alphanumeric codes and definitions (labels) from which statistical concepts take their values

7. Metadata concepts and nomenclature
FAO Statistics Division – FENIX Documentation
Metadata concepts and nomenclature
Uses the Unified Modelling Language (UML) syntax to describe relationships between metadata components
Based on two main features: single metadata concepts (named “metadata elements“) and groups of related metadata elements (“metadata entities“ indicated with the prefix “ME_”). Each metadata entity deals with a specific aspect of the metadata (e.g. data quality, data distribution, etc.).
Metadata entities may include sub-entities indicated with the prefix “SE_”.
The target of the metadata (i.e. the dataset, map, text described by the metadata) is called “resource" and an instance of the metadata describing a specific resource is called “metadata record".
A set of metadata elements that occur more than once are define an “Object“, indicated with the prefix “OJ_”. An example of an object is the set of information describing a contact (i.e. name, organization, tel. no., , etc.). Objects are linked to metadata entities through the “Object-reference" data type.
The document “Suggested codelists for FENIX metadata (FENIX/tech/MD/02)" provides details of the coding systems suggested for FENIX metadata.
The description of the metadata elements includes a) the name of the element (marked with the symbol << >>), b) its denition, c) information on whether it is mandatory, optional or conditional, d) the relevant data type and e) its “friendly name" (alias) that will be displayed in the user interface.

8. FENIX metadata structure
FAO Statistics Division – FENIX Documentation
FENIX metadata structure
All metadata entities are linked to the one in the center (Metadata Identification) which includes the ID that links the metadata with the “resource”. This simple structure allows potentially for an expansion/reduction of the metadata by just adding/removing metadata entities.

9. FENIX metadata structure
FAO Statistics Division – FENIX Documentation
FENIX metadata structure
ME_Identification: the unique identifier of the metadata record and the link to the associated data.
ME_Content: summary of the content of the dataset and the description of the geographical and sector coverage.
ME_InstitutionalMandate: describes the responsibility and the authority of an organization for the collection, processing, and dissemination of data.
ME_StatisticalProcessing: the statistical process and transformation used to derive the data.
ME_DataQuality: description and evaluation of the data quality (quality assurance process).
ME_Accessibility: details about distribution of data and their sharing mechanism.
ME_Maintenance: information on the available revisions of the resource and the frequency of data updates.
ME_Documents: links publications, news or other relevant material to the resource.
ME_ResourceStructure: lists the values of the dimensions of the resource.
ME_SpatialRepresentation: information about the mechanism to represent spatial information both in grid and vector formats.
ME_ReferenceSystem: temporal, coordinate and geographic identifiers; transformations and conversions parameters  
The metadata entities included in the FENIX metadata

10. FENIX metadata structure
FAO Statistics Division – FENIX Documentation
FENIX metadata structure
This shows how the documentation is organized. The metadata element ”title” is a simple free-text and it is mandatory, while the metadata element ”contact” is a sequence (which means it may occur several time e.g. more than one contact) and it references an object called “OJ_ResponsibleParty”. This object is described in Par. 6.1 of the same document.
<<title>> is a textual label used as identification of the resource.
(mandatory – data type: free text)
<<contact>> provides details of the party(ies) responsible for the metadata information.
(mandatory – data type: sequence <OJ_ResponsibleParty>[paragraph 6.1.])

11. FENIX metadata structure
FAO Statistics Division – FENIX Documentation
FENIX metadata structure
This is the structure of the Object “OJ_ResponsibleParty”. Its metadata element “contactInfo” references an object “OJ_Contact” and the metadata element “role” references a multiple choice (the items of which are listed in grey). “role” can have more than one value since a contact may have more than one role (e.g. the owner and also the distributor).
A multiple choice is basically a codelist embedded in the FENIX metadata and therefore doesn’t need to be referenced as a codelist.
Role
Owner
Distributor
Other

12. Alignment with SDMX metadata
FAO Statistics Division – FENIX Documentation
Alignment with SDMX metadata
A matching table between the FENIX metadata and SDMX is available.
The FENIX metadata does not represent all SDMX elements (too many), but a functional subset
The FENIX metadata includes some elements not implemented by SDMX (e.g. the geospatial entities)
Differences in data types may occur between SDMX and the FENIX metadata: i.e. some of the free-text elements in SDMX are coded in FENIX

13. Alignment with ISO metadata
FAO Statistics Division – FENIX Documentation
Alignment with ISO metadata
The alignment between the ISO and the FENIX metadata is in progress.
The geospatial metadata entities (Reference System and Spatial Representation) of the FENIX metadata are entirely derived from the ISO standard
Similarly to SDMX, inconsistencies may occur at the level of data type