1. An introduction to the MEDIN Discovery Metadata Standard

2. Metadata data about data Discovery metadata information about a dataset that allows others to ‘discover’ it exists. - title of a dataset - the geographic scope - when it was last updated - the contact details of the person who owns it

3. Discovery Metadata Standard Standard composed of ‘elements’ (e.g. title, begin date, contact, access conditions) XML is used to encode the record so that it becomes machine readable. MEDIN provides - guidance document - validation tool (schematron) - tools to create and test metadata records

4. Webpage http://www.oceannet.org/marine_data_standards/medin_disc_stnd.html

5. Discovery Metadata Standard Compliant with the ISO19115 (Geographic information – Metadata), INSPIRE and UK GEMINI2 and uses the ISO 19139 schema set for encoding xml Short, simple version available!

6. Marine Specific Keywords: SeaDataNet parameter discovery vocab (e.g. Fish taxonomy related counts; temperature of the water column) Keywords: SeaDataNet vertical coverage terms (e.g. epipelagic; benthic boundary layer) Spatial Reference System: European Petroleum Survey Group (EPSG) geodetic parameters (e.g. EPSG::4326) Data format: MEDIN (e.g. delimited; image; GIS) Organisations: SeaDataNet European Directory of Marine Organisations (EDMO) Controlled Vocabularies

7. Tools 1.On-line metadata generation/editing tool 2. Desktop tool Metadata Maestro. Can work in stand alone mode. Recently extended to GEMINI2.

8. 3. Specific tools for GIS users: Stylesheet for transforming ArcCat ESRI ISO standard metadata to MEDIN standard. Arc 9 stylesheet no longer supported. Arc 10 stylesheet now available. Tools

9. Important to be able to test the structure and content of the xml records once produced to ensure that they comply with the standard. A Schematron has been developed (compliant with ISO 19757 (Part 3) Information technology -- Document Schema Definition Languages (DSDL) -- Part 3: Rule-based validation – Schematron). Used in many different circumstances and tools so that if the standard changes it only requires one update rather than various validation methods for different applications This schematron ‘sits’ in the metadata editor tools in a validation step. Can be used by organisations to test transfer between metadata holdings. Validation

10. Schematron Guidance document on the schematron – technical

11. What is a dataset? All metadata records can be harvested by the MEDIN portal. It is important that the portal is not swamped with records or not rich enough to be useful to the user Guidance on website

12. What is a dataset? the correct level for a dataset is a cruise, survey or a set of repeat observations with a common purpose, a dataset usually constitutes a specifically- funded piece of work, the dataset should be easily extractable from a database for a 3rd party, if you are searching for a dataset using a portal and get the result every time you search by different combinations of time, location and parameter then it is probably too coarse.

13. Updates Standards evolve! MEDIN has placed itself to be close to, and feed into, any changes in standard that could influence our own. Members of the MEDIN standards Working Group also are represented on various groups Location Programme, INSPIRE and BSI groups. Sign up to the e-mail list to be kept up to date of changes