Metadata is information about data, which describes the content, quality, condition, current-ness, reliability and other characteristics of the data. The concept of metadata is also familiar to most people who deal with spatial issues. A map legend for instance is one such representation of metadata, containing information about; the publisher of the map, the publication date, the map printers, a description of the map, spatial references, the mapīs scale and its accuracy, etc.
Metadata helps people who use geospatial data to find the data they need and determine how best to use it. Data producing organisations also benefit because as personnel change offices, undocumented data may loose value and workers may have little understanding of the contents and uses for a digital database. Lack of knowledge about other organisationsī data can lead to duplication of efforts. It may seem expensive to add the cost of the metadata generation to data collection cost, but in the long run the value of the data is dependant on its documentation.
Metadata is also the type of descriptive information applied to a digital geospatial file, a common set of terms and definitions to use when documenting and using geospatial data. Most digital geospatial files now have some associated metadata. In the area of geospatial information or information with a geographic component it should answer questions such as; the What, Who, Where, Why, When and How of the data. The only major difference that therefore exists from the many other metadata sets being collected for libraries, academia, professions and elsewhere is the emphasis on the spatial component or the where element.
Metadata in GSDI
Metadata is an essential part of a GSDI. It contains general information about the data such as; the knowledge about which data already exists and in what form, why the data was collected, what geographic area does the data cover, when was it collected and by whom etc. It is a prerequisite to avoid duplicate production efforts and unnecessary data search. In an NGIS the metadata functionality should be centralized in such a way that querying and access facilities are at one place. The user need not query several metadata databases for the same data and to make this possible all metadata databases have to be similar in a technical perspective, hence a standard for metadata is necessary.
Metadata Guideline
This is a step-by-step instruction for the metadata collection tool, MetaLite. The guide has been developed in such a way that MetaLite can easily be learnt. MetaLite has been selected to be used as a collection tool for metadata for SDI in Botswana. These guidelines can also be downloaded through
this link.
