ISO Metadata Editor Review — Federal Geographic Data Committee

Purpose:

As the transition towards implementation of ISO geospatial metadata standard gets underway, the community requested that FGDC compile information about applications capable of creating ISO 19115:2003 Geographic Information - Metadata + Corrigendum 1 metadata. The information below was compiled to address that need. This information will be updated for editors that support the ISO 19115-1:2014 - Geographic information -- Metadata -- Part 1: Fundamentals.

Methods:

The following review of available ISO Metadata Editors was lead by the FGDC Metadata Working Group with special assistance from the NOAA National Geophysical Data Center (NGDC). The review was compiled in two parts. Part One, the ‘Feature Review’, collected information about editor features and capabilities directly from the application developers. Part Two, the ‘User Review’, collected the observations of volunteers from the FGDC Metadata Working Group as they accessed and applied the editors. All content was obtained from, and reviewed by, application developers and users. As such, FGDC is not responsible for inaccuracies or misrepresentations. Furthermore, presentation of this information does not constitute nor imply an endorsement of these applications by the FGDC.

The review was limited to ISO 19115:2003 Geographic Information - Metadata + Corrigendum 1 based metadata editors and does not include applications limited to:

metadata standards other than ISO 19115
metadata validation, distribution or other non-editor metadata operations.

Maintenance:

FGDC worked with developers to update the information in 2009. Additional updates will be provided as new editors and features emerge. Only those ISO Metadata Editors for which the developers provided ‘Feature Review’ information are included. Developers interested in including information about additional editors or users interested in participating in the ‘User Review’ of current or additional editors can contact the FGDC. All ‘User Review’ observations will be moderated to standardize the presentation of content. (Note: some of this information was part of an early CSDGM Metadata Editor review created by Hugh Phillips and posted at: http://www.sco.wisc.edu/wisclinc/metatool/).

Content:

The 2009 update includes eleven editors:

CATMDEdit vers. 4.5
ERDAS APOLLO 10.1 [XLS] - not included in 2009 summary presented below
ESRI ArcCAtalog vers. 9.3
ESRI Geoportal Extension vers. 9.3.1 sp1
GeoNetwork vers. 2.4.1
IME vers. 4.1
INSPIRE vers. 1.06
M3CAT vers. 1.6
MetaD vers. 3.0.5
MetaGenie vers. 2.0
Preludio vers. 2.1
terraCatalog vers.2.2 (now known as smart.finder SDI)

Due to the increased number of editors, only summary results are presented. To view detailed information about each editor, select the ‘Details Spreadsheet’ option provided for each component below.

Feature Review: Operating Environment
standards supported, interface style, application environment, operating system, data storage format and programming languages
- View Operating Environment Summary
- Download Operating Environment Details Spreadsheet [Excel 39KB]
Feature Review: Metadata Development
support features, edit operations, validation operations, customization
- View Metadata Development Summary
- Download Metadata Development Details Spreadsheet [Excel 38KB]
Feature Review: Metadata Management
management operations, import/export operations, output formats, publication options
- View Metadata Management Summary
- Download Metadata Management Details Spreadsheet [Excel 34KB]
User Review
user observations that may relate to any of the above editor features
- Download User Review Details Spreadsheet [Excel 195KB]
Download Complete review Spreadsheet [Excel 257KB]

OPERATING ENVIRONMENT
	CATMDEdit v.4.5	ESRI ArcCatalog v9.3	ESRI Geoportal Extension v9.3.1 sp1	GeoNetwork v2.4.1	IME v4.1	INSPIRE Metadata Editor v1.06	M3CAT v1.6	MetaD v3.0.5	MetaGenie v2.0	Preludio v2.1	TerraCatalog v2.2
Supported Standards	The editing environment includes elements from the following ISO standards:
ISO 19115 Geospatial Metadata	■	■	■	■	■	■	■	■	■	■	■
ISO 19110 Feature Catalog	■							■
ISO 19119 Services			■	■		■				■	■
North American Profile (Planned)		■	■	■			■
Other Standards	■		■	■		■	■		■	■	■
Interface	The following interface environments are available for editing:
GUI	■	■	■	■	■	■	■	■	■	■	■
XML	■		■	■				■			■
Other Interface Environments	■		■
Application Environment	The application runs as:
Desktop - Stand Alone	■	■		■	■		■	■	■
Desktop - Network	■	■		■			■	■
Online			■	■		■			■	■	■
Other Environment				■
Operating System	The editor operates in the following operating systems:
Windows	■	■	■	■	■		■	■	■		■
Linux	■		■	■	■				■		■
Web-based			■	■		■	■	■	■	■	■
Java-based	■		■	■	■				■	■	■
Other Operating Systems	MAC			■			■		■		■
Data Storage	Metadata is stored in the editor as:
Internal Database (no add't software/license required)		■		■			■			■
External Dbase (add't software/license required)		■	■	■			■	■	■	■	■
Document	■	■	■	■	■				■		■
Other Data Storage				■		■
Programming Languages	The source programming languages are:
JAVA	■		■	■	■	■			■	■	■
Javascript			■	■		■				■	■
XSL	■	■	■	■	■					■	■
Open Source	■		■	■			■
Proprietary			■		■				■	■
Other Programming Languages		■	■				■	■			■

METADATA DEVELOPMENT
	CATMDEdit v.4.5	ESRI ArcCatalog v9.2	ESRI Geoportal Extension v9.3.1 sp1	GeoNetwork v2.4.1	IME v4.1	INSPIRE Metadata Editor v1.06	M3CAT v1.6	MetaD v3.0.5	MetaGenie v2.0	Preludio v2.1	TerraCatalog v2.2
Support Features	The following support features are provided:
Drop-down Lists	■	■	■	■	■	■	■	■	■	■	■
Direct Access to Metadata Element Definitions	■		■	■	■	■	■	■	■	■	■
Thesauri	■		■	■		■	■	■
Spell Check
Interactive Content Guidance	■		■	■	■	■	■	■	■	■
Operating Instruction Manual	■	■	■	■	■	■	■	■	■	■	■
Auto-capture Properties from Data Set	■	■	■	■
Other Support Features	■		■	■	■	■	■	■		■
Edit Operations	The following edit operations can be performed:
Create 'library' of Contacts, Sources, or Other Content	■	■					■	■		■	■
Multiple Edit Languages	■		■	■	■	■	■	■		■	■
Save Incomplete Record	■	■	■	■		■	■		■	■	■
Batch Edits	■	■		■			■	■		■
Auto-populate Some Content	■	■	■	■	■		■			■	■
Embed Attachments		■		■						■
Other Edit Operations	■		■	■	■		■			■
Validation Operations	The following validation operations can be performed:
Compliance Check	■	■	■	■	■	■	■	■	■	■	■
Batch Validate				■				■		■	■
Validate Incomplete Record	■	■	■	■	■	■	■	■	■	■
Other Validation Features	■		■	■	■	■	■				■
Customization	The user can add and/or create:
Custom Elements	■	■	■	■	■	■	■		■
Custom Domains/Picklists	■	■	■	■	■	■	■			■
Custom Thesaurus	■		■	■			■	■
Custom Templates	■	■	■	■	■	■	■			■	■
Custom Interface	■	■	■	■	■		■			■	■
Other Customizations	■		■			■	■			■

METADATA MANAGEMENT
	CATMDEdit v. 4.5	ESRI ArcCatalog v9.3	ESRI Geoportal Extension 9.3.1 sp1	GeoNetwork v2.4.1	IME v4.1	INSPIRE Metadata Editor v1.06	M3CAT v1.6	MetaD v3.0.5	MetaGenie v2.0	Preludio v2.1	TerraCatalog v2.2
Management Operations	The following mangement operations can be performed:
Search	■	■	■	■			■	■		■	■
Find/Replace			■	■
Indicates Workflow Status (draft, validated, etc.)			■				■	■		■	■
Delete Record	■	■	■	■			■	■	■	■	■
Batch Delete	■	■	■	■			■	■		■
Other Management Operations			■	■			■	■		■
Import Operations	The following import operations can be performed:
Import records Formatted to Other Standards	■	■	■	■		■		■	■	■	■
Batch Import	■	■	■	■			■	■	■	■	■
Other Import Operations	■		■	■			■	■	■	■	■
Export Operations	The following export operations can be performed:
Export Records to Other Standards	■	■		■		■			■	■
Batch Export	■	■		■			■	■	■	■	■
Other Export Operations			■	■				■		■
Output Format	Records can be output as:
ISO 19139 XML	■	■	■	■	■	■		■		■	■
XML (non-19139)	■	■	■	■			■		■	■
With User-designated XSLT		■		■	■				■		■
HTML	■	■	■	■	■				■	■	■
Other Output Format	■		■	■	■		■			■	■
Metadata Publication	Metadata can be published from the editor via:
Z39.50			■	■			■		■
Web Accessible Folder (WAF)			■
Open Archive Initiative (OAI) Metadata Service			■	■
Catalog Service for the Web (CSW)			■	■				■		■	■
Other Publication Service/Protocol	■	■	■	■		■	■		■		■