IPY Metadata Profile version 1.0

To aid broad interdisciplinary discovery of IPY data, the IPY Data Policy and Management Subcommittee has created an initial metadata profile. A metadata profile is a set of required fields and vocabularies for a given metadata standard.

The purpose of the IPY Metadata Profile is to ensure that we capture a bare minimum of information necessary to allow simple discovery across disciplines and to ensure we can track the heritage of the metadata in a broadly distributed data management environment.

The profile was built off the Global Change Master Directory (GCMD) Directory Interchange Format, which has served the Antarctic community for years through the Antarctic Master Directory. We have extended the minimum requirements of the DIF and mapped these requirements to multiple standards. So the profile might more accurately be considered a crosswalk for a set of required fields in multiple metadata standards.

All data registries and repositories collecting data and metadata from IPY projects are required to collect and share sufficient information to adhere to the IPY Metadata Profile requirements. Similarly, IPY projects are required to submit the compliant metadata to appropriate registries and repositories as they are available.

This is only an initial standard for IPY. The Data Committee seeks feedback from IPY participants on how this profile fits their discipline or community of practice. We wish to create a truly interdisciplinary profile. Please post any feedback to the Discussion Forum.

Summary

Following is a general list of the required metadata fields. Those in italics have controlled vocabulary requirements. Currently, we generally use GCMD vocabulary. One exception is the Entry ID. See details.

• Entry ID
• Data set title
• Data set progress
• Data set summary
• Data set citation information
  
  • Data set creator
  • Release Date
  • Release Place
  • Publisher
  • Version
  • Online Resource
• Parameters
• Locations
• ISO topic categories
• Temporal coverage
• Spatial coverage
• Data center contact information
• Access restrictions
• Use constraints
• Data Set Language
• Metadata contact information
• Metadata authority
• Metadata version
• Last revision
• IPY flag
• IPY Project ID

Details

Currently the profile is compliant with and has been mapped to the two following geospatial metadata standards:

• Global Change Master Directory (GCMD) Directory Interchange Format
• Federal Geographic Data Committee (FGDC) Content Standard for Digital Geospatial Metadata (CSDGM) (FGDC-STD-001-1998) and Remote Sensing Extensions (RSE) (FGDC-STD-012-2002)

We have also mapped the profile to THREDDS Dataset Inventory Catalog Specification Version 1.0, are in the process of mapping it to ISO 19115/19139, and would like to expand to other relevant standards. We welcome advice and support in this area, such as help creating or identifying relevant XSLTs, descriptions of the profile in UML, information on vocabulary mappings, etc. Currently a draft style sheet for conversion from DIF to THREDDS is available. Please contact or contribute to the Discussion Forum.

The following table shows the specific required fields for DIF and CSDGM. Bold field names denote fields required in the specific standard. Yellow highlighting denotes fields with controlled vocabulary. This table, including a rough mapping to THREDDS, is also available as an Excel Spreadsheet.

DIF	FGDC	Notes
Entry_ID	idinfo datsetid [RSE only]	Authority center should provide unique ID in the format of reverse domain name plus id number assigned by the authority, e.g., org.nsidc.nsidc-001. ID number should use standard 1 to 80 alphanumeric characters, which include underscore (_), hyphen (-) and period (.) NOT colon (:) and slash (/).
	distinfo resdesc
Entry_Title	idinfo citation citeinfo title	Same as DIF Dataset_Title.
Data_Set_Citation Dataset_Creator	idinfo citation citeinfo origin	Usually the same as the investigator.
Data_Set_Citation Dataset_Title	idinfo citation citeinfo title	Same as DIF Entry_Title.
Data_Set_Citation Dataset_Release_Date	idinfo citation citeinfo pubdate
Data_Set_Citation Dataset_Release_Place	idinfo citation citeinfo pubinfo pubplace
Data_Set_Citation Dataset_Publisher	idinfo citation citeinfo pubinfo publish	e.g., a data center
Data_Set_Citation Version	idinfo citation citeinfo edition
	idinfo keywords theme themekt [default: GCMD]	Thesaurus: GCMD Science Keywords
Parameters Category	idinfo keywords theme themekey	Thesaurus: GCMD Science Keywords
Parameters Topic
Parameters Term
	idinfo keywords theme themekt	Thesaurus: ISO 19115 Topic Categories
ISO_Topic_Category	idinfo keywords theme themekey	Thesaurus: ISO 19115 Topic Categories
Temporal_Coverage Start_Date	idinfo timeperd timeinfo rngdates begdate
Temporal_Coverage Stop_Date	idinfo timeperd timeinfo rngdates enddate
	idinfo timeperd timeinfo rngdates current [default: "publication date"]
Data_Set_Progress	idinfo status progress	e.g. Complete, In Work, Planned, where "in work" is a continually updated data set.
	idinfo status update [default: "unknown"]
Spatial_Coverage Southernmost_Latitude	idinfo spdom bounding southbc	Spatial information is especially useful for data discovery, so as much detail as possible should be provided. For example provide the coordinates of each measurement location (met tower, bouy, borehole, etc.) not just the bounding box containing alll the locations. (The DIF field can be repeated multiple times, but FGDC can only have one set of bounding coordinates)
Spatial_Coverage Northernmost_Latitude	idinfo spdom bounding northbc
Spatial_Coverage Westernmost_Longitude	idinfo spdom bounding westbc
Spatial_Coverage Easternmost_Longitude	idinfo spdom bounding eastbc
	idinfo keywords place placekt	Thesaurus: GCMD Location Keywords
Location Location_Name	idinfo keywords place placekey	Thesaurus: GCMD Location Keywords
	idinfo keywords theme themekt	Thesaurus: GCMD Project Keywords
Project Short_Name	idinfo keywords theme themekey	Thesaurus: GCMD Project Keywords. GCMD Project Valids which will include IPY Project IDs from the International Programme Office.
Project Long_Name
Access_Constraints	idinfo accconst	Access restraints should be minimal and in accordance with the IPY Data Policy
Use_Constraints	idinfo useconst	Use restraints should be minimal and in accordance with the IPY Data Policy
	idinfo keywords theme themekt	Thesaurus: ISO Data Set Language
Data_Set_Language	idinfo keywords theme themekey	Thesaurus: ISO Data Set Language
Data_Center Data_Center_Name Short_Name	distinfo distrib cntinfo cntorgp cntorg	Suggest using the GCMD Data Center Name thesaurus. IPY certified repositories will be added to the GCMD thesaurus.
Data_Center Data_Center_Name Long_Name
Data_Center Personnel Role [default: "Data Center Contact"]		Who to contact with questions about the data.
Data_Center Personnel First_Name	distinfo distrib cntinfo cntorgp cntper
Data_Center Personnel Last_Name
Data_Center Personnel Email	distinfo distrib cntinfo cntemail
Data_Center Personnel Phone	distinfo distrib cntinfo cntvoice
	distinfo distrib cntinfo cntaddr addrtype [default: mailing]
Data_Center Personnel Contact_Address Address	distinfo distrib cntinfo cntaddr address
Data_Center Personnel Contact_Address City	distinfo distrib cntinfo cntaddr city
Data_Center Personnel Contact_Address Province_or_State	distinfo distrib cntinfo cntaddr state
Data_Center Personnel Contact_Address Postal_Code	distinfo distrib cntinfo cntaddr postal
Data_Center Personnel Contact_Address Country	distinfo distrib cntinfo cntaddr country
Distribution Distribution_Format	distinfo stdorder digform digtinfo formname	Required for digital data.
	distinfo stdorder digform digtopt offoptn recfmt
Summary	idinfo descript abstract
	idinfo descript purpose [default: scientific research]
Related_URL URL_Content_Type ["GET DATA"]
Related_URL URL	distinfo stdorder digform digtopt onlinopt computer networka networkr	Required for online digital data, otherwise describe offline location.
Parent_DIF	idinfo agginfo conpckid datsetid [RSE only]	This is only required as appropriate, but any standard mapped to the IPY profile should have the ability to describe parent/child relations.
	idinfo keywords theme themekt	Thesaurus: GCMD IDN Node. This is a flag that indicates that this is a data set produced by an IPY endorsed project
IDN_Node Short_Name	idinfo keywords theme themekey	Thesaurus: GCMD IDN Node. This is a flag that indicates that this is a data set produced by an IPY endorsed project
IDN_Node Long_Name
Metadata_Name [default: "CEOS IDN DIF"]	metainfo metstdn [default: "FGDC Content Standard for Digital Geospatial Metadata" or "FGDC Content Standard for Digital Geospatial Metadata: Extensions for Remote Sensing Metadata"]	This will typically be automatically populated or included in the name space definition.
Metadata_Version [default: "9.0"]	metainfo metstdv [default: "FGDC-STD-001-1998" or "FGDC-STD-012-2002" (for RSE)]	This will typically be automatically populated or included in the name space definition.
DIF_Creation_Date	metainfo metd	yyyy-mm-dd
Last_DIF_Revision_Date	metainfo metrd	yyyy-mm-dd
Data_Center Data_Center_Name Short_Name	metainfo metc cntinfo cntorgp cntorg	Suggest using the GCMD Data Center Name thesaurus. IPY certified repositories will be added to the GCMD thesaurus. This should be the authority on the metadata.
Data_Center Data_Center_Name Long_Name
Personnel Role ["DIF Author"]		Who to contact with questions about the metadata. This person in conjunction with the data center should be the authority on the version and provenance of the metadata.
Personnel First_Name	metainfo metc cntinfo cntorgp cntper
Personnel Last_Name
Personnel Email	metainfo metc cntinfo cntemail
Personnel Phone	metainfo metc cntinfo cntvoice
	metainfo metc cntinfo cntaddr addrtype [default: "mailing"]
Personnel Contact_Address Address	metainfo metc cntinfo cntaddr address
Personnel Contact_Address City	metainfo metc cntinfo cntaddr city
Personnel Contact_Address Province_or_State	metainfo metc cntinfo cntaddr state
Personnel Contact_Address Postal_Code	metainfo metc cntinfo cntaddr postal
Personnel Contact_Address Country	metainfo metc cntinfo cntaddr country