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Geospatial Resources at EPA

EPA Metadata Technical Specification

Effective August 2016

Introduction:

The primary purpose of this document is to establish guidelines for publishing metadata for data sets developed by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).  This document is an update to the 2007 Geospatial Metadata Technical Specification and reflects requirements from Project Open Data and ISO 19115.The primary differences between the ISO 19115 standard and EPA’s implementation are that the fields required for Project Open Data have been made mandatory and follow the requirements laid out in the Project Open Data Schema 1.1. Please see the changelog for a complete list of updates.

This document is not intended as a complete explanation of the implementation of either the Project Open Data or ISO 19115 standards. Rather, it is intended as a reference for guidance only on those elements that are considered important or mandatory for the EPA implementation.This implementation does not create new elements; rather it provides standard interpretation guidelines for existing elements. Mappings are provided between Project Open Data Schema, ISO 19115, FGDC CSDGM, and ArcGIS metadata. Full guidance on best practices, examples and implementation of the metadata technical specification can be found in the EPA Metadata Style Guide.

Metadata that is compliant with this technical specification will also be compliant with minimum Project Open Data and ISO 19115 standards and thus may be shared with Data.gov and the National Geospatial Platform, as well as with EPA’s central geospatial metadata catalog, the Environmental Dataset Gateway (EDG).

The EPA Metadata Technical Specification is a specification under the Enterprise Information Management Policy’s Cataloging Procedure. The purpose of this procedure is to advance discovery, access and sharing of information produced by EPA by requiring that it be cataloged in an Agency information management system.

(Contact: Ana Greene; Greene.Ana@epa.gov).

Core EPA Metadata Fields
Field Name Description Required? Geospatial Only?
Title Human-readable name of the asset. Should be in plain English and include sufficient detail to facilitate search and discovery. Always All
Description Human-readable description (e.g., an abstract) with sufficient detail to enable a user to quickly understand whether the asset is of interest. Always All
Tags (General) Tags (or keywords) help users discover your dataset; EPA requires the use of keywords from several different standard thesauruses; please also include terms that would be used by technical and non-technical users. Always All
Tags (ISO) The ISO 19115 Topic Category is a general categorization of data resources that is intended to provide data classification consistency across agencies. Always All
Tags (Place) One or more geographic feature names describing the range of spatial applicability of the dataset. Always All
Tags (EPA Org) The organization within the EPA responsible for the stewardship of this dataset. If this dataset is produced and maintained by an external agency, this field should be set to non-EPA. Pending All
Tags (EPA Theme) Thematic keywords commonly used to describe EPA datasets, recommended to promote consistency across the agency. Optional All
Tags (Federal Program Code) Federal program inventory code corresponding to the program responsible for the production and maintenance of this dataset. Always All
Last Update Most recent date on which the dataset was changed, updated or modified, or for continually updated data, the frequency with which the data are updated. Always All
Publishing Organization The title of the organization responsible for publishing the dataset Always All
Publisher The name of a contact responsible for the dataset Always All
Publisher Email The email address where questions about this dataset should be sent. Always All
Identifier This element is a unique identifier for the metadata record. It may be a UUID or DOI. Always All
Access Level The degree to which this dataset could be made publicly-available, regardless of whether it has been made available. Choices: public (Data asset is or could be made publicly available to all without restrictions), restricted public (Data asset is available under certain use restrictions), or non-public (Data asset is not available to members of the public). Always All
Rights An explanation for the selected “accessLevel” including instructions for how to access a restricted file, if applicable, or explanation for why a “non-public” or “restricted public” data asset is not “public,” if applicable. Text, 255 characters. Required if Access Level is not public All
Data License The URL to a web page describing the data license governing the use of this dataset. Always All
System of Records If the system is designated as a system of records under the Privacy Act of 1974, provide the URL to the System of Records Notice related to this dataset. Required if metadata represents a system of record All
General Use Limitation This optional field allows any general use limitations to be included. Optional Geo Only
Spatial Extent The range of spatial applicability of a dataset. Should include a spatial region like a bounding box but may also be a named place. Required for geospatial data All
Temporal Extent The range of temporal applicability of a dataset (i.e., a start and end date of applicability for the data). Always All
Distribution URL One or more URLs providing access to the dataset Mandatory if Applicable All
Metadata Date Stamp The date when the metadata was created or last updated Always Geo Only
Update Frequency The frequency with which dataset is published or updated. Mandatory for Geo All
Metadata Responsible Party Contact information for the party responsible for creating and maintaining the metadata. Always Geo Only
Language The language of the metadata document Required for geospatial data All
Country The country in which the metadata document was produced. Required for geospatial data Geo Only
Spatial Reference Identification of the horizontal projections, vertical datums and temporal reference systems used. Required for geospatial data Geo Only
Spatial Data Representation Digital representation of spatial information in the dataset. (Vector/Grid, Point/Line/Polygon etc.) Required for geospatial data Geo Only

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The tables below include additional guidance for each element, including valid value domains, examples and crosswalks to XPaths for ArcGIS Metadata, ISO 19115, the Federal Geographic Data Committee's (FGDC) Content Standard for Digital Geospatial Metadata (CSDGM). Full guidance on best practices, examples and implementation of the metadata technical specification can be found in the EPA Metadata Style Guide.  The following links exit the site Exit

Field Title
Required? Always
Guidance

Titles should be succinct yet descriptive including the topic, and where relevant, temporal info, geography and related programs in a way that distinguishes it from other, similar resources. To this end, EPA recommends the following template:

{Subject, Geographic Extent, Relevant Time Period, Data Owner/Provider, Office/Region/Research Lab of Data Owner}

Any individual component of this title template may be omitted if not applicable. For example, there is no need to include a date if data are frequently or continuously updated. Similarly, if the geographic extent is implicit in the subject, i.e. National Hydrography Dataset, it may be omitted provided that the actual extent of the data matches the extent implied in the title (an example of a dataset whose actual extent does not match the implicitly titled extent would be National Hydrography Dataset clipped to a given state). Geographic Extent should always refer to a place name, not a bounding box or coordinates. Spell out any acronyms.

Accepted Values Plain Text
Example "Toxics Release Inventory (TRI) Locations, Oklahoma, 2012, EPA OIAA, EPA REG 66 WQPD"
ArcCatalog Editor Location Overview > Item Description > Title and Overview > Citation > Titles > Title
ArcGIS Metadata XPath /metadata/dataIdInfo/idCitation/resTitle
Project Open Data Element title
ISO 19115
FGDC CSDGM Element /metadata/idinfo/citation/citeinfo/title

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Field Description
Required? Always
Guidance Typically, this element should be used to provide a brief summary of the resource. Some of the recommended items that should be included in this field are: - general content and features - dataset form (GIS, CAD, image, Dbase, etc.) - geographic coverage (county/city name) - time period of content (begin and end date or single date) - special data characteristics or limitations
Accepted Values Plain Text
Example "A total of 54 GPS points were collected around the Willamette Valley, Oregon, in the fall of 1997 and spring of 1998. Locations were selected at road crossings over streams and along the Mainstem Willamette. Attention was paid to achieving relatively even spacing around the basin, including farthest extents, and along the Mainstem. Points were differentially corrected and imported into a file geodatabase, attributed to indicate location, road, stream, and notes."
ArcCatalog Editor Location all items except tools: Overview > Item Description > Description/Abstract tools: Overview > Item Description > Summary
ArcGIS Metadata XPath /metadata/dataIdInfo/idAbs
Project Open Data Element description
ISO 19115
FGDC CSDGM Element /metadata/idinfo/descript/abstract

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Field Tags (General)
Required? Always
Guidance A minimum of three keywords is required. Any helpful and descriptive keywords may be chosen, but they should enhance the additional keywords listed below.
Accepted Values Comma-separated values
Example vegetables, veggies, greens, leafy, spinach, kale, nutrition
ArcCatalog Editor Location Overview > Topics & Keywords > User Keywords > {Keywords subpage} (Note, please do not use Overview > Item Description > Tags, as any tags in this section will cause all other tags to be suppressed)
ArcGIS Metadata XPath /metadata/dataIdInfo/themeKeys/keyword[../thesaName/resTitle="User"]
Project Open Data Element keyword
ISO 19115
FGDC CSDGM Element No translation.

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Field Tags (ISO)
Required? Always
Guidance Inclusion of one or more ISO keywords is required for minimum EPA compliancy which supports inter-Agency sharing initiatives. The ISO 19115 Topic Category is a general categorization of data resources that is intended to provide data classification consistency across agencies. Select one or more of the basic ISO keywords for a general classification of your data or application.
Accepted Values https://www.ngdc.noaa.gov/wiki/index.php?title=ISO_Topic_Categories
Example environment
ArcCatalog Editor Location Overview > Topics & Keywords > Theme Keywords > {Keywords subpage}
ArcGIS Metadata XPath /metadata/dataIdInfo/themeKeys/
Project Open Data Element theme
ISO 19115
FGDC CSDGM Element /metadata/idinfo/keywords/theme/themekey

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Field Tags (Place)
Required? Always
Guidance Inclusion of one or more place names is required for minimum EPA compliancy which supports discovery of assets by location.
Accepted Values Data.gov links to http://www.geonames.org/ for official placenames. The EPA taxonomies registry also includes a shorter list.
Example United States
ArcCatalog Editor Location Overview > Topics & Keywords > Place Keywords > {Keywords subpage}
ArcGIS Metadata XPath /metadata/dataIdInfo/placeKeys/
Project Open Data Element spatial (for non-geo)
ISO 19115
FGDC CSDGM Element /metadata/idinfo/keywords/place/placekey

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Field Tags (EPA Org)
Required? Pending
Guidance Because work is still in progress on providing metadata stewards with a current authoritative list of EPA's organizations, this element will be regarded as "pending", and no values are expected. When such an authoritative list is available and included in metadata editing tools, we do expect the element to be mandatory, but linked to the "publisher" field. The organization within the EPA responsible for the stewardship of this dataset, at the most specific level possible from the available choices. If this dataset is produced and maintained by an external agency, this field should be set to non-EPA.
Accepted Values See the EPA Metadata Style Guide Keywords and EPA Organization Names. Work is in progress to include the organizational list in EPA's system of registries.
Example OEI,OIC,IESD
ArcCatalog Editor Location Overview > Topics & Keywords > Subtopic Keywords > {Keywords subpage}
ArcGIS Metadata XPath /metadata/dataIdInfo/subTopicCatKeys/
Project Open Data Element keyword
ISO 19115
FGDC CSDGM Element /metadata/idinfo/keywords/theme/themekey

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Field Tags (EPA Theme)
Required? Optional
Guidance This field is not required for minimum EPA compliancy, but is recommended for EPA personnel and contractors in order to promote metadata consistency across the Agency. Select one or more EPA keywords (listed below) to describe your data resource where applicable. EPA Keywords should be used to describe EPA-produced assets. The provided list of keywords represents a snapshot of EPA’s Web Taxonomy from some years ago. Efforts are underway to provide guidance and tools that allow EPA metadata stewards to take advantage of the full complement of EPA’s Terminology Services, Taxonomies and Controlled Vocabularies. 
Accepted Values
Agriculture
Air
Biology
Boundaries and Base Data
Chemicals
Cleanup
Climate
Climate Change
Compliance
Conservation
Contaminant
Disaster
Drinking Water
Ecological
Ecology
Ecosystem
Emergency
Emergency Response
Energy
Enforcement
Environment
Environmental Justice
Estuary
Exposure
Facilities
Grants
Ground Water
Hazards
Health
Human
Impact
Indicator
Indoor Air
Inspections
Land
Management
Marine
Modeling
Monitoring
Natural Resources
Permits
Pesticides
Quality
Radiation
Recreation
Regulated Facilities
Regulatory
Remediation
Response
Risk
Sites
Spills
Surface Water
Sustainability
Toxics
Transportation
Waste
Water
Example  
ArcCatalog Editor Location Overview > Topics & Keywords > Subtopic Keywords > {Keywords subpage}
ArcGIS Metadata XPath /metadata/dataIdInfo/subTopicCatKeys/
Project Open Data Element keyword
ISO 19115
FGDC CSDGM Element /metadata/idinfo/keywords/theme/themekey

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Field Tags (Federal Program Code)
Required? Always
Guidance A program code is mandatory for all federal agencies. More information about the Federal Program Inventory is available in a Fact Sheet and a Report. Program codes should be entered as a separate keyword section, with the keyword thesaurus set to "Federal Program Inventory".
Accepted Values Select from the Federal Program Inventory.
Example "015:001"
ArcCatalog Editor Location Overview > Topics & Keywords > Subtopic Keywords > {Keywords subpage}
ArcGIS Metadata XPath /metadata/dataIdInfo/subTopicCatKeys/
Project Open Data Element programCode
ISO 19115
FGDC CSDGM Element /metadata/idinfo/keywords/theme/themekey

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Field Last Update
Required? Always
Guidance

This element is the date when the data resource was published or otherwise made available for release. Dates should be ISO 8601 of highest resolution. In other words, as much of YYYY-MM-DDThh:mm:ss.sTZD as is relevant to this dataset. If there is a need to reflect that the dataset is continually updated, non geospatial records can use ISO 8601 repeating intervals in this field. For instance, R/P1D for daily, R/P2W for every two weeks, and R/PT5M for every five minutes. Geospatial records should use
//gmd:identificationInfo/gmd:MD_DataIdentification/gmd:resourceMaintenance/
gmd:MD_MaintenanceInformation/gmd:maintenanceAndUpdateFrequency/
gmd:userDefinedMaintenanceFrequency/gts:TM_PeriodDuration
to document frequent maintenance intervals per the official guidance

Accepted Values http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ISO_8601
Example "2012-01-15"
ArcCatalog Editor Location Overview > Citation > Dates > Revised
ArcGIS Metadata XPath /metadata/dataIdInfo/idCitation/date/reviseDate
Project Open Data Element modified
ISO 19115
FGDC CSDGM Element /metadata/idinfo/status/update

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Field Publishing Organization
Required? Always
Guidance This element should contain the full standardized name of the EPA organization responsible for publishing the dataset. If EPA is not the publishing entity, this element may be free text, but should still contain the name of the publishing entity (the metadata record will not be contributed to data.gov as an EPA record).
Accepted Values All EPA Organizations should begin U.S. EPA or U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
Example U.S. EPA Office Of Environmental Information (OEI) - Office Of Information Collection (OIC)
ArcCatalog Editor Location Resource > Points of Contact > Contact > Organization (Role = Publisher)
ArcGIS Metadata XPath /metadata/dataIdInfo/idPoC/rpOrgName
Project Open Data Element publisher
ISO 19115
FGDC CSDGM Element /metadata/idinfo/citation/citeinfo/pubinfo/publish

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Field Publisher
Required? Always
Guidance This element should contain the full name of a person responsible for the publication of a dataset. An actual human being is preferred, but if a helpdesk is responsible for providing support to dataset users, the name of the helpdesk team is acceptable. The ISO Role code must be set to "publisher" for this contact.
Accepted Values Plain Text
Example "Jane Doe"
ArcCatalog Editor Location Resource > Points of Contact > Contact > Name (Role = Publisher)
ArcGIS Metadata XPath /metadata/dataIdInfo/idPoC/rpIndName
Project Open Data Element contactPoint/fn
ISO 19115
FGDC CSDGM Element /metadata/idinfo/ptcontac/cntinfo/cntorgp/cntper

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Field Publisher Email
Required? Always
Guidance This element should contain the email address of a person responsible for the publication of a dataset. An actual human being is preferred, but if a helpdesk is responsible for providing support to dataset users, the email address of the helpdesk team is acceptable.
Accepted Values Email address
Example doe.jane@agency.gov
ArcCatalog Editor Location Resource > Points of Contact > Contact > Contact Information > Email
ArcGIS Metadata XPath /metadata/dataIdInfo/idPoC/rpCntInfo/cntAddress/eMailAdd
Project Open Data Element contactPoint/hasEmail
ISO 19115
FGDC CSDGM Element /metadata/metainfo/metc/cntinfo/cntemail

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Field Identifier
Required? Always
Guidance This element must contain a unique identifier for the metadata record. This identifier may be a UUID string or a DOI URL. The unique identifier provides the link between the metadata associated with a resource (e.g., feature class) in your local system to the metadata uploaded and published with the EDG. If a computer (or person) knows the unique identifierof a metadata record published with the EDG, then a generic URL + unique identifier can be used to view that record (i.e., https://edg.epa.gov/metadata/catalog/search/resource/details.page?uuid={0CA7A9AE-68DB-4F92-8566-2003C8BF41AB}). Many applications leverage generic URL + unique identifier. For example, when services are published, users will place the EDG unique identifier URL inside the MXD for each data layer. This way you can get access to the metadata via a REST endpoint (or web application) for a given data resource.
Accepted Values UUID or DOI
Example 8B7D82BE-B130-44B8-99FB-192973508BE8
ArcCatalog Editor Location Metadata > Details > File Identifier
ArcGIS Metadata XPath /metadata/mdFileID
Project Open Data Element identifier
ISO 19115
FGDC CSDGM Element /metadata/Esri/PublishedDocID and /metadata/idinfo/citation/citeinfo/othcit

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Field Access Level
Required? Always
Guidance This element is mandatory per Project Open Data requirements, and guidelines for non-geospatial records follow the POD specification. Since geospatial metadata standards do not have the same three-choice domain as the POD specification, geospatial records are assumed to be public if they contain no legal, security, or general constraints, and are considered restricted public or non-public if they do have security constraints listed: “non-public” when security constraints code is sensitive, confidential, secret, or topSecret, “restricted public” when security constraints code is restricted or official use only, and "public" when the security constraint code is unclassified.
Accepted Values "public", "restricted public", "non-public"
Example public
ArcCatalog Editor Location Resource > Constraints > Security Constraints > Classification (note: do not confuse this with Metadata > Constraints > Security Constraints, which refers to restrictions on the metadata document itself, rather than the data)
ArcGIS Metadata XPath /metadata/dataIdInfo/resConst/SecConsts/class/ClasscationCd/@value
Project Open Data Element accessLevel
ISO 19115
FGDC CSDGM Element /metadata/idinfo/secinfo/secclass

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Field Rights
Required? Required if Access Level is not public
Guidance If a dataset has an access level of public, this field can be populated with general informational free text about accessing the dataset (note that the limit is 255 characters - EPA's legacy disclaimer is longer than this and may cause the record to be rejected from data.gov). Please include disclaimers in the "General Use Limitations" field or at URLs. If the dataset is not public, the value must be chosen from an approved list of Controlled Unclassified Information (CUI) categories describing why the dataset may not be made public. 
Accepted Values
  • EPA Category: Mission Sensitive, NARA Category: Critical Infrastructure
  • EPA Category: Drinking Water Vulnerability Assessments, NARA Category: Critical Infrastructure-Water Assessments
  • EPA Category: Sensitive Drinking Water Related, NARA Category: Critical Infrastructure-Water Assessments
  • EPA Category: IT Security, NARA Category: Information Systems Vulnerability Information
  • EPA Category: Law Enforcement Sensitive, NARA Category: Law Enforcement
  • EPA Category: Attorney Client Privilege, NARA Category: Legal-Privilege
  • EPA Category: Attorney Work Product, NARA Category: Legal-Privilege
  • EPA Category: Deliberative Process Privilege, NARA Category: Legal-Privilege
  • EPA Category: Personally Identifiable Information (PII), NARA Category: Privacy
  • EPA Category: Proprietary, NARA Category: Proprietary
  • EPA Category: Confidential Business Information, NARA Category: Proprietary-Manufacturer
  • EPA Category: Source Selection Information, NARA Category: Proprietary-Source Selection
Example EPA Category: Mission Sensitive, NARA Category: Critical Infrastructure
ArcCatalog Editor Location Resource > Constraints > Security Constraints > User Note  (note: do not confuse this with Metadata > Constraints > Security Constraints, which refers to restrictions on the metadata document itself, rather than the data)
ArcGIS Metadata XPath /metadata/dataIdInfo/resConst/SecConsts/userNote
Project Open Data Element rights
ISO 19115
FGDC CSDGM Element /metadata/idinfo/accconst

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Field Data License
Required? Always
Guidance The license or non-license (i.e. Public Domain) status with which the dataset or API has been published. EPA provides a standard open data license page that is preferred for use when no other restrictions are in place on the data. 
Accepted Values URL
Example

ArcGIS Metadata XML:

<resConst>
    <LegConsts>
        <useLimit>EPA Public Domain License</useLimit>
        <accessConsts>
            <RestrictCd value="009">licenceUnrestricted</RestrictCd>
        </accessConsts>
        <othConsts>https://edg.epa.gov/EPA_Data_License.html</othConsts>
    </LegConsts>
</resConst>

ISO XML:

  <resourceConstraints>
    <MD_LegalConstraints>
      <useLimitation>
        <gco:CharacterString>EPA Public Domain License</gco:CharacterString>
      </useLimitation>
      <accessConstraints>
        <MD_RestrictionCode codeList="http://www.fgdc.gov/nap/metadata/register/codelists.html#napMD_RestrictionCode" codeListValue="licenseUnrestricted" codeSpace="ISOTC211/19139/NAP">licenseUnrestricted</MD_RestrictionCode>
      </accessConstraints>
      <otherConstraints>
        <gco:CharacterString>https://edg.epa.gov/EPA_Data_License.html</gco:CharacterString>
      </otherConstraints>
    </MD_LegalConstraints>
  </resourceConstraints>

ArcCatalog Editor Location Resource > Constraints > Legal Constraints > Use Limitation (Access Constraint = License)
ArcGIS Metadata XPath /metadata/dataIdInfo/resConst/LegConsts/othConsts
Project Open Data Element license
ISO 19115
FGDC CSDGM Element /metadata/distinfo/distliab

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Field System of Records
Required? Required if metadata represents a system of record
Guidance This element should contain a URL pointing to the EPA System of Records Notice (SORN) that relates to the dataset, specifically from FederalRegister.gov. 
Accepted Values URL
Example https://www.federalregister.gov/articles/2015/08/28/2015-21384/creation-of-a-new-system-of-records-notice-eventbrite
ArcCatalog Editor Location Resource > Constraints > Legal Constraints > Use Limitation (Access Constraint = Privacy)
ArcGIS Metadata XPath /metadata/dataIdInfo/resConst/LegConsts/useLimit
Project Open Data Element systemOfRecords
ISO 19115
FGDC CSDGM Element No equivalent

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Field General Use Limitation
Required? Optional
Guidance For data developed in-house, determine scale, accuracy, and other limitations related to using the data. This Use Limitation will also be shown on the basic Item Description summary across the EPA GeoPlatform. If there are no known use constraints for the data set, use the term 'None' and provide the EPA General Use Constraints Statement shown in the "Example" below.
Accepted Values Plain Text
Example "Please check sources, scale, accuracy, currency and other available information. Please confirm that you are using the most recent copy of both data and metadata."
ArcCatalog Editor Location Resource > Constraints > General Constraints > Use Limitation and Overview > Item Description > Use Limitation
ArcGIS Metadata XPath /metadata/dataIdInfo/resConst/Consts/useLimit
Project Open Data Element No equivalent
ISO 19115
FGDC CSDGM Element /metadata/idinfo/useconst

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Field Spatial Extent
Required? Required for geospatial data
Guidance This field should contain a bounding coordinate box for the dataset represented in latitude / longitude pairs where the coordinates are specified in decimal degrees referenced to WGS84 and in the order of: minimum longitude, minimum latitude, maximum longitude, maximum latitude. Please follow ISO 6709 guidance on point locations.
Accepted Values Latitude/Longitude pairs
Example -88,46,-87,47
ArcCatalog Editor Location Overview > Item Description > Bounding Box or Resource > Extents > Extent > Bounding Box
ArcGIS Metadata XPath /metadata/dataIdInfo/dataExt/geoEle/GeoBndBox
Project Open Data Element spatial
ISO 19115
FGDC CSDGM Element /metadata/idinfo/spdom/bounding/westbc

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Field Temporal Extent
Required? Always
Guidance This field should contain an interval of time defined by start and end dates. Dates should be formatted as pairs of {start datetime/end datetime} in the ISO 8601 format. ISO 8601 specifies that datetimes can be formatted in a number of ways, including a simple four-digit year (eg. 2013) to a much more specific YYYY-MM-DDTHH:MM:SSZ, where the T specifies a seperator between the date and time and time is expressed in 24 hour notation in the UTC (Zulu) time zone. (e.g., 2011-02-14T12:00:00Z/2013-07-04T19:34:00Z). Use a solidus (“/”) to separate start and end times.
Accepted Values ISO 8601 Date
Example 2000-01-15/2010-01-15
ArcCatalog Editor Location Resource > Extents > Extent > Temporal Period Extent
ArcGIS Metadata XPath /metadata/dataIdInfo/dataExt/tempEle/TempExtent/exTemp/TM_Period/
Project Open Data Element temporal
ISO 19115
FGDC CSDGM Element /metadata/idinfo/timeperd/timeinfo/

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Field Distribution URL
Required? Mandatory if Applicable
Guidance

At least one online linkage should be provided for all datasets - if no linkage of any kind is provided, EDG staff may ask for a justification. Every URL must contain an associated function code. Other associated elements such as Title and Description are optional but recommended. Data publishers are encouraged to publish datasets as both downloads and web services. Below is some additional guidance for specific online linkages:

  • Download URL - Function Code: Download. URL providing direct access to the downloadable distribution of a dataset.
  • Web Service - Function Code: webService. Endpoint of web service to access dataset. This is typically the REST endpoint for an ArcGIS Server service, but it may also be a WMS GetCapabilities URL or a SOAP WSDL endpoint.
  • Data Dictionary - Function Code: information. URL for accessing related documents such as technical information about a dataset, developer documentation, etc.
  • Homepage URL - Function Code: search. Alternative landing page used to redirect user to a contextual, Agency-hosted “homepage” for the Dataset or API when selecting this resource from a metadata catalog. This field is not intended for an agency’s homepage (e.g. www.agency.gov), but rather if a dataset has a human-friendly hub or landing page that users should be directed to for all resources tied to the dataset. This allows agencies to better specify what a visitor receives after selecting one of the agency’s datasets on Data.gov or in third-party mashups.
Accepted Values URL
Example

Online Resource 1 Linkage Download URL: "https://edg.epa.gov/data/Public/OEI/EPA_Facilities/EPA_Locations.zip

Online Resource 2 Linkage Map Service: "https://geodata.epa.gov/arcgis/rest/services/OEI/EPA_Locations/MapServer"

ArcCatalog Editor Location Resource > Distribution > Digital Transfer Options > Online Resource > Linkage
ArcGIS Metadata XPath /metadata/distInfo/distTranOps/onLineSrc/linkage
Project Open Data Element distribution
ISO 19115
FGDC CSDGM Element /metadata/distInfo/distributor/distorTran/onLineSrc/linkage

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Field Metadata Date Stamp
Required? Always
Guidance The metadata datestamp is mandatory per the ISO 19115 specification. The EPA Metadata Editor should automatically populate/update this field when any edit is made.
Accepted Values ISO 8601 Date
Example "2013-02-21"
ArcCatalog Editor Location Metadata > Details > Date Stamp
ArcGIS Metadata XPath /metadata/mdDateSt
Project Open Data Element No equivalent
ISO 19115
FGDC CSDGM Element /metadata/metainfo/metd

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Field Update Frequency
Required? Mandatory for Geo
Guidance This element is the frequency with which changes and additions are made to the data resource after the initial data resource is completed. Non-geo records should use ISO-8601 codes for specifying intervals, please see the Project Open Data guidance for "accrualPeriodicity" for details and examples.  Geospatial records should choose from a standard list: "continual, daily, weekly, fortnightly, monthly, quarterly, biannually, annually, as needed, irregular, not planned, unknown"
Accepted Values ISO 8601 Interval or ISO Code
Example weekly or R/P1W
ArcCatalog Editor Location Resource > Maintenance > Update Frequency
ArcGIS Metadata XPath /metadata/dataIdInfo/resMaint/maintFreq/MaintFreqCd/@value
Project Open Data Element accrualPeriodicity
ISO 19115
FGDC CSDGM Element /metadata/idinfo/status/update

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Field Metadata Responsible Party
Required? Always
Guidance Provide detailed information regarding who should be contacted regarding the metadata specifically. The contact person should be an individual who is knowledgable about the metadata, and may be able to answer questions about the metadata record, as opposed to the data specifically (this may also be the same person as the data set publisher). This element is mandatory per the ISO 19115 specification, and per NOAA guidance, the role code for this contact should be set to "pointOfContact".
Accepted Values Responsible Party
Example Jane Doe
ArcCatalog Editor Location Metadata > Contacts > Contact > {Contact subpage}
ArcGIS Metadata XPath /metadata/mdContact/
Project Open Data Element No equivalent
ISO 19115
FGDC CSDGM Element /metadata/metainfo/metc

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Field Language
Required? Required for geospatial data
Guidance Select the language from the dropdown
Accepted Values Language Code
Example English
ArcCatalog Editor Location Resource > Details > Languages > Language
ArcGIS Metadata XPath /metadata/dataIdInfo/dataLang/languageCode/@value
Project Open Data Element language
ISO 19115
FGDC CSDGM Element No translation

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Field Country
Required? Required for geospatial data
Guidance Select the country from the dropdown
Accepted Values Country Code
Example UNITED STATES
ArcCatalog Editor Location Metadata > Details > Country
ArcGIS Metadata XPath /metadata/mdLang/countryCode/@value
Project Open Data Element No equivalent
ISO 19115
No equivalent
FGDC CSDGM Element No equivalent

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Field Spatial Reference
Required? Required for geospatial data
Guidance Identification of the horizontal projections, vertical datums and temporal reference systems used. Mandatory per ISO-19115 if spatialRepresentationType in dataIdentification is vector, grid, or tin. This information should be automatically derived from the data, and under most circumstances should not require any user editing. The EPA implementation leaves the specification for all of these elements to ISO.
Accepted Values Reference system identifier
Example EPSG:4326 (Preferred) or 4326 (acceptable with separate codespace value)
ArcCatalog Editor Location Metadata > Resource > Spatial Reference
ArcGIS Metadata XPath /metadata/refSysInfo/RefSystem/
Project Open Data Element No equivalent
ISO 19115
FGDC CSDGM Element /metadata/spref

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Field Spatial Data Representation
Required? Required for geospatial data
Guidance Digital representation of spatial information in the dataset. (Vector/Grid, Point/Line/Polygon etc.) Mandatory per ISO-19115 if spatialRepresentationType in dataIdentification is vector, grid, or tin. This information should be automatically derived from the data, and under most circumstances should not require any user editing. The EPA implementation leaves the specification for all of these elements to ISO.
Accepted Values Spatial Representation
Example  
ArcCatalog Editor Location Metadata > Resource > Spatial Data Representation
ArcGIS Metadata XPath /metadata/spatRepInfo
Project Open Data Element No equivalent
ISO 19115
FGDC CSDGM Element /metadata/spdoinfo

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