1. Formal metadata: information and software

Geospatial Metadata Validation Service

388,654 records processed by 13,189 distinct users in 15 years 4 mons 29 days 20:01:11

This service checks your FGDC-compatible geospatial metadata record using mp (metadata parser). Provide a metadata record that is formatted as indented text, XML, or SGML. Results will show discrepancies between the structure of your metadata record and the expectation of the FGDC metadata standard (FGDC-STD-001-1998) and will show several potentially useful re-expressions of the metadata record itself. [Alternative URL for this service]

Options: ? -- -- --
Secondary validation:

These tests are not strictly required by the Standard, but may improve the consistency and usability of your metadata.

Online_Linkage
Is there a functional Online_Linkage in the Citation or its Larger_Work_Citation?
ISO 19115 Topic Category
Is there a Theme keyword section for ISO 19115 topics? Are its keywords valid?
USGS Thesaurus
Is there a Theme keyword section for the USGS Thesaurus? Are its keywords valid?
ADLFTT
Is there a Theme keyword section for the Alexandria Digital Library Feature Type Thesaurus? Are its keywords valid?
MRIB keywords
Is there a Theme keyword section for the Marine Realms Information Bank keywords? Are its keywords valid?
DCMP
Is there a Theme keyword section for the Data Categories for Marine Planning? Are its keywords valid?
Common geographic areas
Is there a place keyword section for the Common Geographic Areas thesaurus? Are its keywords valid?
USGS publication series
Do Series_Name values match the USGS publication series names?
Format_Name
Do Format_Name values match those in the MRData vocabulary?
Suggest terms
Find USGS Thesaurus terms where Theme_Keyword_Thesaurus is 'none' or 'general'
Standard name, version
Check the Metadata_Standard_Name, Metadata_Standard_Version, and Profile_Name values
Data dictionary table
Create a data dictionary table as a CSV file using the Entity_and_Attribute_Information
Data dictionary thesaurus
Create a data dictionary thesaurus as a SQLite table using the Entity_and_Attribute_Information

Notes:

  • If your input file is XML, its name must be something.xml; don't name it something.txt
  • Your input file really should have an extension indicating its type, such as .txt or .xml. If it doesn't, I will assume it is one of those.
  • Input file must be smaller than 1024 kilobytes
  • If you have lots of files to run all at once, alternative procedures are possible.
  • Writing metadata? Get tools and help at http://geology.usgs.gov/tools/metadata/
  • If your input file is XML, the language choice will affect the element names in HTML and text output. It doesn't translate the text of your metadata.
  • This service will recognize elements from
    • 1998 FGDC standard
    • Biological data profile
    • Shoreline profile
    • Remote sensing profile
    • Lidar extensions from USGS TM11-B4
    but some structural rules of those profiles will not be enforced unless you choose the profile from the appropriate drop-down menu
  • The "Upgrade" function is explained here.
  • Working with ESRI's ArcCatalog or ArcGIS?
  • If you get lots of unrecognized element errors, you might have metadata that were written for some other metadata standard.
  • If your input file is indented text and you get lots of errors, you could try the cns variant of this service
  • No errors? That's good. But this metadata record also gets no errors.
  • This service is remarkably popular, as usage charts below show.
  • I want to hear about any problems you encounter so that I can fix them. Please let me know how it goes!
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