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Ralph Haugerud edited this page Jan 15, 2021 · 7 revisions

GeMS stores metadata at three levels:

  1. Per-feature metadata

    These include values of DataSourceID, ExistenceConfidence, IdentityConfidence, and LocationConfidenceMeters.

  2. Internal metadata dictionaries

    Tables DataSources and Glossary are metadata. So are DescriptionOfMapUnits and the Correlation of MapUnits diagram, but we treat them separately.

  3. Formal metadata for ArcGIS objects (geodatabase, feature dataset, feature class, table)

What you should do:

  1. Keep track of DataSourceID values as you create and (or) import features. In general, for a multi-source map, it is often difficult to reconstruct data sources after the fact. Use of editor tracking, and the resulting time stamp for feature creation, can help

  2. Run Validate Database script

    1. Fix missing values (except for xxxID values)
    2. Add missing entries to tables DataSources and Glossary. Remove unused entries
    3. Run the Set ID Values script
    4. Repeat until there are no problems with missing values, unused entries, or duplicate ID values

  3. Run script FGDC Metadata, step 1 to export, from Arc, a preliminary formal metadata record for the geodatabase as a whole. Fire up the Metadata Wizard (https://github.com/usgs/fort-pymdwizard) and complete this record. See documentation in this wiki, or read the script tool interface. Validate the edited XML metadata. Revise as needed.

  4. When geodatabase-level metadata are complete, run script FGDC Metadata, step 2 to create standalone XML metadata for each table, feature dataset, and feature class within the geodatabase. If necessary, edit/validate/revise the resulting metadata files.

  5. Run script FGDC Metadata, step 3 which imports all the standalone XML metadata back into the database.

    A couple of suggestions:

    1. Many geologic-map databases are parts of a larger work, and should be cited as such. Besides providing intellectual context and more complete bibliographic data, this allows more-visible credit for the creator of the database
    2. In the Supplemental Information section, note that this is a GeMS database and provide a link to http://ngmdb.usgs.gov/Info/standards/GeMS
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