Liping Di
U.S. FGDC CONTENT STANDARD FOR DIGITAL GEOSPATIAL METADATA: EXTENSIONS
FOR REMOTE SENSING METADATA
Liping Di', Barry M. Schlesinger’, Ben Kobler"
"Raytheon ITSS, USA
Ipd@rattler.gsfc.nasa.gov
bschlesi @rattler.gsfc.nasa.gov
"NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, USA
koblerb C rattler.gsfc.nasa.gov
Working Group C#/G#
KEY WORDS: Metadata, Remote Sensing, FGDC, Content Standard.
ABSTRACT
The U. S. Federal Geographic Data Committee (FGDC) Content Standard for Digital Geospatial Metadata defines
common geospatial metadata that allow prospective users to determine the following information about a geophysical
data set: its availability, its fitness for an intended use, and the means of accessing and successfully transferring it.
Because of its generality, the standard may not meet the metadata needs for specific geospatial domains. The Extensions
for Remote Sensing Metadata (hereafter Remote Sensing Extensions) are to provide additional information particularly
relevant to remote sensing: the geometry of the measurement process, the properties of the measuring instrument, the
processing of raw readings into geospatial information, and the distinction between metadata applicable to an entire
collection of data and those applicable only to component parts. For that purpose, the Remote Sensing Extensions
establish the names, definitions, and permissible values for new data elements and the compound elements of which
they are the components. These new elements are placed within the structure of the FGDC Metadata Content Standard,
allowing the combination of the original standard and the new extensions to be treated as a single entity. These
extensions are intended to support the collection and processing of geospatial metadata for data derived from remote
sensing and to be useable by all levels of government and the private sector.
The standard was drafted by a NASA-led team in the FGDC Imagery Subgroup with wide participation from federal
agencies, universities, and private industry. Currently the standard is in the FGDC standard approval process. We
welcome input and comments from the international remote sensing community for improving the draft standard.
1 INTRODUCTION
The United States Federal Geographic Data Committee (FGDC) was established under U.S. President Executive Order
12906, dated April 13, 1994, to coordinate the development of the National Spatial Data Infrastructure (NSDI). The
NSDI encompasses policies, standards, and procedures for organizations to cooperatively produce and share geographic
data. The 15 U.S. federal agencies that make up the FGDC are developing the NSDI in cooperation with organizations
from state, local, and tribal governments, the academic community, and the private sector [FGDC, 20002].
In the FGDC Standards Reference Model [FGDC, 1996] FGDC classifies standards into several categories. One of the
categories of standards is data standards. Most FGDC standards are of this type. Data standards describe geographic
objects, features or items that are collected, automated, or affected by activities or functions of agencies. There are five
types of data standards defined by FGDC. One of them is data content standards, which provides semantic definitions of
a set of objects and the relationship between the objects [FGDC, 1996].
NASA, as a member of FGDC, has actively participated in the development of FGDC geospatial data standards.
Currently, NASA is leading the development of the FGDC Content Standard for Digital Geospatial Metadata--
Extensions for Remote Sensing Metadata. This paper describes the standard.
78 International Archives of Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing. Vol. XXXIII, Part Bl. Amsterdam 2000.
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