ta 
1€ 
/ 
of 
De 
ne 
he 
of 
al 
ta 
should 
ger to 
ion on 
y was 
og for 
; work 
nas in 
tadata 
1ercial 
MS or 
'oduce 
ie, but 
a. The 
skette 
it was 
users. 
cies to 
central 
it was 
tion to 
ng the 
update 
[ICS 
) was 
‘ederal 
government departments and agencies to facilitate discussion, 
coordinate developments in GIS technology and to promote 
GIS activities. The Government Data Bases working group 
(now known as the Access and Marketing working group) of 
the IACG developed a metadata collection in cooperation with 
Tomlinson and Associates for the collection of digital and 
analogue geographic data within the Canadian federal 
government. The results of the data collection are described in 
the Report on the current Status and Trends in Federal Digital 
Geographic Data in Canada [IACG01]. 
The working group completed the survey of federal 
government geomatics data holdings. The survey results were 
an invaluable source of information for the many users who 
require GIS data for their analysis. Also, by knowing of the 
existence of significant datasets, duplication of data collection 
could be minimized. The working group drafted a list of 
information to be collected, administered the effort on the 
survey, and evaluated the resulting report. The survey was 
conducted through the completion of a questionnaire by a large 
number of selected agencies and a set of criteria was 
developed and applied for dataset inclusion. 
Information on each dataset such as identification, description, 
availability, structure and applications was collected, verified 
and entered into the survey results database. Indexes on 
dataset name, acronym, agency, category, type and coverage 
were produced with additional analysis of the resulting 
metadata base. Following the significant distribution of this 
report and metadata database, it was decided that perhaps the 
most effective method of maintaining the information in the 
database was to have the producing agency maintain their data 
entries. However, with the proliferation of metadata databases, 
it was decided that a standard method of metadata collection 
was required so that data producers could then provide this 
information to data suppliers. The IACG then assisted in the 
development of a common metadata collection standard 
through the Canadian General Standards Board. 
3. CANADIAN GENERAL STANDARDS BOARD 
METADATA STANDARD 
The Canadian General Standards Board Directory Information 
Describing Digital Geo-Referenced Data Sets (Document No. 
CGSB-171.3) was developed and adopted for general use in 
1994. The standard [CGSBO1] describes the data that should 
be collected to describe data sets, but it does not contain a 
database schema that could be used for implementing this 
standard in an information system. The standard provides a 
printed form that can be used to describe digital georeferenced 
data sets. 
The CGSB standard contains the information given in Table 1. 
  
eTime Coverage 
eData Updating 
eSize of the Data Set 
eDetails of Data Collection 
eData Quality 
  
3.Availability e Access Policy 
eCharges 
eExternal Communication 
eData Set Media 
  
4.Structure eHost Computer 
eStructure Type 
eData Structure 
  
5.References eDocumentation Available 
  
  
eDemonstration/Tutorial Available 
  
  
eTitle of the Data Set 
eOwner 
eContact Person/Position 
1. Identification 
  
2.Description eCategory of the Data Set 
eInformation on the Data Set Content 
eAerial Coverage 
  
  
e Vertical Coverage 
  
  
  
Table 1 : Contents of CGSB Directory Information 
Of particular interest for the users of any metadata standard is 
the description of the category of the data set. For the CGSB 
standard the following categories are used to describe the 
principal theme or themes of the dataset. If none of the themes 
listed are appropriate then the standard allows for a word 
description of the data set theme. The categories are: 
Agriculture 
Anthropology 
Aquaculture 
Archaeology 
Arts and Crafts 
Biology 
Botany 
Boundaries 
Buildings 
Climatology and Meteorology 
Commerce 
Communications 
Cryogenics 
Ecology 
Economics 
Education 
Engineering 
Environmental Protection 
Environmental Pollution 
Folklore, manners and customs 
Forestry 
Geodesy 
Geography 
Geology 
Geomorphology 
Geophysics 
Health and Medicine 
Human Ecology 
Hydrocarbons 
Hydrology 
Hydrography 
Industry 
Land Use 
Language 
Manufacturing 
Military 
Mining and Metallurgy 
Natural disasters 
Natural resources 
International Archives of Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing. Vol. XXXI, Part B2. Vienna 1996