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4.2.1 UNEP GRID 
UNEP plans to develop a version of “One-Stop Shopping” for 
environmental information via the World Wide Web. The 
UNEPNet concept will include the use of metadata and 
metadata browser software tools developed among the network 
of UNEP GRID centres. The Grid Metadata directory 
[MCKEO1], both data and software will be disseminated 
publicly according to the facilities available to the different 
users. For those with Internet access, the service will be 
provided on the World Wide Web through links such as URL, 
by Telnet or by Email. Other users will be served by self- 
contained software and reference data that will be provided on 
request for PCs or workstations. 
The UNEP metadata directory will serve as a library card 
catalogue of environmental information. It will contain “card 
entries” (or metadata descriptions) of institutes and data sets. 
Similar to the library card catalogue, the metadata directory 
will allow users to search for environmental information by 
institute name or data set (title), contact person (author), 
theme, keyword and location (subject), as well as other 
criteria. 
The UNEP metadata directory is a PC reference system that 
provides environmental information to users via a user-friendly 
interface. The tool is designed to allow simple data entry 
(there are only ten mandatory fields for an institute entry or a 
dataset entry), uncomplicated data queries and easy data 
exchange between any organizations that use a basic 
international metadata standard, such as the CEOS Directory 
Interchange Format (DIF). 
4.2.2 Spatial FreeWAIS 
The US Geological Survey has developed a software tool 
called Spatial FreeWAIS [NEBE01], for the indexing, 
querying and retrieval of information in WAIS using spatial 
and free-text constructs. Some enhancements were made to the 
software in Germany and the software was made to conform 
the US FGDC Metadata standard. Spatial queries are made 
using Boolean type operators to select information within a 
bounding rectangle. 
With the requirement for spatial data producers to also provide 
a standard descriptive metadata outline of their data, the 
availability of the metadata for the metadata database will 
provide the users with a substantial database from which to 
select information. This development is using the WWW tools 
for access to the various metadata sets and thus a single user 
should have access to a large number of metadata entries. 
42.3 GeoWeb project 
The State University of New York at Buffalo has developed 
software tools under the GeoWeb project [PLEWO1] in order 
to implement a working prototype of the data clearinghouse 
concept. The project describes the four elements of the 
clearinghouse initiative. These elements include: the spatial 
data, the metadata, the metadata index and the search 
interface. This search interface allows the user to enter queries 
in a number of fashions, from direct entry to pointing to an 
area of interest. 
313 
The desire to have an open interface system and to have 
remote access, motivated the project to make the World Wide 
Web as the implementing technology for the metadata 
browser. The desire is also to have the browser access all on- 
line metadata databases as if they were one massive database. 
In addition the user interface will have a number of different 
metaphors for querying including map based spatial queries, 
place name queries or keyword search. The concept of using 
the Internet allows the user to operate the query engine on a 
computer that has only links to external metadata databases. 
5. SUMMARY 
There appears to be no single body responsible for the 
international coordination of either metadata or metadata 
search engines. There are a number of localized efforts, but 
little progress has been made in the area of interoperability. 
Perhaps the best method of obtaining some coordination on the 
metadata standardization front is through ISO/TC 211. This is 
an internationally accredited body that develops standards that 
are recognized in many countries around the world. 
There is probably no need to standardize on the search or 
query engine. These simply only need to communicate via the 
network in some ordered fashion. There will likely be some 
requirement for local differences or language changes. 
In summary, there are a number of different efforts ongoing in 
Canada and throughout the world. There are several good 
metadata standards and perhaps there are possibilities of 
harmonizing these in the future years. Canada, the US and 
UNEP among others have selected and adopted standards for 
metadata. The trick will be to coordinate the development of 
these standards to allow for the harmonization of these 
databases over the upcoming years. 
6. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS 
The author would like to thank the following people for their 
input to the paper generally through personal communication: 
James Mckenna, United Nations Environment Programme; 
Valerie Hume, Department of Indian Affairs and Northern 
Development; and Roger Tomlinson, Tomlinson and 
Associates. 
7. BIBLIOGRAPHY 
[CGSB01] Canadian General Standards Board; "Directory 
Information Describing Digital Geo-Referenced Data Sets"; 
Document No C**/CGSB-171.3; CGSB, Ottawa, Canada, 
K1A 1G6. 
[EFFA01] Samual Effah, Cherian Chaly and Wenjing Zhu; 
"MetaView/GIS: The GIS Spatial Data Browser, Its Design, 
Implementation and Operation"; Proceedings of the ISPRS, 
Commission II Symposium, June 6-10, 1994, 
International Archives of Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing. Vol. XXXI, Part B2. Vienna 1996