Executive Order 12906, April 13, 1994, requires that government agencies use the Federal Geographic Data Committee (FGDC) Metadata Standard (MS) to document data sets.
The manual for the Standard is "Content Standards for Digital Geospatial Metadata Workbook (Describes the June 8, 1994 version of the Metadata Standard) Workbook Version 1.0" by the FGDC March 24, 1995. The manual is available from the FGDC Secretariat c/o U.S. Geological Survey, 590 National Center, Reston VA 22092, telephone 703-648-5514, Fax 703-648-5755, by email to the FGDC committee, or via Anonymous FTP. You can also access the FGDC home page for more information about the FGDC and the FGDC Metadata Standard. There are some additional Usage Notes available.
The FGDC Metadata Standard is modular. Some of the sections such as the contact information in Section 10 are repeated as applicable. For example, Section 10 is used in Section 1.9 for Point of Contact and also in 6.1 for Distributor.
NOAA will now use the FGDC Metadata Standard to describe new data sets. Because of the complexity of the FGDC Metadata Standard NOAA will have several tools to describe data sets:
The NOAA FGDC Metadata Standard Template was developed as a simplified tool that can be used to describe most NOAA data sets. This template is based on a template developed by the NASA Global Change Master Directory (GCMD) team with national and international coordination. National coordination is with the U.S. agencies and international coordination is with the Committee for Earth Observation Satellites (CEOS) International Directory Network group. We corrected and modified the GCMD template for NOAA use. The template is available on the NOAA ESDIM home page or it can be obtained on PC diskette from NOAA EIS office at 301-713-0575 or 301-713-1283.
There are two sections:
Completed data descriptions should be sent to the NOAA ESDD office as a text file or by email to the NOAA Environmental Information Services Office or Peter Grimm. or Howard Diamond
The NASA GCMD group is developing a WWW Page that will allow direct entry of FGDC Metadata Standard data set description on the Internet. The NOAA Directory Office will develop a tool for NOAA users. It will allow on-line entry of data descriptions that can be transferred to disk files and that can be sent directly to the ESDD office as email messages.
The "Toolkit" was developed by NOAA National Ocean Service as an ESDIM funded project. The Toolkit uses pull down menus for all the fields available in the FGDC Metadata Standard and operates using a DBMS. This software requires a 386 or 486 PC with 16K memory and much free disk space. It will accommodate all the fields in the FGDC Metadata Standard. It should be used for detailed descriptions of mapping and GIS data sets such as charts, GIS applications, and GIS data sets. The records are stored by fields in a data base management system on the PC. Output descriptions from the Toolkit can be saved as text files and as printed listings. Toolkit software is available from NOS.
NOAA data are used in a variety of ways. Examples on what you can do with data from NOAA can be found in the following documents.
NOAA actively participates in three ways in the Federal Geographic Data Committee (FGDC) of the National Spatial Data Infrastructure (NSDI). Department of Commerce employees chair three subcommittees in the areas of bathymetry, geodetic control, and cultural and demographic data. ESDIM has developed FGDC Metadata Standards for NOAA datasets. The NOAA Environmental Services Data Directory on the NOAAServer now has over 12,000 descriptions of NOAA data sets in the FGDC Metadata Standard format. With the descriptions in this format, ESDIM has also made these descriptions available through nine nodes in the FGDC Clearinghouse Referral Server.
The plan, "FY-1997 National Spatial Data Infrastructure (NSDI) Implementation Plan for the Department of Commerce" was prepared in 1996. Accomplishment reports for the subsequent years are available. The report, "1997 National Spatial Data Infrastructure (NSDI) Federal Geographic Data Committee (FGDC) Accomplishment Report for the Department of Commerce" was prepared in late 1997. The report, "The 1998 National Spatial Data Infrastructure (NSDI) Federal Geographic Data Committee (FGDC) Accomplishment Report for the Department of Commerce" was prepared in late 1998.
A list of State Geodetic Advisors gives contact information.
In order to foster more efficient use, management, and production of geospatial data, the NSDI offers funding opportunities. The 2001 Funding Program Awards have been announced.
NOAA offers grants and cooperative agreements as a key piece in accomplishing its mission. Many grant announcements, information, and applications are available through the Grants Home Page
Data descriptions should be sent to the NOAA ESDD Office for review and input into the NOAA Directory. Output should be saved as an ASCII text file and sent on diskette or by email to the NOAA Environmental Information Services Office or Howard Diamond.
Contact the NOAA Environmental Information Services Office at 301-713-0575 or 301-713-1283 for more information and for help using the FGDC Metadata Standard.
Six NOAA data set descriptions are available as samples for your use. These were converted from the DIF descriptions in the NOAA Environmental Services Data Directory. The titles are:
More information and help using the FGDC Metadata Standard are available by email from the NOAA Environmental Information Services Office, or by telephone at 301-713-0575 or 301-713-1283.
Return to the NOAA ESDIM home page.
This page was created by Peter Grimm (301) 713-1852 on May 8, 1997.