Definition
ISO 19115 "Geographic Information - Metadata" from ISO/TC 211, the current "best practice" standard for geospatial metadata, does not in fact provide a definition of geospatial (or geographic) metadata; however, uses the following wording in its "scope" section:
"This International Standard provides information about the identification, the extent, the quality, the spatial and temporal schema, spatial reference, and distribution of digital geographic data."
A little further, it is stated: "Though this International Standard is applicable to digital data, its principles can be extended to many other forms of geographic data such as maps, charts, and textual documents as well as non-geographic data."
The U.S. FGDC (Federal Geographic Data Committee) describes (geospatial) metadata as follows:
"A metadata record is a file of information, usually presented as an XML document, which captures the basic characteristics of a data or information resource. It represents the who, what, when, where, why and how of the resource. Geospatial metadata are used to document geographic digital resources such as Geographic Information System (GIS) files, geospatial databases, and earth imagery. A geospatial metadata record includes core library catalog elements such as Title, Abstract, and Publication Data; geographic elements such as Geographic Extent and Projection Information; and database elements such as Attribute Label Definitions and Attribute Domain Values."
Read more about this topic: Geospatial Metadata
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