EPA Metadata Style Guide for Geospatial and Non Geospatial Data
This Style Guide provides suggestions on geospatial and non-geospatial metadata creation that adhere to EPA’s Metadata Technical Specification and requirements from OMB’s Project Open Data (POD) and ISO’s 19115 standards. Detailed guidance on metadata requirements, standard language, and naming conventions are provided with the goal of simplifying the documentation process and standardizing dataset metadata across multiple collaborative environments – EPA’s Enterprise Data Catalog (EDC), EPA GeoPlatform web services, and EPA GeoPlatform Online (GPO).
Each of these collaborative environments should contain metadata that allows users to discover, evaluate, and access each data resource. The chart below highlights the methods for preparation and publication of metadata in each of these environments and provides links to associated Style Guide recommendations and metadata creation tools.
| Type of data | Geospatial | Non Geospatial | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Metadata discovery or access point | Enterprise Data Catalog and Data.gov | EPA-hosted web service REST pages | EPA GeoPlatform Online | Enterprise Data Catalog and Data.gov |
| Interface or Software used for creating metadata | EPA Metadata Editor (EME) 5.0* | Esri ArcMap | EPA GeoPlatform Online | EPA Open Data Metadata Editor |
| Output | EPA/ISO/POD-compliant ArcGIS Metadata XML file | ArcMap MXD file with web service documentation in properties fields | EPA GeoPlatform Online content item with Item Details fields completed | Project Open Data DCAT JSON file |
| Metadata publication method | Place valid metadata XML file in EDC Web Accessible Folder (WAF) for publication to EDC and data.gov | Publish MXD file as web service via ArcGIS Server software | Configure sharing on content item to share with desired groups | Submit to EDC Team using the Open Data Metadata Editor |
| Use this Style Guide: | EPA Geospatial Metadata Style Guide using EME 5 | EPA Style Guide for Creating ArcMap Web Service Metadata | EPA Style Guide for Documenting Content Items in ArcGIS Online | Style guidance is included in Open Data Metadata Editor interface. |
*Metadata authors who wish to use EME v3 to produce metadata in FGDC-compliant format may do so.
These Style Guides do not detail the process to publish metadata records to EDG. Please consult documents at the EDC Home page for help on publishing metadata to EDC. For additional assistance, please contact the EDC Team (edc@epa.gov).