Developing A Metadata Schema for Use in Geoscience Projects

Abstract:

Metadata schemas are important for dataset discovery, use, reuse, preservation, and sharing. Accurate metadata facilitates data discovery, as well as understanding the purpose of a project or dataset, and can aid in interpretation and analysis for initial use and reuse by future researchers. We have developed a machine-readable metadata schema for use within projects producing geoscience data. Several existing metadata schemas were evaluated for potential use based on the following aspects: technical use, identification and retrieval, management or version control, user access, and preservation. The metadata schema was based on existing ontologies, to the extent possible, to promote interoperability and discovery. The new ontology was based primarily on the Data Catalog Vocabulary (DCAT; https://www.w3.org/TR/vocab-dcat-2/) ontology, as well as drawing on other existing ontologies such as Schema.org, Simple Knowledge Organization System (SKOS; https://www.w3.org/2004/02/skos/), and Preservation Metadata: Implementation Strategies (PREMIS; https://www.loc.gov/standards/premis/). Additionally, new metadata classes and properties were developed specifically for project management and granular-level file metadata. This metadata schema is intended to be flexible in its implementation and serialization as well as it can be extended to include new files or data types. A primary objective behind this initiative is to develop a metadata schema that will scale with the ever-increasing data management needs of geoscience research while maintaining enough flexibility to gain widespread adoption within the geoscience community. Presented here is a recommended metadata schema designed with that primary objective in mind along with recommendations for future schema development and implementation.

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