Metadata - Attributions and FGDC Metadata

Each layer served by the SVS Image Server contains an <Attribution> element which provides a credit line and directs the user to the entity responsible for creating the animation. For the specific case of animations created by the Scientific Visualization Studio, this element has the following form:

  <Attribution>
    <Title>National Aeronautics and Space Administration</Title>
    <OnlineResource xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink" 
     xlink:type="simple"
     xlink:href="http://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/vis/a000000/a002800/a002890/"/>
    <LogoURL width="312" height="258">
      <Format>image/png</Format>
      <OnlineResource xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink" 
       xlink:type="simple"
       xlink:href="http://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/svs_icons/nasalogo.png"/>
    </LogoURL>
  </Attribution>

These animations are attributed to NASA, with a link to the NASA logo, and the <OnlineResource> points specifically to the SVS page that describes the animation and provides other downloadable resources for the animation, such as movie files and still images. This page is considered the authoritative resource for information about the animation.

Within each layer description, there is also an entry directing the user to a formal metadata description for the animation that that layer represents, which looks like this for the African Fires layer:

  <MetadataURL type="FGDC:1998">
    <Format>text/plain</Format>
    <OnlineResource xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink" 
      xlink:type="simple"  xlink:href="http://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/vis
      /a000000/a002800/a002900/a002890.fgdc"/>
  </MetadataURL>

In this instance, FGDC:1998 identifies the metadata file as adhering to the Content Standard for Digital Geospatial Metadata, as published by the Federal Geographic Data Committee (see the standards page). The URL within the <OnlineResource> element points to the metadata file itself, which starts like this:

Metadata
  Identification_Information
    Citation
      Citation_Information
        Originator: NASA Goddard Space Flight Center 
          Scientific Visualization Studio
        Publication_Date: 2004-02-10
        Publication_Time: 12:00:00
        Title: African Fires during 2002
        Online_Linkage: http://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/vis/
          a000000/a002800/a002890/index.html
    Description
      Abstract: ...

Currently, the FGDC Metadata file contains little information that is not already in the Capabilities XML document. In the future, it is envisioned that the metadata file will contain more detailed information about the animation, the data it represents, and the science behind it.

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