Metadata Catalogs
A metadata record is a detailed description of a resource, along with access and/or ordering information, much like a card in a library catalog that describes a book and where to find it. Metadata records enable the discovery of data and information. They may be used to document and describe the attributes and contents of a wide variety of resources: data sets, databases, images, maps, printed documents, interactive applications, and other catalogs.
The following services provide Web-based access for browsing and searching metadata catalogs housed locally and abroad at national and international data centers. CIESIN metadata records appear in several catalogs.
For more information about metadata, go to our Metadata Section.
| SEDAC Gateway |
The SEDAC Information Gateway provides search access using the Z39.50 search protocol to the Socioeconomic Data & Applications Center (SEDAC) data catalog, as well as more than 20 federal, regional, and state level and international catalogs. The Gateway also provides browse access to the SEDAC data catalog, featuring comprehensive data set guide pages containing abstracts and links to associated resources such as data set and project Web sites, data downloads, additional documentation, citations, and full metadata records. In addition, the Gateway provides access to a variety of data discovery tools and to portals, gateways, and archives spanning the social, environmental, and earth sciences.
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| World Data Center (WDC) for Human Interactions in the Environment |
The WDC provides search and browse access to catalogs of global data using GeoNetwork, an open-source catalog application for managing spatially referenced resources developed by the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). Search and browse results are returned in the form of data set profiles containing abstracts, keywords, and data set previews (images), with links to data downloads, citations, and full metadata records.
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| Inter-American Institute for Global Change Research (IAI) Gateway |
The IAI Data and Information System (IAI-DIS) is a collaborative database system for scientific organizations in the Americas to contribute and share information about their Global Change data holdings. It is designed as a network of national nodes offering free distributed search capability at both directory and inventory levels. Participating organizations in each country remotely submit and update metadata about their assets. Currently there are nodes in Brazil and Uruguay.
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