Listed below is a chronological events calendar (most recent first) on the FGDC major activities to harmonize the FGDC Metadata Standard (FGDC-STD-001-1998) with the International Organisation for Standardisation (ISO) Technical Committee (TC)211 Metadata Standard 19115 (previously known as 15046-15).

Many of these activities have been presented at FGDC meetings and at major conferences and seminars. For further information on any of these activities or desire to participate in the FGDC/ISO Metadata Standard harmonization, please contact Sharon Shin, FGDC Metadata Coordinator sharon_shin [at] fgdc.gov

To find out more about TC211, go to http://www.isotc211.org/

Background:

American National Standards Institute, ANSI, administers and coordinates the U.S. voluntary standardization and represents US interests with ISO. ANSI does not develop standards itself, but rather accredits other organizations as standards development organizations.

ANSI has accredited the InterNational Committee for Information Technology Standards (INCITS, www.incits.org) to develop standards for Information and Communications Technologies (ICT). INCITS Technical Committee L1, Geographic Information Systems, develops US National Standards for GIS and geospatial metadata. The L1 is also the U.S. TAG (Technical Advisory Group) to ISO Technical Committee 211, Geographic information/Geomatics.

Highlights:

January 2005
In December 2004, the Editing Committee (EC) for ISO 19139, Geographic information - - Metadata - XML schema implementation, met in Vienna, Virginia to adjudicate comments on the Preliminary Draft Technical Specification (PDTS) received between June 30, 2004 and September 30, 2004. During adjudication, the EC added sections and clauses to improve descriptions and information. An editor was hired to prepare the Draft Technical Specification (DTS) based on comment resolutions in preparation by EC members. Two highlights resulted from the EC’s work:

• XML for ISO 19139 has changed since the PDTS was released for comment.
• Entity and attributes are not being accommodated in ISO/DTS 19139. This column’s last update indicated the EC might lack the authority to add content to ISO 19139. In December, the EC arrived at the same conclusion. The EC’s plan is to submit a new work item proposal (NWIP) to ISO TC 211. The proposal will contain a solution for Entity and Attributes derived from compromise and consensus between the parties participating in last fall’s public comment period. ISO TC 211 will then determine how to proceed with the NWIP.

ISO/DTS 19139 will be submitted in March 2005 for inclusion on the agenda for the ISO TC 211 20th plenary meeting, which is scheduled for June 2005.

Date: December 2004

December 2003: the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) adopted ISO 19115, Geographic information - Metadata as an American National Standard (ANS) without changes. ISO 19115, an abstract standard, specifies general content for the metadata, but does not specify the format for the metadata record.

June 30, 2004: ISO Technical Committee 211, Geographic information/Geomatics (ISO/TC 211), issued Draft Technical Specification ISO 19139, Geographic information - Metadata - XML schema implementation for comment and ballot. ISO 19139 provides the XML implementation schema specifying the metadata record format and may be used to describe, validate, and exchange geospatial metadata prepared in XML.

July 2004: The FGDC is tasked to develop metadata content for the U.S. National Profile of ISO 19139. In preparation for profile development, the FGDC recruited representatives from the base standard, biological, and shoreline metadata community for a metadata team. The recommended additions address incorporating existing CSDGM extensions (biological, shoreline, and remote sensing), establishing fixed domains, and requirements for more stringent conditionality. Once ISO has approved ISO 19139, ANSI will adopt ISO 19139 without changes. At that time, the FGDC will lead a broad community dialog to comment on recommended adaptations to the standard.

October 2004: ISO/TC 211 approved the ISO 19139 Draft Technical Specification.

December 2004: An ISO 19139 Draft Technical Specification Editing Committee was convened to adjudicate comments that were submitted along with the ballots. Each participating country is allowed one representative on the Editing Committee. INCITS Technical Committee L1, Geographic Information Systems, which serves as the U.S. Technical Advisory Group (TAG) to ISO/TC 211, nominated the U.S. representative. The Editing Committee will adjudicate comments and the project editor will prepare a final Technical Specification for publication. ISO 19139 is currently scheduled to be published in March 2005.

Most comments submitted regarding Draft Technical Specification ISO 19139 were editorial in nature; however, the U.S. commented on the lack of schema for documenting entities and attributes. ISO 19115 references entities and attributes through another standard, ISO 19110, Geographic information - Methodology for Feature Cataloging. Since the XML schema in ISO 19139 does not address ISO 19110, ISO 19139 does not provide the documentation of entities and attributes. It has not been determined if the Editing Committee is authorized to address content issues such as entity and attribute schema.

Many in the metadata community commented on the difficulty obtaining copies of ISO Standards. Both ISO 19115 and ISO 19139 are copyrighted standards and may be purchased through the ISO Store at http://www.iso.org/iso/en/prods-services/ISOstore/store.html. ISO 19115 is available at lower cost through the ANSI Electronic Standards Store at http://webstore.ansi.org. Once adopted by ANSI, ISO 19139 will also be available for purchase through the ANSI Electronic Standards Store.
Once the US National Profile has become stable in content, the FGDC will begin development of a workbook and 'graphic representation' based on the Profile. Both publications will be available, at no charge, from the FGDC website.

July 2003

ISO, the International Organization for Standardization, has announced the approval and publication of ISO 19115, Geographic information - Metadata. The standard is now available for purchase as:

http://webstore.ansi.org/ansidocstore/product.asp?sku=ISO+19115%3A2003

ISO approval does not automatically present the US with a new metadata standard. The American National Standards Institute (ANSI), which administers and coordinates voluntary standardization in the U.S. and represents US interests with ISO, has to adopt ISO 19115 as an American National Standard (ANS).

ANSI has accredited the InterNational Committee for Information Technology Standards (INCITS, www.incits.org), to develop standards for Information and Communications Technologies (ICT). INCITS Technical Committee L1, Geographic Information Systems, develops standards for GIS and geospatial metadata and serves as the U.S. TAG (Technical Advisory Group) to ISO Technical Committee 211, Geographic information/Geomatics. INCITS L1 has recommended ANSI adoption of ISO 19115.

ISO Technical Committee 211 (www.isotc211.org) has approved a project to develop ISO 19139, Geographic information - Metadata - Implementation specification. ISO 19139 will define a UML implementation model based upon the abstract UML model in ISO 19115. The UML implementation model may be used in conjunction with an XML schema, which will be included in an informative annex to ISO 19139, to describe digital geographic datasets. Access the Draft ISO 19139 and FGDC/ISO 19115 Crosswalk at http://metadata.dgiwg.org/ (Register with DGIWG's site through the "Register" box found at the top of the webpage.)

INCITS L1 is undertaking a study of ISO and FGDC metadata standards to determine a course of action for development of a U.S. metadata standard that might supersede CSDGM, Version. 2.0. INCITS L1 also plans to collaborate with its counterparts in Canada and Mexico to develop a North American profile to achieve metadata consistency among the three countries. Anyone who wants to participate in the INCITS L1 metadata study is encouraged to contact any of the INCITS L1 officers listed on the INCITS L1 web site at www.incits-l1.org.

April 2003- Status Summary
(Note: This highlight is a synopsis of ISO developments since September 2000. Subsequent highlights to this synopsis will be posted as events occur.)

ISO 19115 Final Draft International Standard, FDIS, awaits formal approval, in 2003, from the ISO Central Secretariat.

ANSI has adopted the ISO standard without change and the standard will be the basis of follow-on technical amendments designed to bring the ISO standard into alignment with US national requirements. Expected completion for this technical amendment is 2003.

The technical amendment brings the ANSI adopted ISO standard into harmony with the FGDC version 2.0 (in final review) and allows datasets to be both ISO and FGDC v2.0 compliant. The technical amendment is designed to protect current investments in datasets while allowing for both ISO and FGDC compliance. The current work involves the mapping of the ISO elements to the FGDC elements (and the reverse). The results of this activity will be evaluated to determine if more elements must be added or subtracted or obligations changed. The ISO and FGDC mapping or crosswalk will follow the FGDC public review process. The technical amendment will require making several existing ISO elements/entities more restrictive to harmonize the adopted standard to existing FGDC requirements. Additional technical amendments, currently in work, will result in additional changes that are not (and will not be) contained in the FGDC version 2.0.

These include, but may not be limited to, the addition of:

• Imagery and gridded data requirements (currently in work at the ISO and FGDC level)
• Existing FGDC profiles and extensions
• Geospatial One Stop Base Standard and extensions
• North American Profile (with Canada)
• And other data community interests

September 15, 2000: ISO 19115 Approved to proceed to Draft International Standard.

On September 15, 2000, the ISO TC211 Secretariat announced the approval that the ISO Metadata Standard 19115 proceed to the status of Draft International Standard (DIS). Among the 33 TC211 nations or liaisons voting, there were 23 "Approve" votes, one "Disapprove" vote, three "Abstain", six "Not Voting". Thirteen members submitted comments on the 3rd Committee Draft of 19115. The US ANSI L1 Committee voted to "Approve" however that vote was not unanimous among ANSI L1 members. Both the FGDC and the USGS voted "Disapprove".

September 11-14, 2000: ISO TC211 Metadata Standard 19115.3 Committee Draft Editing Committee - Reston, VA, USA

On June 01, 2000, the ISO TC211 Secretariat released ISO 19115.3 (3rd Committee Draft of of the ISO Metadata Standard 19115) for review by the national bodies and liaison organizations. From June 01, 2000 to August 1, 2000, the FGDC conducted a Register Review of 19115.3 (much like that conducted for 19115.1 and 19115.2). Over 125 US citizens or individuals representing US companies or US interests registered and received a copy of 19115.3. The FGDC received 379 comments from the Register Review. Many of the reviewers continue to express deep concern regarding the complexity of the draft ISO Metadata Standard and the fragmented metadata ownership (resulting in harmonization issues among all of the TC211 projects). These comments were forwarded to the ISO TC211 Secretariat and provided to the ISO Metadata Standard Editing Committee.

During the week of September 11, 2000, the Metadata Standard Committee Draft 19115.3 Editing Committee met in Reston, VA, USA. National body, Liaison, and TC211 Working Group representation at the Editing Committee meeting included Australia (ANZLIC), Canada, Japan, Malaysia, Norway, Peoples Republic of China, South Africa, South Korea, United Kingdom, United States, DIGIWG, ICA, WMO, and TC211 Working Group 3 & 5.

The ISO Metadata Standard Editing Committee (EC) met for 4 full days to address the 687 comments submitted by National Bodies and Liaison organizations on the 3rd Committee Draft of the ISO TC211 Metadata Standard 19115.3. The Editing Committee was successful in addressing all of the comments at this meeting. The US comments were well received by the Editing Committee with numerous (>95%) US comments accepted by the EC.

Particular highlights to the EC discussion included discussion on:

1. Complexity of 19115

   There was significant discussion on the complexity of 19115 and that other more "user friendly" documents will be necessary to describe and instruct metadata producers and users on 19115. Of particular interest was the requirement to use UML and the need to be a proficient data modeler to understand 19115 in its entirety. Work continues by the Conceptual Schema project (19103) on the development of a UML Notation Technical Guideline document that will be made available to ISO Metadata Standard users. Numerous comments were approved that hopefully will make the Standard much more readable and navigatiable.

2. Core vs "Mandatory" Metadata

   There was significant discussion on what defined Core Metadata. The use of Essential metadata was removed from CD3 and the term Core added. The confusion continues to lie in that not all of the Core metadata elements are Mandatory. The EC approved that a list of Mandatory elements will be listed in 19115.

3. Consistency between the UML model and the Metadata Data Dictionary

   The EC agreed that consistency among the UML model and the Metadata Data Dictionary normative sections of the Standard is critical. There were significant comments that identified inconsistencies between the UML Model and the Data Dictionary.

4. Metadata "ownership" fragmented among ISO 191XX Standards

   Work continued to harmonize metadata (or rules used by 19115) being developed by other 191XX Work Items (WI) with 19115. In particular, WI 19103 Geographic information - Conceptual schema language, WI 19110 Geographic information - Feature cataloguing methodology, WI 19111 Geographic information - Spatial referencing by coordinates, WI 19112 Geographic information - Spatial referencing by geographic identifiers, WI 19113 Geographic information - Quality principles, WI 19121 Geographic information - Imagery and gridded data, and WI 19127 Geographic information - Geodetic codes and parameters. Comments received on these items were forwarded to the responsible group for resolution.

5. Registration of Metadata entities, elements, domains, and code lists

   See discussion topic ISO 11th Plenary - Reston, VA, USA

6. Editorial (Grammar, spelling, ...) errors and clarifications

   Over 300 comments identified errors in spelling, punctuation, and grammar. All of these will be corrected.

The new work schedule for the ISO Metadata Standard approved at the Plenary is

• Draft International Standard            November 2000
• Final Draft International Standard     May 2001
• International Standard                     July 2001

The FGDC would like to again thank those individuals and organizations that reviewed and submitted comments on the ISO Metadata Standard 19115.3. If you are interested in assisting the FGDC in this harmonization effort (profile development, software development, training) please contact Sharon Shin 703-648-4571, email: sharon_shin [at] fgdc.gov

September 4-8, 2000: ISO TC211 11th Plenary - Reston, VA, USA

During the week of September 4, 2000, FGDC Metadata Coordinator Rick Pearsall participated in the ISO TC211 11th Plenary. Of particular interest to the ISO Metadata Standard were the meetings on Profiles and Registries. A Registry workshop was held to discuss the requirements a TC211 Registry. There was general agreement (no final decision) that some form of registry is required by TC211 and that the ISO Metadata Standard (elements, code lists, enumerated domains) would be a good prototype for a registry. Additional meetings on registries are planned for the 12th Plenary to be held in Lisbon, Portugal in March 2001.

March 6-10, 2000: ISO TC211 10th Plenary and ISO TC211 Metadata Standard 19115.2 Committee Draft Editing Committee - Capetown, South Africa

FGDC Metadata Coordinator Rick Pearsall participated in the ISO TC211 10th Plenary and Metadata Standard Committee Draft 19115.2 Editing Committee meetings in Capetown, South Africa.

National body, Liaison, and TC211 Working Group representation at the Editing Committee meeting included Australia (ANZLIC), Canada, Germany, Malaysia, Norway, Peoples Republic of China, Saudi Arabia, SEOS/WGISS, South Africa, South Korea, Spain, Sweden, Thailand, United Kingdom, United States, DIGIWG, and TC211 Working Group 3.

The ISO Metadata Standard Editing Committee (EC) met for 3 full days and began to address the over 1580 comments submitted by National Bodies and Liaison organizations on the 2nd Committee Draft of the ISO TC211 Metadata Standard 19115.2, the United States ANSI L1 committee submitting 543 of the 1580 comments. The Editing Committee was successful in addressing approximately 1000 of the comments at this meeting. The EC will be busy over the next month completing the review of the remaining comments. The US comments were well received by the Editing Committee with numerous US comments accepted by the EC.

Particular highlights to the EC discussion included discussion on:

1. Definition of the Essential Metadata Profile

   The EC agreed that there is a need to have a minimal metadata set for all data sets. The EC decided to continue to have "mandatory" and "optional" metadata entities and elements in this minimal set. Many individuals agreed with the US that the term "Essential" should be changed to something else to better indicate that non-mandatory metadata elements are included in the set. Suggested terms included "Fundamental", "Basic", "Framework", and "Core".

   At this time, the minimal metadata set includes:

   • Metadata Language Code(M)
   • Metadata Characterset (M) [default = "ISO 10646-2"]
   • Hierarchy Level Scope (M) [default = "Dataset"]
   • Hierarchy Level Name (O)
   • Metadata Contact (O) (ie Responsible Party Name/Organization & Responsibility Type)
   • Metadata Date (O)
   • Metadata Standard Name (O)
   • Metadata Standard Version (O)
   • Dataset Language Code (M)
   • Dataset Characterset (M) [default = "ISO 10646-2"]
   • Abstract (M)
   • Geographic Box Coordinates (O)
   • Geographic Description (O)
   • Spatial Resolution (O) (ie for Raster = ground spatial resolution, Vector = scale equivalent)
   • Category (M)
   • Dataset Citation (M) (Title & Date)
   • Dataset Contact (M) (ie Responsible Party Name/Organization & Responsibility Type)

   (M)=Mandatory, (O)=Optional, [ ]=default value, ( )=clarification

2. Metadata authority/responsibility and viewability for all TC211 Metadata

   The Working Group 3 Project chairs and the EC have agreed to place back into the ISO Metadata Standard all elements of ISO TC211 metadata. This includes the equivalent FGDC CSDGM Sections Data Quality, Spatial Representation, and Spatial Reference. These metadata elements will not be duplicated in any of the other ISO TC211 Standards and the ISO Metadata Standard will be the authoritative ISO TC211 entity responsible for all ISO TC211 metadata.

3. Consistency between the UML model and the Metadata Data Dictionary

   The EC agreed that since UML was mandated by the Conceptual Schema Project, there was a need to express UML concepts using UML terminology and Data Dictionaries using Data Dictionary terminology (ie UML Class = Data Dictionary Entity). It was agreed that the terminology should be consistently applied in the Standard. Most likely this will result in Section 5 being removed from the ISO Metadata Standard and a separate UML Notation Technical Guideline document being developed and made available to ISO Metadata Standard users.

4. Extensibility of Enumerated Domains and Codelists

   The EC agreed that that Enumerated Domains should be closed lists and all Codelists should be open and extensible. Also agreed to was that a consistent methodology would be developed and applied for extension of codelists and that the order of the codelist would follow a consistent rule set.

5. Registration of Metadata entities, elements, domains, and codelists

   The EC agreed that the issue of registration was important to achieve successful interoperable metadata implementations and it was therefore agreed that a Registration workshop will be held at the September ISO TC211 11th Plenary to address the issue of registration of Metadata Profiles, Entities & Elements, and Enumerated Domains & Codelists.

6. Structure and model for the Spatial Representation information

   The EC agreed that the Spatial Representation structure and model did not adequately express the real-world model. The Metadata Project Chair accepted an action to bring this issue forward to the model harmonization team as well as the Imagery and Gridded data workgroup for resolution.

7. Use of long and short names and unique identifiers

   The EC agreed that a consistent rule set needs to be developed for the long and short name identifiers. In addition it was agreed to include an eXtended Markup Language (XML) Document Type Declaration (DTD) as an informative annex in the ISO Metadata Standard.

8. Editorial (Grammar, spelling, ...)errors

   Over 600 comments identified errors in spelling, punctuation, and grammar. All of these will be corrected.

The new work schedule for the ISO Metadata Standard approved at the Plenary is

• 3rd Committee Draft Issued            May 2000
• Draft International Standard            October 2000
• Final Draft International Standard     March 2001
• International Standard                     July 2001

Also approved at the 10th Plenary was a resolution (ISO TC211 Resolution 117) that requested that the Open GIS Consortium (OGC) test the current draft of the ISO Metadata Standard. The result of such testing will be used for further refinement of the standard as it progresses to final approval as an ISO Standard.

The FGDC would like to again thank those individuals and organizations that reviewed and submitted comments on the ISO Metadata Standard 19115.2. If you are interested in assisting the FGDC in this harmonization effort (profile development, software development, training) please contact Sharon Shin 703-648-4571, email: sharon_shin [at] fgdc.gov

February 11, 2000: FGDC Conducts Registered Review of ISO Metadata Standard 2nd Committee Draft 19115.2

During the months of December 1999 and January 2000, the FGDC conducted a 60-day Register Review of the ISO Metadata Standard 2nd Committee Draft 19115.2. The Register Review closed January 26, 2000 at which time over 150 individuals or organizations registered and received a copy of the ISO Metadata Standard (Note: Only individuals or organizations representing US interest were eligible to receive the document). The Register Review was announced at the FGDC web site and on numerous listserves. The FGDC received over 700 comments from the register review.

During the week of February, the FGDC conducted an adjudication meeting to review the 700+ comments. The general categories of comments were:

1. General overall complexity of the Standard
2. Scope of and background/rationale for the Standard
3. Unified Modeling Language (UML) Model Representation of the ISO Metadata Standard
4. Definition of the Essential Metadata Profile
5. Metadata authority/responsibility and viewability for all TC211 Metadata
6. Consistency between the UML model and the Metadata Data Dictionary
7. Consistency in symbology and notations
8. Clarity in definition and terminology
9. Extensibility of Enumerated Domains and Codelists
10. Registration of Metadata entities, elements, domains, and codelists
11. Structure and model for the Spatial Representation information
12. Use of long and short names and unique identifiers
13. Editorial (Grammar, spelling, ...)errors

The adjudication panel was multi-organizational and multi-disciplinary, comprised of Federal, State, Local, Academia, and Private sector representation.

These comments will be submitted to the American National Standards Institute who will in turn submit them to the ISO TC211 Secretariat. A ISO Metadata Editing Committee meeting is planned for March in Capetown, South Africa to review and adjudicate all of the national comments. Watch this page for results of the Capetown meeting.

March 1-5, 1999: ISO TC211 Plenary and Metadata Standard Editing Committee Meeting

FGDC Metadata Coordinator Rick Pearsall participated in the ISO TC211 Plenary and Metadata Standard Committee Draft 15046-15 Editing Committee meetings in Vienna, Austria.

National body, Liaison, and TC211 Working Group representation at this meeting included Canada, Norway, South Africa, United Kingdom, United States (FGDC), DIGIWG, Open GIS Consortium (OGC), WG1, WG3, and WG5.

The ISO Metadata Standard Editing Committee completed the review of the 962 comments received on the ISO Metadata Standard Committee Draft. A restructured document will be issued as the 2nd ISO Metadata Standard Committee Draft.

The Editing Committee met to further define Essential Metadata. Essential Metadata has been defined as those metadata entities and elements listed below:

1. Title
2. Abstract
3. Bounding Geospatial Coordinates
4. Metadata Language
5. Metadata Characterset
6. Dataset Language
7. Dataset Characterset
8. Responsible Party Name (Name or Organization)
9. Responsible Party Address (Email or Phone or Postal)
10. Themecode
11. Reference Date

The FGDC is interested in hearing from you if you feel this list is too large, too small, or just right.

There continues to be substantial work restructuring the Committee Draft based on the editing committee recommendations to create a metadata data dictionary and flatten the metadata schema. The ISO Metadata Project team is investigating the creation of a metadata registry/repository which would hold the essential metadata, the rest of the metadata elements, and any elements defined by the user.

There has been no resolution on the issue of hierarchical identifiers. Canada provided an ISO resolution on "Cultural and Language Adaptability" which more closely ties the work of the ISO Joint Technical Committee 1 (JTC1) with the work of TC211 in resolving this issue. The results of the JTC1 activity are expected in September of this year. The results will provide further guidance on the metadata issue of coded vs uncoded domains.

There were briefings on the work by ISO TC211 15046-6 (Profiles, Chair - Canada) and ISO TC211 15046-18 (Encoding, Chair - Norway).

The Profiles project is proposing the creation of registered International Standard Profiles (ISP) of the ISO Tc211 work items. The profiles may be developed by ISO, ISO Liaisons, Nations, or Private/Industry. Only ISO and ISO Liaisons may create and register ISPs. The FGDC, not being recognized officially as a Standards governing body, can not develop a ISP but can develop a Private/Industry Profile. The FGDC is discussing options with the ANSI L1 for the development of a National Profile.

The Encoding project is designed around requirements to use UML, XML, look at adapting XMI, is primarily focusing on data interchange vs metadata, and being language neutral.

The planned schedule for the ISO Metadata Standard is:

• September 1999 - Committee Draft approved. Standard achieves Draft International Standard Status.
• March 2000 - Standard achieves Final Draft International Standard status.
• May 2000 - ISO Metadata Standard Approved.

The FGDC is planning the following activities to harmonize the FGDC metadata activities with ISO. Note: Dates are subject to change.

• June 1999 - FGDC conducts 2nd Registered Review of the reissued ISO Metadata Standard Committee Draft.
• October 1999 - FGDC issues work to develop a FGDC/ISO Metadata crosswalk and software to migrate FGDC records (sgml, html, txt) to ISO metadata records (xml, html, txt).
• October 1999 - FGDC begins development of a profile of the ISO Metadata Standard. The profile(s) will include the "essential" metadata, elements from the metadata data dictionary, and any FGDC defined elements.
• January 2000 - FGDC issues profile for US national comments. Profile finalized in May 2000 (minor edits may be required based on ISO DIS and FDIS edits).

Anyone interested in providing energy or resources to assist in these harmonization activities should contact Sharon Shin 703-648-4571, email: sharon_shin [at] fgdc.gov

December 14-18, 1998: ISO TC211 Metadata Standard Editing Committee Meeting

FGDC Metadata Coordinator Rick Pearsall participated in the ISO TC211 Metadata Standard Committee Draft 15046-15 Editing Committee meeting in Herndon, VA.

National body, Liaison, and TC211 Working Group representation at this meeting included Australia, Canada, Norway, South Africa, United Kingdom, United States (FGDC), DIGIWG, Open GIS Consortium (OGC), WG1, WG3, and WG5.

The Editing Committee reviewed the 960+ comments received from Australia, Canada, China, Czech Republic, France, Germany, Norway, Spain, United Kingdom, United States (FGDC & others), DIGIWG, ICA, OGC, and the ISO TC211 Working Groups.

Results of the Editing Committee meeting included recommendations to:

1. develop a list of "Essential Metadata" (very close to what ISO Metadata Standard Committee Draft referred to as Level 1) which would be required for every metadata record
2. develop a metadata dictionary/repository from which ISO Metadata profiles could be derived. Included in this repository would be user defined metadata elements submitted by the profile
3. a restructuring of the document to make it easier to understand, use, and model

There was no resolution on the encoded versus nonencoded domain list issue.

Based on the Editing Committee recommendations, it is anticipated that the ISO Metadata Standard will be reissued this summer again as a Committee Draft. The new scheduled date for ISO TC211 Metadata Standard approval is Spring 2000.

July 13-September 11, 1998: FGDC/ISO Metadata Standard Registered Review

During July 13-September 11, 1998, the FGDC conducted a Registered Review of the ISO TC211 Metadata Standard 15046-15 Committee Draft. The purpose of the Registered Review was to receive comments from the United States and FGDC community at large to help the FGDC establish a position on the ISO Metadata Standard Committee Draft.

Corporations and private citizens representing United States interest were invited to register for the sole purpose of providing comments on the ISO Metadata Standard Committee Draft. Upon registering, the registrant received either an electronic version or printed version of the ISO Metadata Standard Committee Draft. Over 210 individuals registered representing the Federal Govt (Civilian and Defense), State Govt, Local Govt, Academia, Private sector, and Independents.

Over 450 comments on the ISO Metadata Standard Committee Draft were received. Major issues or concerns identified were:

1. inconsistent nesting of Level 1 and Level 2 metadata entities and elements
2. numerous domain issues to include domain term definitions, use of free text vs enumerated lists, extensibility of domain lists, and the registration and ownership of domain lists
3. need for a accurate and complete dictionary of terms
4. encoded versus nonencoded domain lists
5. editorial comments on spelling and grammar

An adjudication meeting was held during the week of September 14-17, 1998 to review the comments received during the registered review and pass them forward for inclusion with other United States comments for submittal to ISO. The adjudication membership included selected registrants from the broad community spectrum of individuals that had registered.

The Registered Review was announced on the FGDC web (www.fgdc.gov), on major GIS Listservs (NSDI_L, GIS_L, ...), as well in GIS Trade magazines and the FGDC Newsletter.

April - August 1997: FGDC/ISO Metadata Task Force assembled

In April, 1997 the FGDC formed an FGDC/ISO Metadata Task Force to review a copy of the ISO Metadata Standard 15046-15 Working Draft. The primary purpose of the task force was to review the ISO Metadata Standard Working Draft and help the FGDC establish a position on the ISO Metadata Standard Working Draft. The task force membership was multi-organizational and multi-disciplinary team comprised Federal, State, County, Academia, and Vendor representation. The task force was disbanded when the ISO Metadata Standard was approved by ISO TC211 as a Committee Draft.

References:

ISO

http://www.iso.org/

ISO standards development

http://www.iso.ch/iso/en/stdsdevelopment/whowhenhow/how.html

Technical Specification

http://www.iso.ch/iso/en/stdsdevelopment/whowhenhow/proc/deliverables/iso_ts.html

ISO Technical Committee 211

http://www.isotc211.org

INCITS

http://www.incits.org/

INCITS Technical Committee L1

http://www.incits-l1.org (under construction)

ANSI

http://www.ansi.org/

Geospatial One-Stop

http://www.geo-one-stop.gov

FGDC Standards

http://www.fgdc.gov/standards/