Document Actions

Metadata

Policies developed by WALIS on pricing, data transfer, data custodianship, data licensing and metadata.

WALIS METADATA POLICY

Introduction

The States land information holdings represent a considerable resource for government, the community and the private sector. To ensure that this resource is effectively used, it is vital that people are aware of what information is available. The key to this is metadata.

Metadata is data about data. It describes the content, quality, currency and availability of data. Through the metadata policy WALIS recognises the importance of metadata in promoting the availability of land information in Western Australia.

Metadata for land and geographic information is required for a range of purposes and includes:

detailed information about data collection methods, integration and analysis techniques applied to various components of source data to support the preparation of scientific reports;
information about the accuracy of source datasets, processing history, and archival procedures to effectively manage and utilise data within custodian organisations;
information about projection specifications, scale, and a data dictionary to accompany data transfers to other organisations;
adequate descriptions of the content, quality and geographic extent of datasets so potential users of existing data can assess its suitability for other purposes; and
summary descriptions of content and quality as well as contact information for inclusion in directory systems.

The purpose of this policy is to define the metadata requirements for inclusion in the directory systems so that potential users are aware of existing data and can assess its suitability for other purposes and to accompany data transfers to other organisations.

Policy WALIS agencies will collect the core metadata elements as defined in the Australia New Zealand Land Information Council (ANZLIC) Metadata Guidelines (see Appendix 1). This metadata will be collected for all the available land and geographic information held by each agency.

All metadata collected will be included in the WALIS land information directory. Metadata will be included with the transfer of all land and geographic information.
Where applicable, WALIS agencies will collect additional metadata elements to accompany data transfer. These additional elements are defined in Appendix 2.
Metadata shall be provided free of charge to all customers.

Background

In signing the WALIS Memorandum of Understanding, WALIS agencies have agreed to provide current metadata to the WALIS Office for inclusion in land information directories. This ensures that the directories are populated with the most current metadata.

Agencies commitments in terms of metadata are further highlighted in the WALIS Custodianship Policy which states that:

Custodians will publicly declare, through facilities such as the land information directory, the status of the land information concerning coverage, source and compliance with national and international standards.

Finally, if community access to land information is to be maximised, adequate descriptions of the characteristics of all geographically referenced data sets must be available and accessible to the community at large.

Land and geographic information in WALIS can be used for a variety of different purposes. Each agency could individually collect the data it needs but this leads to costly data duplication and inconsistencies between data sets. Given that each agency collects specific information for which it has a particular high level of expertise, it is more effective and efficient if agencies share that information and avoid duplication of effort and inconsistent data. Sharing that information and building up a consistent view of land and geographic information so that it can be used in many different ways reduces costs and provides greater support for decision making. This is the basis upon which WALIS has been built.

Before an agency can use information from another agency it must know that the information exists. This is the function of metadata and a Land Information Directory. By interrogating such a directory an agency can determine if information suitable for its needs is available.

Within WA, the WALIS Office is upgrading the existing land information directory with an expanded coverage of metadata and the distribution of the directory on a CD-ROM. The directory is already available on the Internet (www.walis.wa.gov.au) and in the near future it is intended to add the ability to spatially search on the Internet. The timely provision of metadata to the WALIS Office will ensure the land information directories are kept current.

Metadata has application nationally as well. The Australia New Zealand Land Information Council is developing a National Metadata Directory System which will contain summary details of all states= and territories= metadata directories.

ANZLIC has developed guidelines for the collection of metadata that will be used in the national directory. ANZLIC Guidelines: Core Metadata Elements Version 1 provides a model for a national metadata directory system and define a small number of core metadata elements that ANZLIC believes should be recorded for all spatial data (see http://www.anzlic.org.au). To assist with the implementation of these guidelines, ANZLIC has developed a run-time software tool to support the collection of metadata and to ensure consistent description of core metadata elements. This software tool, based on Microsoft Access, is available for use by dataset custodians throughout Australia and New Zealand. The Data Entry tool may be used within organisations to manage the metadata database. Copies are available from the WALIS Office There is no charge for the Data Entry tool.

The WALIS metadata policy and land information directory will be compatible to the national system and the WALIS Office will be responsible for providing metadata to the national system.

Responsibility

The responsibility of participants for collecting metadata and the provision of that metadata to the WALIS land information directories is as follows:

The WALIS Office is responsible for maintaining and providing access to the WALIS Land Information Directory.
Agencies are responsible for maintaining their metadata and forwarding that metadata to the WALIS Office on September 30 and March 31 of each year. Metadata will be provided in a digital format that complies with the ANZLIC metadata transfer standard.
Each WALIS agency is responsible for establishing internal procedures to ensure land information directories are interrogated to determine if suitable data already exists or co-operative ventures to collect, convert or upgrade existing data are possible, before funds are expended on data collection, maintenance or enhancement.

Appendix 1

ANZLIC Core Metadata Elements

Category	Element	Comments
Dataset	Title	The ordinary name of the dataset.
	Custodian	The organisation responsible for the dataset.
	Jurisdiction	The state or country of the Custodian.
Description	Abstract	A short description of the contents of the dataset.
	Search Word(s)	Words likely to be used by a non expert to look for the dataset.
	Geographic Extent Name(s) OR	A picklist of pre defined geographic extents such as map sheets, local government areas, catchments, that reasonably indicate the spatial coverage of the dataset.
	Geographic Extent Polygon(s)	An alternate way of describing geographic extent if no pre-defined area is satisfactory.
Data Currency	Beginning date	Earliest date of data in the dataset.
	Ending date	Last date of information in the dataset.
Dataset Status	Progress	The status of the process of creation of the dataset.
	Maintenance and Update Frequency	Frequency of changes or additions made to the dataset.
Access	Stored Data Format	The format or formats in which the dataset is stored by the custodian.
	Available Format Type	The formats in which the dataset is available, showing at least, whether the dataset is available in digital or nondigital form.
	Access Constraint	Any restrictions or legal prerequisites applying to the use of the dataset, eg. licence.
Data Quality	Lineage	A brief history of the source and processing steps used to produce the dataset.
	Positional Accuracy	A brief assessment of the closeness of the location of spatial objects in the dataset in relation to their true position on the Earth.
	Attribute Accuracy	A brief assessment of the reliability assigned to features in the dataset in relation to their real world values.
	Logical Consistency	A brief assessment of the logical relationships between items in the dataset.
	Completeness	A brief assessment of the completeness of coverage, classification and verification.
Contact Information	Contact Organisation	Ordinary name of the organisation from which the dataset may be obtained.
	Contact Position	The relevant position in the Contact Organisation.
	Mail Address 1	Postal address of the Contact Position.
	Mail Address 2	Aust and NZ: Optional extension of Mail Address 1.
	Suburb or Place or Locality 1	Suburb of the Mail Address.
	State or Locality 2	Aust: State of Mail Address. NZ: Optional extension for Locality.
	Country	Country of the Mail Address.
	Postcode	Aust:Postcode of the Mail Address. NZ: Optional postcode for mail sorting.
	Telephone	Telephone of the Contact Position.
	Facsimile	Facsimile of the Contact Position.
	Electronic Mail Address	Electronic Mail Address of the Contact Position.
Metadata Date	Metadata Date	Date that the metadata record for the dataset was created.
Additional Metadata	Additional Metadata	Reference to other directories or systems containing further information about the dataset.

Appendix 2

WALIS Additional Metadata Elements for Data Transfer Purposes

Category	Element	Comments
Projection	Horizontal Co-ord System	Geographical, map projection or grid coordinate system used (e.g. geographic, Albers Conical Equal Area, AMG)
	Hoizontal Co-ord Parameters	Description of parameters used in map projection (AMG zone, false easting, false northing, standard parallels, longtitude of central meridian, etc), geographic reference (latitude and longtitude resolution, geographic coordinate units).
	Geodetic Model	Parameters for the shape of the Earth (horizontal datum name, ellipsoid name, semi major axis, denominator of flattening ratio).
	Vertical Co-ord System	The reference frame or system from which vertical distances (altitudes or depths) are measured (datum name, resolution and distance units)
Raster	Raster Type	Description of raster data format (Continuous/non-continuous, number of rows and columns, pixel size, origin coordinates, data type, process date, process details)
Entity and Attributes	Entity Description	Name and description of entities
	Attribute Details	Name of attribute, description, attribute value details (ranges, codesets, measurement units and resolution)