Metadata Management Made Easy

Primary Features of Meta Manager A Comprehensive Metadata Management Application

No one will argue the value of metadata. The clearinghouse infrastructure is well defined and documented and provides a framework for users and maintainers of metadata to publish, access and deliver metadata. Despite this framework, adoption of these standards and methods have been slow. Some of the problems associated with adopting the methodology are outlined below.

The Meta Manager software suite was specifically created to address these problems. The system provides a turn-key solution that is fully supported and can be configured to serve users, creators and maintainers of metadata both large and small. How Meta Manager addresses these problems are described below:

1. Much of the metadata created by organizations is stored in formats not readily accessible by clearinghouse methods.
   
   Until the introduction of Meta Manager, users storing their metadata in formats not supported by Z39.50 searching engines were required to format the data statically and then index the data by an appropriate Z39.50 search engine. This was a time-consuming process and required "hands-on" knowledge of the Z39.50 tools and applications.
   
   Meta Manager has overcome this restriction by allowing users to utilize their existing relational data definitions. A reverse engineering method allows users to use their existing data definitions. If users store their data in other formats, the tool allows the creation of a metadata template for loading the data into a relational database using readily-available SQL loaders. This process also ensures the metadata and data are synchronized.
   
    
2. In many cases, metadata was not created according to the definitions and formats identified by the standards.
   
   Many organizations define metadata according to terminology adopted internally. For example, a date field may have the field name RELEVANT DATE and be stored in a date format that is different than the format required by the standard. Meta Manager overcomes this limitation by allowing users to "map" their metadata into the standard. Users can also choose to apply converters to display their internal data according to the required format.
   
   As well, if users do not maintain metadata according to the mandatory or supplemental fields identified by the standard, Meta Manager provides users with the ability to "fill-in-the-gaps" by using the administrative interface to enter values that can apply to a single collection of metadata or to all collections of metadata across the organization.
   
    
3. Many metadata sets that have been created are stored in statically formatted HTML documents that require manual updates when data about the data changes.
   
   Maintaining the metadata in a relational database enables users to easily define and maintain metadata sets and collections dynamically.
   
    
4. Metadata that has been created according to an organization's internal methods cannot be altered because other software programs and applications expect the data to be in a pre-described format.
   
   The Meta Manager mapping facilities allows users to maintain their metadata definitions in formats maintained by the organization. Meta Manager also directly supports ESRI's Spatial Database Engine (SDE) allowing direct access to geographic searching and attribute definitions with future enhancements for ARC/INFO.
   
    
5. The learning curve for understanding the metadata content definitions and clearinghouse methods is quite often, for many organizations, prohibitive.
   
   The installation and use of Meta Manager does not require users to understand the methods and practices of using Internet-based Z39.50 terminology and technology. The installation process easily installs the server-side application that is pre-configured to operate with databases and national and international clearinghouses. All of these interactions occur transparently to the user.
   
    
6. Many of the tools associated with implementing a metadata clearinghouse node are shareware lacking in ease of installation and customer support, and often result in significant resource allocation for implementation.
   
   Meta Manager is a fully-supported commercial application. It has been endorsed by the FGDC Clearinghouse and Canadian Earth Observation Network (CEONet) initiatives.
   
    
7. The tools associated with creating and maintaining a clearinghouse node are obtained from different sources which require additional tasks associated with configuring client and server applications.
   
   Meta Manager is a complete end-to-end turnkey solution. It contains all of the tools and applications required for metadata management and publishing within Clearinghouse initiatives.