Training for creation of formal metadata | |
Workshop session four |
This exercise was developed by Curtis Price, who is the current maintainer of FGDCMETA.AML and ARC/INFO command-line interfaces to mp, cns, and xtme/tkme.FGDCMETA is a variant of the USGS/EPA DOCUMENT ARC/INFO AML program that generates a FGDC metadata file (in text format) from an ARC/INFO coverage with no interaction from the user, extracting all information that can be extracted from an ARC/INFO data sets. It was originally developed by Dan Nelson of the Illinois Geological Survey. Curtis Price modified the AML to be system independent, extended support to all types of ARC/INFO data sets, and added USGS-specific text to the documentation template. The output of FGDCMETA is a text metadata file that can be used with other metadata tools like xtme, mp and cns.
FGDCMETA.AML and the AML command-line interfaces to mp, cns, and xtme are designed to make it easier for USGS ARC/INFO users to work with FGDC metadata. Not all capabilities of mp and cns are available through this interface, but the tools that are needed by most GIS users are there, with minimal setup required. Basically a single tarfile needs to be installed over your ARC/INFO directory, with all custom AMLs and metadata programs installed in the ARCHOME/locale directory.
In this exercise, you will dump all the information stored in ARC/INFO into a file using the DESCRIBEALL program, generate FGDC metadata using FGDCMETA, and use the AML interfaces to mp and xtme to examine and edit the resulting metadata file.
Color conventions used in this exercise | |
---|---|
Green | Element names when they are part of the metadata structure |
Cyan | Menus and menu items, and element names when they are options on the Add menu. |
Red | Commands you type in the terminal window |
$ arc
Arc: arcplot
Arcplot: create boxcov box 0 0 100 100 ; quit
Arc: build boxcov; createlabels boxcov; build boxcov
Arc: projectdefine cover boxcov
Project: projection utm; zone 11; units meters; parameters
Arc: describeall boxcov boxcov.asc
Arc: &sys xedit boxcov.asc & /* (or use your favorite text editor)
Arc: fgdcmeta boxcovNote: By default FGDCMETA will bring up the metadata in an xterm window running the vi text editor. If you would like to use another text editor, you can set this for your arc session interactively (or in an ".arc" startup file in your home directory).
Arc: &s .fgdcmeta$editr xed
Arc: fgdcmeta boxcov edit /* metadata file box.met will be opened using "xed" editor
You can also edit the file using a text editor, or xtme/tkme, using the AML command-line interface:
Arc: &sys vi boxcov.met
Arc: xtme boxcov.met
Arc: mp boxcov.met
Arc: mp
Usage: mp <metadata.file> {error.file} {out.file} {TEXT | HTML | SGML | XML}
Arc: mp boxcov.met # boxcov.html html
Arc: mp boxcov.met # boxcov.sgml sgml
# Keep "Metadata:" tag in mp/cns text output
# Add USGS-water banner to top of html output
and link at end
# In HTML output, preserve newlines in several
narrative
# sections of the metadata
#
# Curtis Price, 9-98
#
output
text
top_level keep
html
header
<a href="http://www.usgs.gov/">
<img src="http://water.usgs.gov/icons/water_banner1.gif"
alt="USGS" border=0 width=480 height=72></a>
footer
<p>More <a href="http://water.usgs.gov/lookup/geturl?GIS">
USGS GIS Data for Water Resources</a>
element
Key: Supplemental_Information
value
obeylines
element
Key: Process_Description
value
obeylines
element
Key: Entity_and_Attribute_Overview
value
obeylines
Arc: &sys vi FGDCMETA.AMLsearch for the template routine, in vi this is done by searching for the string "routine TEMPLATE"::
/routine TEMPLATE
Arc: &sys rm -i box.met
Arc: &run fgdcmeta box