EuroMapFinder - Metadata

EuroMapFinder was launched for the public in January 2006. The service has been terminated and will be replaced by an INSPIRE catalogue services.  EuroGeographics will publish summary information of available reference data in our planned EuroGeoInfo site.

Metadata is the prerequisite for data discovery and access. Harmonised and quality metadata is an essential condition for the development of the gateway(s) that GI users are expecting, and the number one priority implementation step for an operational European Spatial Data Infrastructure (ESDI).

A key part of the EuroGeographics strategy was therefore to implement a metadata service as a means of providing better and more accessible information about the members and their products and services.

The objective of the EuroMapFinder project was to provide an alternative solution to the then existing GDDD, based on a distributed architecture and technology allowing for easier and remote metadata content maintenance.

It was decided in 2003 to build the EMF in 2 phases the EMF service as an adaptation and customisation of the “geocat.ch” system developed by KOGIS (the Swiss federal coordination for Geoinformation), to replace the existing GDDD. This was evaluated as the most economical solution as “geocat.ch” comprises all functionalities required for EMF, and KOGIS accepted to allow EuroGeographics to use free of charge the “geocat.ch” software components it owns.

Initial project objectives

The new metadata project will have the following objectives:

• Provide in the short term an improved metadata service describing at high level the largest possible number of our member National Mapping and Cadastral Agencies (NMCAs) products. It will be based on a newly designed central DB [NewGDDD], and a new user interface [EMF – EuroMapFinder]

• Provide strategic knowledge about its EuroGeographics Members, mainly for internal use – an improved digital “survey of the NMCAs” – part of which being possibly used also for marketing

• Initiate a distributed metadata service, a EuroGeographics multilingual portal for its Member NMCAs’ ready (politically and technically) to provide an interface to it [EMF v2]

• Combine the several approaches in a realistic, sustainable, and economic way, making use of all possible synergies with relevant EuroGeographics or other’s projects

Phase 1 of EMF will comprise:

• an operational central DB, populated with updated metadata of our members products and services,
• in a new ISO 19115 compliant profile,
• with remote update facilities through an Internet interface (Metadata Administration),
• and a customised user interface (Discovery Service)

News on the EuroMapFinder workshop, May 2005 (members only)

For more detailed information about the EMF service please follow the link to the detailed Application Specification.