Resource Format Name Best Practices¶
This FGDC conformance check examines direct data access and format names for resources in ISO 19115 or 19115-3 and verifies them against a known list of formats.
Direct Access to Data¶
Data.gov and the GeoPlatform depend on operational, direct links to provide users access to available resources and associated information. The primary mission of Data.gov and the GeoPlatform is to connect users with data. As such, a direct access URL to the data download is required when available.
To determine the type of resource in a metadata record, GeoPlatform uses the resource’s format name. Without a format name, GeoPlatform displays the link to the resources but treats the resource as unknown.
Resource format names¶
To help users discover and use resources, it is recommended that metadata authors use common short names to name the data formats in their metadata. A user searching for a “Shapefile” won’t easily find all of the potential resources if the format name isn’t used consistently. As an example, there are more than 30 variations of the “Esri Shapefile” such as “Shapefile”, “zip shapefile”, “Shape”, “Shape File”, etc.
For raster and vector, common short names GeoPlatform uses GDAL’s (Geospatial Data Abstraction Library) documentation. GDAL is a translator library for raster and vector geospatial data formats.
The FGDC conformance check looks in these ISO 19115 and 19115-3 locations for a resources format name.
ISO 19115¶
//gmd:distributionInfo/gmd:MD_Distribution/gmd:distributionFormat/gmd:MD_Format/gmd:name/gco:CharacterString/text()
//gmd:distributionInfo/gmd:MD_Distribution/gmd:distributionFormat/gmd:MD_Format/gmd:formatDistributor/gmd:MD_Distributor/gmd:ditributorFormat/gmd:name/gco:CharacterString/text()
//gmd:distributionInfo/gmd:MD_Distribution/gmd:transferOptions/gmd:MD_DigitalTransferOptions/gmd:onLine/gmd:CI_OnlineResource/gmd:applicationProfile/gco:CharacterString/text()
//gmd:identificationInfo/gmd:MD_DataIdentification/gmd:resourceFormat/gmd:MD_Format/gmd:name/gco:CharacterString/text()
//gmd:distributionInfo/gmd:MD_Distribution/gmd:distributor/gmd:MD_Distributor/gmd:distributorFormat/gmd:MD_Format/gmd:name/gco:CharacterString/text()
ISO 19115-3¶
//mdb:distributionInfo/mrd:MD_Distribution/mrd:distributor/mrd:MD_Distributor/mrd:distributorTransferOptions/mrd:MD_DigitalTransferOptions/mrd:distributionFormat/mrd:MD_Format/mrd:formatSpecificationCitation/cit:CI_Citation/cit:title/gco:CharacterString/text()
//mdb:distributionInfo/mrd:MD_Distribution/mrd:distributionFormat/mrd:MD_Format/mrd:formatDistributor/mrd:MD_Distributor/mrd:ditributorFormat/mrd:MD_Format/mrd:formatSpecificationCitation/cit:CI_Citation/cit:title/gco:CharacterString/text()
//mdb:distributionInfo/mrd:MD_Distribution/mrd:transferOptions/mrd:MD_DigitalTransferOptions/mrd:onLine/cit:CI_OnlineResource/cit:applicationProfile/gco:CharacterString/text()
//mdb:identificationInfo/mri:MD_DataIdentification/mri:resourceFormat/mrd:MD_Format/mrd:formatSpecificationCitation/cit:CI_Citation/cit:title/gco:CharacterString/text()
//mdb:distributionInfo/mrd:MD_Distribution/mrd:distributionFormat/mrd:MD_Format/mrd:formatSpecificationCitation/cit:CI_Citation/cit:title/gco:CharacterString/text()
