The newly developed Online Metadata Editor (OME) [1] is a Web-based tool that allows users to create and maintain XML files containing key information, or metadata, about the research. Metadata include information about the specific projects, parameters, time periods, and locations associated with the data. Such information helps put the research findings in context. In addition, the metadata produced using OME will allow other researchers to find these data via Metadata clearinghouses like Mercury [2]. OME is part of ORNL’s Mercury software fleet [2][3]. It was jointly developed to support projects funded by the USGS, NASA, DOE and NOAA. OME’s architecture provides a customizable interface to support project-specific requirements. Researchers simply use OME to enter relevant metadata into a Web-based form. From the information on the form, the Metadata Editor can create an XML file on the server that the editor is installed or to the user’s personal computer. The produced XML file is in a structured “scientific metadata” format called Federal Geophysical Data Committee (FGDC). Researchers can also use OME to modify existing FGDC XML metadata files. As an example, an NGEE Arctic scientist use OME to register their datasets to the NGEE data archive and allows the NGEE archive to publish these datasets via a data search portal (http://ngee.ornl.gov/data). These descriptive metadata created using OME allows the Archives' to enable advanced data search options using keyword, geo-spatial, temporal and ontology filters [4]. OME allows data centers like NGEE to produce high quality descriptive information about their data in-turn helping with the data discoverability.

References:

[1] Devarakonda, Ranjeet, et al. THE NEW ONLINE METADATA EDITOR FOR GENERATING STRUCTURED METADATA. Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), 2014.

[2] Devarakonda, Ranjeet, et al. "Mercury: reusable metadata management, data discovery and access system." Earth Science Informatics 3.1-2 (2010): 87-94.

[3] DEVARAKONDA, Ranjeet. "A SERVICE ORIENTED WEB-BASED SYSTEM FOR FINDING AND RETRIEVING GEOLOGICAL DATA." 2011 GSA Annual Meeting in Minneapolis. 2011.

[4] Pouchard, Line C., et al. "A Linked Science investigation: enhancing climate change data discovery with semantic technologies." Earth science informatics 6.3 (2013): 175-185.