Division of Geological & Geophysical Surveys
Metadata Web Accessible Folder
This WAF (http://www.dggs.alaska.gov/metadata) holds all of the metadata (data about data) for the digital data published by DGGS. The metadata files in this folder get indexed regularly to the geospatial one stop web site data.gov, which provides a means for searching federal, state, and local geographic data. Any user of DGGS data may download any file in this folder and save it to his or her computer. Alternatively, the user may simply bookmark the HTML version of the metadata with a web browser, since these files will always be up to date.
There are three metadata file formats in this folder. Metadata are available as ASCII text (.txt), FAQ-style HMTL (.faq.html), and eXtensible Markup Language (.xml) files to allow maximum readability and usability for the user.
The ASCII text and XML formats contain all possible metadata information. The FAQ-style HTML format only contains metadata information that are frequently asked, hence the name.
DGGS metadata contains two extensions to the FGDC metadata standard: Planar_Coordinate_Layer_Name and Entity_Attribute_Layer_Name. These were created so that a metadata file could describe an entire dataset and not an individual layer (or entity). Unfortunately, because they are not part of the standard, these entries are not viewable in the ESRI ArcCatalog metadata editor.
The contents of this folder may be updated at any time. The modification date will be displayed in your web browser and the modification and review dates are listed as the metadata elements Metadata_Date and Metadata_Review_Date, respectively.
All of the metadata in this folder comply with FGDC standards and have been checked for errors using "MP," the parsing/validation tool for formal metadata.
Any hard copies or published data sets utilizing these metadata sets shall clearly indicate their source. If the user has modified the data in any way they are obligated to describe the types of modifications they have performed in the supporting metadata file. User specifically agrees not to imply that changes they made were approved by the State of Alaska, Department of Natural Resources, Division of Geological & Geophysical Surveys.
Please contact the metadata manager below with any questions, comments, or concerns you have about the metadata.
Simone Montayne
Division of Geological & Geophysical Surveys
Geocommunications Section
E-mail | Tel: 907.451.5036