[Metadatalibrarians] FGDC metadata and aerial photographs

[Keith Jenkins]

Hi, Kristin.

I'd agree that FGDC metadata would be a bit unwieldy (ok, ridiculously
unwieldy) for individual photos.  But it would be entirely appropriate
at the collection level.  I think most GIS users seeking historical
aerial photographs of the Chicago area would be happy to find a single
FGDC record describing the entire collection (1929-present).  If you
want to specify the dates more specifically (for example if they're
spaced out like 1929, 1937, 1954, etc.)  the FGDC CSDGM standard will
accommodate that within a single record, or you could also create
separate records for each batch.  I'm planning to do something similar
here (probably making separate records for each of four counties).

As for describing individual photographs... if you are using Dublin
Core, take a look at DCLite4G (a geospatial extension to DC), which
also has its own listserv.  Jo Walsh recently announced some new
DCLite4G documentation here:
    http://lists.eogeo.org/pipermail/dclite4g/2008-September/000015.html

Cheers,
Keith

Keith Jenkins
GIS/Geospatial Applications Librarian
Mann Library, Cornell University
Ithaca, New York 14853
kgj2 at cornell.edu :: 607-255-7192


On Mon, Sep 29, 2008 at 4:21 PM, Kristin E. Martin <kmarti at uic.edu> wrote:
> At UIC, we are planning to embark on a scanning project involving aerial
> photographs of the Chicagoland area, from 1929-present day, about 80,000
> images in all
...
> I'm wondering about how to do the metadata.  The maps/data librarian has
> suggested the FGDC Content Standard for Digital Geospatial Metadata, which I
> haven't worked with before. From looking at it, I wonder if that is too
> complex to attempt for each individual image.  It also seems like a lot of
> the elements would repeat themselves, because they belong at a higher level
> than the individual image, but there doesn't seem to be a way to nest
> multiple images (where the identification element would be different)
> without having to repeat the other sections.  The levels for FGDC seem more
> appropriate at an aggregate level of the photographs, perhaps by year, but
> then we wouldn't be able to provide the granularity of what is in an
> individual shot.  Additionally, it seems like any additional information we
> add to the metadata, such as buildings, natural features, cities, would end
> up being grouped together in theme keywords and place keywords.
>
> I'm wondering if there are other examples out there of aerial photograph
> collections and how you have done the metadata.  Would it be better to
> attempt to the metadata in FGDC and then map selected fields into an
> extended DC format for loading in CONTENTdm, or simply develop metadata
> directly in an extended Dublin Core (better to work with CONTENTdm) and
> worry about attempting FGDC later should we so desire?  Other options?