[Geodata] support for standard metadata models

[Jo Walsh]

dear Stefan, Jeroen, all,

On Tue, Jun 19, 2007 at 06:23:59PM +0200, Jeroen Ticheler wrote:
> >offers Dublin Core as model and OAI/XML as the encoding (see also  
> >e.g. http://en.scientificcommons.org/register-repository). Whereas  
> >OSGeo's DClite4G gives a more GIS oriented and more useful model  
> >but still lacks an encoding (Jo: Please correct me).

Right. I realised while listening to a talk on scientific metadata
registries at XTech that DCLite4G (as i see it) is a 
"Dublin Core Application Profile". From the definition:

[[ By definition, a DCAP identifies the source of metadata terms used
   whether they have been defined in formally maintained standards
   such as Dublin Core, in less formally defined element sets and
   vocabularies, or by the creator of the DCAP itself for local use in an
   application. Optionally, a DCAP may provide additional documentation
   on how the terms are constrained, encoded, or interpreted ]]
   From http://dublincore.org/usage/documents/profile-guidelines/

> >http://dublincore.org/schemas/xmls/). Which is the encoding you  
> >propose and what's the semantics of dc:coverage?

i borrowed the Dublin Core example as distributed by GeoNetwork 
and used it as a template for a DCLite4G model:
http://project.knowledgeforge.net/geometa/trac/browser/samples/dublin-core
http://project.knowledgeforge.net/geometa/trac/browser/dclite4g/template/dublin-core

The aim here is to show the model in a ton of different encodings; 
to emphasise the idea that the format can be different as long as the
principles of what is being described remain more or less the same.
I wrote a very simple library that extracts the minimal model from 
iso19915, FGDC, and translates into and between other formats.
That does not yet include ISO19139, i suppose it should and i would
like to follow the example set in GeoNetwork's support for it. 

cheers,


jo