Tools to edit metadata

To facilitate the task of creating and editing metadata there are several free metadata editors available on the market. These editors allow you to edit metadata in a user-friendly environment, hiding the complexity that their manual edition may entail and providing compliance with the applicable standards.

Additionally, among editors and/or providers of geographic data experts it is common to edit the metadata directly on the coded files according to the format or standard of implementation used, frequently in XML. However, this option is not recommended in the case of untidy users, since it requires a thorough understanding of these standards.

Below there is a list of metadata editors available on the Internet, which includes links to access them:

• GeoNetwork IDEC: Web application of the IDEC Catalogue to manage and administer a catalog of geoinformation. It includes a complete and powerful multilingual metadata editor that provides validation tools, both for the implementation format and requirements derived from the European INSPIRE Directive. Contact IDEC to edit multilingual metadata with the GeoNetwork IDEC Catalogue.

• CatMDEdit: Desktop metadata editor, fruit of technical collaboration between the Instituto Geográfico Nacional (IGN) and the Grupo de Sistemas de Información Avanzados (IAAA) of the University of Zaragoza, with the support of GeoSpatiumLab (GeoSLab). The IDEC Support Center offers advice on the use of editing tools and on the generation of metadata to the organizations and institutions that request it: Contact.

Tools to validate metadata

Although metadata publishers guide the user in meeting the requirements derived from the metadata standards and applicable regulations, there are additional tools that facilitate the final quality control of the produced metadata.

These are tools to check the correctness of their structure (format or standard of implementation) and/or evaluate compliance with specific requirements of applicable standards and/or in force regulations, such as INSPIRE.

Below there is a list of metadata validators available on the Internet, which includes links to download:

• XML Tools Plugin (for Notepad++): Tool that allows you to validate if the structure and syntax of a file encoded in XML is correct (“Well-formed” XML).

• INSPIRE Validator: Validator of the European Comission, aimed at evaluating compliance with regard to specific requirements derived from the European INSPIRE Directive.