A Java Tool for Creating ISO / FGDC Geographic Metadata

Metadata are "data about data", that is to say, they describe the content, quality, condition, and other characteristics of data in order to help a person to locate and understand data. Nevertheless, maybe one of the main problems for launching a Spatial Data Infrastructure (SDI) is to have appropriate and well-defined contents for its catalogues, that is to say metadata. The creation of metadata is an arduous labour that must be facilitated by the adequate tools. At the University of Zaragoza, a Java tool for creating geographic metadata has been developed. This SDI component enables the different agents of a spatial data infrastructure to create consistent metadata describing geospatial data resources. It is being used in some SDI initiatives as the reference tool for the metadatacreation process. This paper presents this tool functionality.