Data Discovery (DCAT)

From Earth Science Information Partners (ESIP)

The Data Catalog Vocabulary (DCAT) is an RDF vocabulary designed to facilitate interoperability between data catalogs published on the Web. The spirals below document concepts for the Common Core metadata specification based on the Data Catalog Vocabulary (DCAT). Where compatible the spiral provides xpath references for DIF, ECHO, ECS, DCAT, ISO, ISO-1 and FGDC documentation dialects.

DCAT for Data Discovery - Mandatory

The Data Catalog Vocabulary (DCAT) is an RDF vocabulary designed to facilitate interoperability between data catalogs published on the Web. This spirals includes the required common core attributes for DCAT.

Source: Common Core Reference
ConceptDescriptionDialect (Fit) Paths
Resource TitleA short description of the resource. The title should be descriptive enough so that when a user is presented with a list of titles the general content of the data set can be determined.ADIwg /adiwg:project/adiwg:idinfo/adiwg:citation/adiwg:citeinfo/adiwg:title
DIF /dif9:DIF/dif9:Entry_Title
DIF /dif9:DIF/dif9:Data_Set_Citation/dif9:Dataset_Title
DCAT /dct:title
Dryad dcterms:title
ECHO /*/echo:ShortName>/*/echo:LongName
ECS /*/ecs:ShortName > /*/ecs:LongName
EML /eml:dataset/eml:title/eml:text
FGDC /fgdc:metadata/fgdc:idinfo/fgdc:citation/fgdc:citeinfo/fgdc:title
HDF5.1 /hdf5:HDF5-File/hdf5:RootGroup/hdf5:Attribute[@Name='title']/hdf5:Data/hdf5:DataFromFile
HDF5.1 /hdf5:HDF5-File/hdf5:RootGroup/hdf5:Group[@Name='METADATA']/hdf5:Group[@Name='COLLECTIONMETADATA']/hdf5:Attribute[@Name='LongName']/hdf5:Data/hdf5:DataFromFile
ISO /*/gmd:identificationInfo/*/gmd:citation/gmd:CI_Citation/gmd:title/gco:CharacterString
ISO-1 /mdb:MD_Metadata/mdb:identificationInfo/*/mri:citation/cit:CI_Citation/cit:title/gco:CharacterString
UMM /umm:UMM/umm:CollectionCitation/umm:Title
OGC-SOS /sos:Capabilities/ows:ServiceIdentification/ows:Title
SERF /serf:SERF/serf:Entry_Title
THREDDS /thredds:catalog/thredds:dataset/@name
THREDDS /thredds:catalog/thredds:dataset/thredds:metadata/dc:title
THREDDS //thredds:dataset[1]/@name
netCDF /nc:netcdf/nc:attribute[@nc:name=title]/@nc:value
AbstractA paragraph describing the resource.

Note: This concept is called "Desciption" in Catalog Services for the Web.
ADIwg /adiwg:project/adiwg:idinfo/adiwg:descript/adiwg:abstract
DIF /dif9:DIF/dif9:Summary/dif9:Abstract
DCAT /dct:description
Dryad dcterms:description
ECHO /*/echo:Description
ECS /*/ecs:CollectionDescription
EML /eml:dataset/eml:abstract/eml:descendant
FGDC /fgdc:metadata/fgdc:idinfo/fgdc:descript/fgdc:abstract
HDF5.1 /hdf5:HDF5-File/hdf5:RootGroup/hdf5:Attribute[@Name='summary']/hdf5:Data/hdf5:DataFromFile
HDF5.1 /hdf5:HDF5-File/hdf5:RootGroup/hdf5:Group[@Name='METADATA']/hdf5:Group[@Name='COLLECTIONMETADATA']/hdf5:Attribute[@Name='CollectionDescription']/hdf5:Data/hdf5:DataFromFile
ISO /*/gmd:identificationInfo/*/gmd:abstract/gco:CharacterString
ISO-1 /mdb:MD_Metadata/mdb:identificationInfo/*/mri:abstract/gco:CharacterString
UMM /umm:UMM/umm:Summary
OGC-SOS /sos:Capabilities/ows:ServiceIdentification/ows:Abstract
SERF /serf:SERF/serf:Summary/serf:Abstract
THREDDS //thredds:dataset/thredds:documentation[@type='abstract']
THREDDS //thredds:metadata/thredds:documentation[@type='abstract']
netCDF /nc:netcdf/nc:attribute[@nc:name='summary']/@nc:value
Theme KeywordA word or phrase that describes some aspect of a res

xPath Note: The xPaths included in this table use several wildcards. // means any path, so //gmd:CI_ResponsibleParty indicates a gmd:CI_ResponsibleParty anywhere in an XML file. /*/ indicates a single level with several possible elements. This usually indicates one of several concrete realizations of an abstract object. For example /*/gmd:identificationInfo could be gmd:MD_Metadata/gmd:identificationInfo or gmi:MI_Metadata/gmd:identificationInfo and gmd:identificationInfo//*/gmd:descriptiveKeywords could be gmd:identificationInfo/gmd:MD_DataIdentification/gmd:descriptiveKeywords or gmd:identificationInfo/srv:SV_ServiceIdentification/gmd:descriptiveKeywords. Fit: The fit of the dialect path with the concept is estimated on a scale of 1 = excellent two-way fit, 2 = one-way fit or some other problem, 3 - extension required.


Data Discoverability