Background

This category on the ESIP wiki provides a landing page for information related to the Attribute Conventions for Dataset Discovery. These conventions identify and define a list of NetCDF global attributes recommended for describing a NetCDF dataset to discovery systems such as Digital Libraries. Software tools will use these attributes for extracting metadata from datasets, and exporting to Dublin Core, DIF, ADN, FGDC, ISO 19115 etc. metadata formats.

History

NOTE: Occasionally the acronym UDDC (Unidata Dataset Discovery Conventions) is used in the community to refer to the same convention. ACDD is preferred over UDDC going forward.

Regardless of the numeric version, the current version is always found at Attribute Convention for Data Discovery (ACDD) and the working version including new concepts and terms under consideration can be found at Attribute Convention for Data Discovery (ACDD) Working

Objectives and Goals

1. To allow dataset discovery and facilitate mapping between dataset metadata (notably netCDF) and ISO 19115.
2. The ACDD Steering Group formalizes changes and additions to ACDD

Governance

The discussion for changes to ACDD is carried out via this wiki and the ESIP Documentation Cluster mailing list. To sign up for edit privileges for this wiki you must first register at the ESIP Commons. This registration also grants access to other community resources supported by ESIP. Both the mailing list and this wiki are open and anyone in the community. ACDD will evolve based on the discussions on this list and as documented on these wiki pages. Occasionally, the discussion may need to be moderated or a decision must be made. In these cases the steering committee will vote and adopt a solution as described below.

Steering Committee

ACDD will evolve based on the direction of the steering committee initially comprised of the following members:

• Derrick Snowden (Chair) IOOS
• Dave Blodgett USGS
• Nan Galbraith WHOI
• John Graybeal Marinexplore.org
• Ted Habermann The HDF Group
• Steve Hankin PMEL
• Marcos Hermida Unidata
• Aleksandar Jelenak The HDF Group
• Anna Milan NGDC
• Dave Neufeld CIRES
• Rich Signell USGS
• Bob Simons NMFS
• Ed Armstrong JPL

Decision Making Process

Vote 70% majority of voting members; members may decline to vote on some issues

If a vote is taken or a decision is reached, that decision should be broadcast to those who could not be present. Discussion of the decision takes place for some period of time (or till the next meeting?) If there is disagreement or ongoing discussion, the decision is not finalized. If there is no discussion or disagreement, the topic is final and will not be revisited later.