Welcome to the Geospatial Metadata Server (GMS). GMS is an on-line software
system that consists of:
From this main page one can query the metadata database as well as access a number of other system utilities independently. The design of the metadata database is based on a subset of sections and fields from the Content Standard for Digital Geospatial Metadata (CSDGM). The keyword search is compatible with this standard.
The ability to parse a metadata files and load the information directly into a database would be of considerable benefit to spatial data providers. The GMS metadatabase incorporates two utilities, MPARSER and MLOADER for this very purpose. MPARSER will parse a CSDGM metadata file and MLOADER will enter the parsed fields into a the relational database. Go to the second link below to read more.
All of the software is integrated into the database. What this means in its simplest form is that a query to the metadata database will not only bring up a 'button' to view the entire metadata record but also provide other 'buttons' to performs data conversions, plot Arc/Info coverages and a utility that trawls an entire site for geospatial data. These 'buttons' are simply HTML forms with all the arguments in 'hidden' HTML fields. Press the button and the server side software is executed. The information that is supplied to the HTML forms are supplied directly from the database. Imagine, information queried directly from a relational database and thrown into server side software as arguments
There are five test CSDGM metadata files in the database at present. Try the
following keywords to query the database. Each example will provide a different
example of GMS capabilities. You could try a 'date' or 'location' search but 'keyword'
the examples below will allow you to experience all the software on the system.
Try the date query by varying the dates in increments of 10 years. There are three types of location queries, a defined circle, image map circle and a rectangle. By clicking on the image map around the central part of the US and varying the search radii you should be able to query at least one if not more of the test datasets. Note the scale at which queries can be conducted.
If you have any problems then try some of the test links on the page indicated below. FTP servers and FTP clients are not all the same so there may be problems when uploading files to the system using FTP. If you are having problems with FTP then try the 'decompress e00 file' utility. It writes out the FTP command file before executing it, that way you can see what is going on statement by statement.
If needed, try them all. Also, please don't hesitate to e-mail me for support.
Email: anp@geo.ed.ac.uk