Metadata and Attribution

Attribution

When editing layers in the admin interface, the first field below the layer name is the attribution.

The attribution field is used to display a short message at the bottom of the map giving credit to the data source. In many cases data providers require such attribution. This information will also be shown on the map when printing.

Beyond a simple text label, it is possible to display a link. To do so, enter an html anchor tag. An example of such a tag looks like the following:

<a href="https://marineregions.org">MarineRegions</a>

Metadata

SeaSketch has tools to author and provide metadata to users explaining the source, collection methods, and provenance of data layers. Users can access metadata for individual layers by right-clicking on the layer in the layer list or using the context button in the legend. These metadata summaries may provide a complete record for the layer, or use hyperlinks to redirect users to authoritative sources.

Authoring Metadata in SeaSketch

Metadata can be authored using the Metadata tab of the layer editor.

This WYSIWYG editor features tools to format text and create hyperlinks and lists. Copying and pasting text from sources such as web pages or Word documents will maintain basic formatting when possible. Many of our projects maintain metadata exclusively using the editor.

Metadata Titles

The WYSIWYG editor contains an H1 tag which can be used to provide a title for the metadata summary. If used, this will be the title displayed. If no H1 tag is used, SeaSketch will automatically title the metadata display with the layer name used in the layer list. For this reason, we recommend not using the H1 tag unless you intend for the metadata to have a different title than the layer name. Omitting the H1 tag will leave less redundant information for admins to maintain.

Using XML Metadata

Many organizations already maintain metadata using XML. SeaSketch is designed to work with these files, generating summaries of provided XML metadata for presentation to users and making the original source XML available for download.

The easiest way to get XML metadata into SeaSketch is when originally uploading a shapefile. If the .zip archive contains a .xml file that conforms to FGDC or ISO 19139 standards, the system will automatically associate that XML file with the layer, create a human-readable summary of the metadata for viewing in SeaSketch, and make it available for download when viewing that summary.

To upload XML metadata for a layer which didn't include an XML file during upload, or to update existing XML metadata, use the upload button in the metadata editor toolbar.

You can also update XML metadata from the footer of the metadata document.

Note that at this time, metadata summaries are not updated when new XML is uploaded. To create summaries of XML metadata, it must be included in the .zip archive during initial upload.

Metadata for ArcGIS Services

ArcGIS services have support for publishing certain metadata directly as part of the service. By default, SeaSketch will show a summary of information from the service when viewing metadata for these layers. You can choose to override this metadata with your own custom metadata authored in SeaSketch if you choose. It is also possible to revert back to the service-provided metadata if desired.

Click Convert to editable metadata to start authoring metadata directly in SeaSketch. Once converted, updates to the service metadata will no longer be reflected in SeaSketch, though you can always choose to revert back to dynamic metadata from the service.