[Federal Register Volume 64, Number 26 (Tuesday, February 9, 1999)]
[Notices]
[Pages 6375-6376]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 99-3048]
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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
Geological Survey
Federal Geographic Data Committee (FGDC); Public Comment on the
Proposal To Develop the ``Content Standard for Digital Geospatial
Metadata: Extensions for Remote Sensing Metadata'' as a Federal
Geographic Data Committee Standard
ACTION: Notice; request for comments.
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SUMMARY: The FGDC is soliciting public comments on the proposal to
develop a ``Content Standard for Digital Geospatial Metadata:
Extensions for Remote Sensing Metadata.'' If the proposal is approved,
the standard will be developed following the FGDC standards development
and approval process and will be considered for adoption by the FGDC.
In its assigned federal leadership role in the development of the
National Spatial Data Infrastructure (NSDI), the Committee recognizes
that FGDC standards must also meet the needs and recognize the views of
State and local governments, academia, industry, and the public. The
purpose of this notice is to solicit such views. The FGDC invites the
community to review the proposal and comment on the objectives, scope,
approach, and usability of the proposed standard; identify existing
related standards; and indicate their interest in participating in the
development of the standard.
DATES: Comments must be received on or before March 19, 1999. Comments
are accepted at any time however the maintenance organization for this
proposal has the authority to reject comments received after this date.
CONTACT and ADDRESSES: Comments may be submitted via Internet mail or
by submitting electronic copy on diskette. Send comments via Internet
to: ">[email protected]www.fgdc.gov. A soft copy version, on a 3.5 x 3.5 diskette
in WordPerfect 5.0 or 6.0/6.1 format, along with one hardcopy version
of the comments may be sent to the FGDC Secretariat (attn: Jennifer
Fox) at U.S. Geological Survey, 590 National Center, 12201 Sunrise
Valley Drive, Reston, Virginia, 20192.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Following is the complete proposal for the
``Content Standard for Digital Geospatial Metadata: Extensions for
Remote Sensing Metadata''.
Project Title: Content Standard for Digital Geospatial Metadata:
Extensions for Remote Sensing Metadata.
Data of Proposal: October 21, 1998.
Submitting Organization: FGDC Standards Working Group, Imagery
subgroup (National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)).
Point of Contact: Benjamin Kobler, NASA Goddard Space Flight
Center, Mail Code 423, Greenbelt, MD 20771. Phone: 301-614-5231.
Electronic mail: ben.kobler@gsfc.nasa.gov.
Objectives
The purpose of this proposal is to provide extensions to the
Federal Geographic Data Committee (FGDC) Content Standard for Digital
Geospatial Metadata (also referred to hereafter as the Metadata Content
Standard) for metadata describing geospatial data obtained from remote
sensing. Efforts will be made to make these extentions consistent with
the ISO metadata standard under development. Adding these extensions
will provide a way to incorporate the metadata needed for remote
sensing into the Metadata Content Standard.
Scope
These extensions will define content standards for metadata not
defined in the Metadata Content Standard that are needed for describing
data obtained from remote sensing. They will include metadata
describing the observing geometry, the sensor, and the method and
process of deriving geospatial information from raw telemetry. In
addition, metadata to describe granules, the individual files or images
that collectively make up a data product, will be defined.
Justification
Proper use of remote sensing data requires an understanding of how
those data were obtained. While ground-based data are often compiled
from existing data sources without change of form or are obtained by
direct in situ measurement, deriving geospatial data from the
measurements made by remote sensing instruments is often much less
direct. To do so may require knowledge of the observing geometry, the
instrument behavior, and the processing methods and history. In
addition, remote sensing measurements produce large volumes of data,
and users typically do not access the entire data set, only selected
files or frames.
Information about the viewing geometry and the properties and
behavior of the instrument in the FGDC Metadata Content Standard is
limited to the description of the number of points along the raster
axes. The draft ISO metadata standard also includes solar elevation and
azimuth angles and the angle of an image to the vertical.
[[Page 6376]]
However, many users need a more detailed viewing geometry: satellite
orbit or aircraft flight path, platform orientation, and orientation of
instruments relative to the platform. While the proposed ISO standard
includes a number of items in the section of spatial data
representation describing instrumentation not present in the FGDC
Metadata Content Standard, the only calibration information is whether
camera calibration information is available. More information on the
calibration of the instrument, including its dependence on wavelength
and time, is usually required. A standard description of such metadata
should be defined.
Processing of remote sensing data passes through several stages.
The instrument calibration must be applied to the readings communicated
by the raw telemetry and the resulting physical meaurements located
geographically. In some cases, what the instruments measure is not the
final product; for example, radiation measurements may be used to infer
temperatures. Maps and grids may be generated from data at individual
points. Information on the algorithms used for these steps should
accompany the data. In addition, information about the processing
itself, such as what stage a given processing represents, or which
version of processing is represented, is needed. The FGDC Metadata
Content Standard allows for this information an entry for lineage,
which the draft ISO standard has expanded this item to an entire
section on lineage information, but in both cases the content is
unspecified free text. These extensions will define the specific items
that are needed in remote sensing metadata.
The dataset containing results from a remote sensing mission is
large and heterogeneous. Necessary descriptive metadata may not apply
to the entire dataset, but only to individual pictures or files. While
the FGDC Metadata Content Standard has no specific provision for such
granularity, the informative Appendix F to the ISO draft provides but
does not define granule-specific metadata. These extensions will define
the granule-level metadata appropriate to remote sensing.
Benefits
Adoption of these extensions will broaden the applicability of the
Metadata Content Standard to include metadata needed to describe
geospatial data derived from remote sensing. Making this standard
directly relevant to the remote sensing community will encourage its
use. There will be less chance that future producers of remote sensing
data will see the Metadata Content Standard as inapplicable to their
needs and develop separate standards.
Approach
Data standardization and modeling are major research issues within
the Earth Observing System Data and Information System (EOSDIS)
development process. Results of this research, combined with comments
from scientists around the world, from the EOSDIS Data Model Working
Group, and from Earth Science Data and Information System (ESDIS)
staff, have been developed into metadata for the EOSDIS Core System
(ECS). There metadata are described in the Proposed ECS Core Metadata
Standard. This document defines metadata in several areas in the scope
of the extensions to be developed and will be used as a basis of the
extensions covering those areas. The Moderate-Resolution Imaging
Radiometer (MODIS) Level 1A Earth Location: Algorithm Theoretical Basis
Document has a detailed discussion of the information and process
required to derive positions in geographical coordinates given
spacecraft and instrument position and orientation. That discussion
will serve as the basis for the definition of viewing geometry
metadata. As the proposed extensions are to be developed following FGDC
prescriptions, development and adoption is to proceed through the FGDC
Standards Working Group (SWG) procedures. The Imagery Subgroup will
develop these extensions; working scientists with whom it is in contact
will also contribute. Because both metadata and remote sensing
applications are involved, the Metadata Ad Hoc Working Group should be
involved at appropriate stages.
Related Standards
This standard is intended as extended elements of the FGDC Content
Standard for Digital Geospatial Metadata. It will follow the
prescriptions of Appendix D of that Standard, which specifies the
requirements for extended elements. ISO/Technical Committee 211,
Working Group 3 is developing an international standard for metadata;
the current draft is ISO/CD 15046-15. When development of that standard
is complete, it is likely to be considered for adoption by FGDC,
superseding those parts of the current standard where there is overlap.
The ISO standard also has a recommended extension methodology, in
Appendix E. The information there will be used to guide the process of
development of these extensions to the metadata standard. Extensions to
the current FGDC standard covering areas in the ISO standard not in the
FGDC standard will be constructed to be compatible with the ISO
standard.
As noted in the section on approach, the ECS Core Metadata
Standard, which covers many of the areas in the scope of these
extensions, will be used where relevant as a basis for the FGDC
codification.
Schedule
Submission of proposal to FGDC/SWG: November 1998.
Submission of Working Draft to FGDC/SWG: late 1999.
Resources
NASA's ESDIS project will fund the effort required to develop these
FGDC Content Standard for Digital Geospatial Metadata: Extensions for
Remote Sensing Metadata.
Potential Participants
Through the Mission to Planet Earth, NASA already involves many
diverse groups in the remote sensing community. The continuing
standards work for ESDIS has provided considerable insight into the
requirements of these groups. Other federal agencies that produce large
quantities of remote sensing data, such as the National Oceanic and
Atmospheric Administration, the National Imagery and Mapping Agency,
and the U.S. Geological Survey, may also participate in development of
the standard. Contributions will be solicited from the academic remote
sensing community.
Target Authorization Body
The proposed extensions are not specifically targeted for
consideration by any authorizing agency other than FGDC. However, as
efforts to bring the FGDC standard into consistency with the ISO
standard proceed, efforts may be made to gain ISO endorsement as well.
Dated: January 28, 1999.
Richard E. Witmer,
Chief, National Mapping Division.
[FR Doc. 99-3048 Filed 2-8-99; 8:45 am]
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