_____   __________________  ____  ____
              /  _/ | / /_  __/ ____/ __ \/ __ \/ __ \
              / //  |/ / / / / __/ / /_/ / / / / /_/ /
            _/ // /|  / / / / /___/ _, _/ /_/ / ____/
           /___/_/ |_/ /_/ /_____/_/ |_|\____/_/

               _   __                  __     __  __
              / | / /__ _      _______/ /__  / /_/ /____  _____
             /  |/ / _ \ | /| / / ___/ / _ \/ __/ __/ _ \/ ___/
            / /|  /  __/ |/ |/ (__  ) /  __/ /_/ /_/  __/ /
           /_/ |_/\___/|__/|__/____/_/\___/\__/\__/\___/_/
*************************************************************************
Number 12     ***         INTEROP NEWSLETTER      ***      August 2001
*************************************************************************

In This Issue:
--------------

I.     Preparations for Next CEOS meeting in Darmstadt
       (Information at http://www.eumetsat.de/en/area2/ceos/)

II.    Germany's DLR Thesaurus Being Revived
       - by Dr. James French, William Ewing, and Lola Olsen

III.   ISO 19115 Alignment with the IDN Data Model
       - by Lorant Czaran and Cheryl Solomon

IV.    IDN Representative Presents Paper in EO-GEO Session of
       Digital Earth Conference in Fredericton, NB entitled:
       "Syntactic and Semantic Validation Within A Metadata
       Management System"
       - by Janine Pollack

V.     American Coordinating Node Reorganizes Web Tree
       - by Monica Holland

VI.    IDN Content Takes Giant Leap Through Use of New Web-Based
       Authoring Tools
       - by Scott Ritz and Janine Pollack

VII.   MD8 Beta Testing Completed for the IDN by UNEP-GRID/Budapest
       and the Australian Antarctic Data Centre

VIII.  Draft Agenda for IDN Task Team Meeting

*************************************************************************
I.   Preparations for Next CEOS meeting in Darmstadt

     Preparations are being made by the International Directory
     Network (IDN) participants for the next CEOS subgroup meetings
     in Darmstadt, Germany.  See http://www.eumetsat.de/en/area2/ceos

     The IDN session is scheduled for Thursday, September 6th during
     the morning.  See Item VIII for the agenda.


**************************************************************************

II.  Germany's DLR Thesaurus Being Revived
     - by Dr. James French, William Ewing, and Lola Olsen

Several years ago, representatives from Germany's DLR requested
that the CEOS IDN maintain the Earth science thesaurus that they
had developed.  It has taken some time to identify the resources
needed to go forward with this work.  Dr. Jim French from the
University of Virginia won an Earth Science Technology Office
(ESTO) award to investigate thesaurus issues.  As part of the ESTO
award, he has been working to make it possible to easily update
the thesaurus.  Updating is an essential and critical aspect of
a viable thesaurus in Earth science.   Dr. French and his
colleagues initiated this study using the open source database,
mySQL for the first prototype.  It has since been adapted for Oracle.

Two Java clients have been written - one to serve the users called
the "Look-Up" client and one to serve the database administrators
called the "Administrative" client.  Both clients adopt the look
of the original DLR clients but add new Human-Computer Interaction
(HCI) features to let users select terms for inclusion into their
queries.

The vision is that users will be able to enter through any interface
offered by the IDN that is also free-text enabled and select a keyword.
Users can then choose to "escape" to the thesaurus.  Synonyms, related,
and broader or narrower terms can be identified to use in the search.
Alternatively, users can combine the current search terms with new terms
from the thesaurus and execute an augmented query.

The "Administrative" client currently only permits additions and
modifications on a one-by-one basis.  Therefore, scripts will be
written to populate the thesaurus with the current IDN controlled
keywords and their associated uncontrolled detailed variables.

It seems appropriate that the revitalization of Germany's DLR
thesaurus will be revealed at the upcoming CEOS subgroup meeting
in Darmstadt, Germany.  A demonstration will be given.


***************************************************************************
III.   ISO 19115 Alignment with the IDN Data Model
       - by Lorant Czaran and Cheryl Solomon

The draft International ISO standard was to be released in April, 2001;
however, it was only recently released.  The 13th ISO/TC 211 Plenary
meeting is set for Adelaide, Australia, on October 25 -26.  The Editing
Committee of 19115 will also meet during the Adelaide Plenary.  A seminar
during the same event will also address metadata issues.  The final Draft
International Standard is scheduled for release in November 2001 and the
International Standard in January of 2002, according to the present Work
Programme.  This can still be amended and further delayed during the
Adelaide Plenary.

The ISO Core fields are defined in the standard as fields that
ISO recommends to be populated.  However, these may be mandatory,
conditional (fields that are mandatory if applicable), or optional.

The CEOS community may need to make decisions about whether, in order
to match the ISO core fields, the following existing DIF fields
should be made mandatory - Title, Publication Date, URL, Technical
Contact, DIF Author, Discipline, Spatial Coverage, Data Set Language,
Distribution Format, DIF Creation date.  At this time, these fields
are not mandatory.  This decision will be handled through the
Interoperability ListServer.

Decisions are also required about whether DIF fields should be created
because they exist in the core ISO but not in DIF, such as:  metadata
language, character set for metadata and data set, geographic description,
(although the DIF does offer Location names), geographic extent as
specific polygons (already incorporated in MEDI tool), spatial
representation type, reference system information, statement about
the lineage of a dataset (which can incorporated into the DIF's summary),
format version, and metadata standard name/metadata standard version.
Although every DIF offered is in the most current version of the DIF
standard, (DIF8.0, for instance) a decision may need to be made on
whether this format name and version should be explicitly stated in the
DIF.  Alternatively, the format name and version do not need to be held
in the DIF, but rather when converting to ISO, these fields could be
automatically added.  None of the fields discussed above are mandatory
in ISO.

The following sub-fields in the DIF's citation field do not exist
in ISO:  publication, publication place, publisher.  ISO does not
offer the essential sensor and source names, paleo-temporal coverage,
location, project, originating center, URL content type, the parent-
child concept, the IDN node, the DIF Revision history, or the DIF
Review date.  When DIFs are converted to ISO, there must be a
mechanism to keep the information in these fields from being lost.

***************************************************************************
IV.    IDN Representative Presents Paper in EO-GEO Session of
       Digital Earth Conference in Fredericton, NB entitled:
       "Syntactic and Semantic Validation Within A Metadata
       Management System".  Included here is the original
       abstract of the paper for this presentation.
       - by J Pollack, C Gokey, and D Kendig


The ability to maintain quality information is essential to securing
the confidence in any system for which the information serves as a
data source.  NASA's Global Change Master Directory (GCMD), an
online Earth science data locator, holds over 9000 data set
descriptions and is in a constant state of flux as metadata are
created and updated on a daily basis.  In such a system, the importance
of maintaining the consistency and integrity of these metadata is
crucial.  The GCMD has developed a metadata management system
utilizing XML, controlled vocabulary, and Java technologies to
ensure the metadata not only adhere to valid syntax, but also
exhibit proper semantics.

By examining the metadata and recognizing potential errors prior to
their being added, the system ensures the highest quality of data
for the catalog.  The benefits of maintaining this level of quality
are apparent in the consistency among the data set descriptions
and how this consistency in turn results in more effective search
techniques.  For example, with standard formats imposed upon the spatial
and temporal coverages, one can easily determine which metadata records
cover a particular geographic area or time frame of interest.  Similarly,
the use of controlled vocabulary restricts the terms used to describe
the content of the data to a given set, and therefore, the possible
search words as well.  The content of the metadata is similarly tested
for valid values.  Specific fields (such as scientific content,
location, personnel, and others) within the metadata record must be
composed of valid keywords, thus ensuring appropriate content.  As a
result, a level of standardization that makes searching easier and more
precise is achieved by guaranteeing that both the syntax and semantics
of each metadata record entered into the GCMD system is valid.

***************************************************************************

V.  American Coordinating Node Reorganizes Web Tree
    -by Monica Holland

The American Coordinating Node has reorganized the structure of
the web tree in anticipation of transitioning to the idn.ceos.org
site.  The IDN will soon be offering searches for Earth science related
services, in addition to searches for data sets.  In an effort to
present the new resources, an evaluation of the existing web site
content was made.  After reviewing over 3000 web pages, a
reorganization of the web tree proved imperative.

An analysis of the current organizational structure of the
site resulted in a list of pages that should be deleted or placed
outside the accessible tree.  The reorganized web tree
will assure updated and relevant pages for the users.  A plan is
in place to transfer the existing pages to a new group of directories
more in line with the focus of the future IDN.  The relevant
directories  will include (1) Data, (2) Services, (3) Resources,
(4) User Connection (this includes the Interoperability Forum and
other useful tools to promote interaction within the user community),
and (5) IDN American Coordinating Node specific directories, such
as the maps provided by UNEP.

All pages within each of the new directories will be updated for
accuracy and web design consistency.  The reconstructed web tree
will be part of the release of MD8.  The organized web structure
will facilitate the installation of site content relevant to the
nodes participating in the distributed MD8.

***************************************************************************
VI.    IDN Content Takes Giant Leap Through Use of New Web-Based
       Authoring Tools - by Scott Ritz and Janine Pollack

The IDN has registered a substantial increase in the usage of its
online based metadata documenting tools over the last 6 months. This
increase is credited to the ease of use of new metadata authoring
tools and the contributions by the IDN's domestic and international
partners.  In addition, a recent request that all NASA EOSDIS related
data sets be referenced in the IDN has resulted in hundreds of new
metadata entries. The number of entries contributed trough the metadata
authoring tools has increased from 15 in February 2001 to a record 319
in July 2001.  196 new entries have been submitted in the first nine days
of August.  This effort has pushed the total number of metadata entries
offered by the IDN to over 10,000!

Three tools are currently available:  (1) DIFbuilder is the most
comprehensive, offering all 33 fields that make up the Directory
Interchange Format (DIF);  (2) DIFbuildlet is a shorter form, providing
nine essential DIF fields for entering information.  It is recommended
for those new to metadata writing or those who plan to expand their
records at a later time;  (3) modDIFbuilder is used to modify or add
information to their existing records.  Metadata authors are encouraged
to complete all the fields for which they have information.

The GCMD Science Coordinator staff is available to answer questions
regarding the tools. Please forward all questions to
gcmduso@gcmd.nasa.gov  or call (301) 867-2085.

All of the GCMD's metadata documenting tools can accessed at:
http://gcmd.nasa.gov/tools/

**************************************************************************
VII.   MD8 Beta Testing Completed for the IDN by UNEP/GRID-Budpest
       and the Australian Antarctic Data Centre

The Beta-testing phase of the MD8 software by UNEP-GRID/Budapest
and the Australian Antarctic Data Centre (AADC) has been
completed.  Suggested improvements and additional security
measures are being implemented as part of the revised package.
Generally, the installation procedures were deemed simple and
quick using the InstallAnywhere package.  Browser-specific problems
were most frequently cited during tests of the server.  Layout,
logic, and security were questioned during tests of the Admistrative
Operations client.  Detailed results will be discussed at the
CEOS Subgroup meeting in Darmstadt.  Special thanks to the
dedicated and careful testing led by the "Dave's" (Dr. Dave Watts
and Dave Connell) and Lee Belbin from AADC and Viktor Pusztai from
UNEP-GRID/Budapest.

**************************************************************************
VIII.  Draft Agenda for IDN Task Team Meeting


     A.  Review of Minutes From Sioux Falls 2001 Meeting
         http://gcmd.nasa.gov/ceosidn/SF/idn_SF2001.minutes

     B.  Review of the IDN Profile

     C.  Status at the American Coordinating Node
         - Metrics for content and usage
         - Ongoing Activities
         - GOFC Status

     D.  IDN Node Reports
         - CCRS/GeoConnections
         - NASDA
         - CSIRO
         - UNEP Sites
         - CNES
         - NEONET
         - DLR
         - ESA
         - INPE
         - CONAE
         - JCADM

      Please include in these reports, sections on:

          1. Metrics
             i. Number of DIFs contributed
            ii. Usage Statistics
          2. Status of Software/System Installations
             i. Current/Proposed Hardware
            ii. Software Versions Running/Planned
          3. Content Synchronization/Update Frequency
          4. IDN Node Pages
          5. Advertising
	  6. Issues/Concerns

     E.  DLR Thesaurus Revitalization
         1.  Use of the Administrative Client
         2.  Use of the Look-Up Client
         3.  Demonstration

     E.  MD8 - Testing and Release
         1.  MD8:  Results of Beta Testing
             a.  AADC
             b.  UNEP

         2.  Initial Release by American Coordinating Node
             a.  Reorganization of Site
             b.  New Site Search
             c.  Redesigned Home Page
             d.  Use of GUI Operations Client - Demonstration

         3.  Local Database Agents (LDA):  Alpha testing to
             commence after installation of MD8 by JCADM and
             UNEP

         4.  Update on Portals

         5.  Plans for idn.ceos.org

     F.  MD9 (Late 2002)

         1.  Goals

         2.  Schedule

         3.  Participants

VII. Issues - Discussion

For more information or questions about this agenda, please contact
Lola Olsen, (olsen@gcmd.nasa.gov ) IDN Task Team lead.