The Water Resources NSDI Node is an online centralized repository of digital metadata that conforms to the Federal Geographic Data Committee (FGDC) standards.

Metadata Tools & Guidance For Creating Metadata

Metadata Tools:

The USGS Online Metadata Editor (OME)    (a Recommended tool) - Currently supports development of federally compliant metadata records in the FGDC Content Standard for Digital Geospatial Metadata (CSDGM 'core') and the FGDC Biological Data Profile (CSDGM + BDP).

Metadata Wizard - An Easy to Use Toolbox for FGDC Metadata Creation and Review    (a Recommended tool) - This tool is designed as a resource from ScienceBase.gov to help geospatial data users create and edit metadata that is compliant with the Federal Geographic Data Committee's 'Content Standard for Digital Geospatial Metadata' (FGDC-CSDGM) standards.
Versions are available for ArcGIS Desktop 10.0, 10.1, and 10.2.
This tool only edits FGDC tags, and ignores ArcGIS tags

USGS Formal Metadata Tools (mp, cns, xtme/Tkme)
This site includes Metadata, Software, Downloads, Web Services, and Tips & Tricks. Peter Schweitzer maintains these tools, and supports them on numerous operating systems. The website includes a great deal of helpful guidance and documentation on geospatial metadata.

Esri FGDC Metadata Editor for ArcGIS 10
This ArcGIS 10 add-in is a port of the ArcCatalog 9.x FGDC metadata editor. It only works currently with ArcCatalog 10.x (not from ArcMap). It is provided to users that are very familiar with that editor and would like to continue to use it. This tool is included in the USGS EGIS Enhancement patch, so you may already be able to access it in ArcCatalog (Customize/Customize Mode/Commands) You can use this tool to edit standalone FGDC CSDGM XML files. This tool only edits FGDC tags, and ignores ArcGIS tags

NSDI Metadata Validation Service - This service allows you to access the tools mp and cns from a web browser to validate basic metadata file structures and tags.

Instructions for using XML Notepad - Details and instructions on using a free XML editor and a detailed XML validation schema provides a means to edit FGDC-CSDGM records much more efficiently.

EPA Metadata Editor - The EME is a simple geospatial metadata editor that allows users to create and edit records that meet EPA and Federal Geographic Data Committee (FGDC) metadata requirements.

USGS Groundwater Software - ModelArchiver and FgdcMetaEditor Version 1.0 - ModelArchiver is a program designed to facilitate the creation of groundwater model archives that meet the requirements of the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) policy (Office of Groundwater Technical Memorandum 2016.02, https://water.usgs.gov/admin/memo/GW/gw2016.02.pdf, https://water.usgs.gov/ogw/policy/gw-model/). ModelArchiver version 1.0 leads the user step-by-step through the process of creating a USGS groundwater model archive. The user specifies the contents of each of the subdirectories within the archive and provides descriptions of the archive contents. Descriptions of some files can be specified automatically using file extensions. Descriptions also can be specified individually. Those descriptions are added to a readme.txt file provided by the user. ModelArchiver moves the content of the archive to the archive folder and compresses some folders into .zip files. As part of the archive, the modeler must create a metadata file describing the archive. The program has a built-in metadata editor and provides links to websites that can aid in creation of the metadata. The built-in metadata editor is also available as a stand-alone program named FgdcMetaEditor version 1.0, which also is described in this report. ModelArchiver updates themetadata file provided by the user with descriptions of the files in the archive. An optional archive list file generated automatically by ModelMuse can streamline the creation of archives by identifying input files, output files, model programs, and ancillaryfiles for inclusion in the archive.

Guidance:

Federal Geographic Data Committee - Key metadata information, including current status of metadata standards.

Federal Geographic Data Committee: Preparing for the North American Profile (NAP) - All Federal agencies are being encouraged to migrate their metdata to the ISO standard -- and specifically a variant designed for use in the U.S. and Canada called the North American Profile (NAP). For various reasons, the USGS is still largely using the Content Standard for Digital Geospatial Metadata Version 2 (CSDGM2, a.k.a. "FGDC metadata") metadata standard. This document compares CSDGM and ISO and includes recommendations to help write CSDGM metadata that is more "forward-compatible" to the ISO NAP.

USGS Data Management: Metadata - Why Do We Need Metadata?

Guidance for releasing GIS data sets (USGS Water on the WRD NSDI NODE) - These are the instructions and guidelines to prepare data sets for release on the the Water NSDI Node. Specific instructions for release of data and metadata to the USGS Water NSDI node are posted here. The materials may be useful to other USGS staff outside the Water Mission Area, although they may be directed to use different publications procedures.

Enterprise GIS Metadata Help Pages - Documenting ArcGIS data sets with metadata

Top 10 Metadata errors - From the FGDC and the National Metadata Cadre (.pdf file)

Metadata in plain language - This document provides a general interview approach for creating metadata. (a guide with examples)

Guidelines for Reviewing Technical Reports - From the USGS Wetland and Aquatic Research Center

Editorial: How to review metadata - Helpful Note on How To Review Metadata

Guidance for Checking Metadata with Data - Validating a Metadata Record in the FGDC-CSDGM Standard

Running Metadata Parser (MP) from the Command Line window

This program is a compiler to parse formal metadata, checking the syntax against the FGDC Content Standard for Digital Geospatial Metadata - (CSDGM) and generating output suitable for viewing with a web browser or text editor.

International Organization for Standardization (ISO)

Federal Geographic Data Committee (FGDC) National Data Standards Publications

FGDC tandards Working Group

Open Geospatial Consortium

    The Water Resources NSDI Node is an online centralized repository of digital metadata that conforms to the Federal Geographic Data Committee (FGDC) standards.