Skip to content

Annual Review of Catalog Websites

Background and Purpose

We do annual reviews of websites with a lot of resources that can't easily be updated or evaluated by an existing script or recipe, usually due to issues with the APIs or site structure.

The purpose of an annual review is not to fix or update all records associated with a website, but simply to assess whether the website has changed, evaluate the magnitude of any changes, and make a recommendation for further action. If many resources have been added or removed from the website, if the site structure has changed significantly, or if many of our associated records in GBL have broken links, then the site will need to be partially or completely re-harvested.

How to Complete an Annual Review

Use the GitHub issue to track your progress and record your results. This process is best done with a wide screen or multiple monitors so you can view two windows next to each other.

Evaluate the main website record page

  1. Visit the Geoportal resource page for the parent website that you're reviewing. You can typically find the link associated with the GitHub issue, or you can search the Geoportal directly, usually under the Websites Resource Class.

  2. Use the blue Visit Source link in the right sidebar to open the source site in a new tab or window. You will compare this site to the records in the Geoportal, so viewing them side by side is helpful.

  3. If the Visit Source link is broken or doesn't bring you to the expected source website, try to locate the correct URL for this website. Use search engines and/or look for mentions of GIS or maps on the site(s) of the agency or entity providing the records. Make a note in the GitHub issue on the status of the Visit Source link and any new URLs, as appropriate.

  4. Check the Title, Description, and Format sections of the main website record page in the Geoportal. Is this information still accurate? Note any changes in the GitHub issue.

Compare the Geoportal records with the resources on the source website

  1. On the Geoportal website record, click Browse all [number] records under the Has part... section. This will open a search for Is Part Of > resource ID.

  2. Compare the total number of resources in this list with the total number of GIS resources available on the source website. Make a note in the Github issue of how many resources exist in both places.

  3. Briefly, visually scan both lists of resources. Note your assessment of what has been added or removed, if anything. You don't need to check every link or make a complete list of changes. Our goal is to evaluate the magnitude of the change.

  4. In the Is Part Of search results, open the first record in a new tab or window. In a comment on the GitHub issue or notes elsewhere, start a numbered list, and put the link/title of this resource as the first item in the list.

  5. Check to see if a resource with the same name is present on the source cite. This could be in the main list of resources, or you may need to search the site. Every source cite is organized slightly differently. Note "resource present on source site" or "resource not present on source site" in the comment.
  6. check links in description of geoportal page, if any, and note broken links
  7. Make an attempt to find resource elsewhere and if you find that it's been moved, note new location
  8. Label this numbered list item in the comment as NO CHANGE, NEEDS CHANGE, or REMOVED.
  9. Repeat steps 5-9 for each resource in the Is Part Of search results.

  10. Check main page of source site and any additional locations you've found for GIS resources that aren't part of the catalog in the geoportal. Make a list of ADDED resources.

  11. we can spot check instead of checking every record if there are more than a certain total number