Project Highlight: OpenGeoMetadata

By Karen Majewicz

OpenGeoMetadata is a collaborative initiative that began around the same time the GeoBlacklight application was developed(~2015). The primary goal has been to facilitate sharing metadata across institutions that have adopted GeoBlacklight. It uses GitHub as the sharing platform and includes metadata tools, best practices, and the GeoBlacklight schema documentation.

Our initial participation in OpenGeoMetadata was hampered by the instability of the BTAA Geoportal’s earliest GIS open data collections; it was impractical to share metadata records for open data items that were regularly retired and replaced. However, as our collection has grown, we have incorporated many resources from institutional repositories that feature quality metadata and stable access points. Examples of these records are found in our Libraries Geospatial Data Collection and our Libraries Historical Maps Collection.

Therefore, in recent months, we have re-committed to sharing our metadata through OpenGeoMetadata and created repositories for each participating institution. These records have been picked up by other geoportals, including Princeton’s Digital Maps & Geospatial Data. In the future, we plan to share our curated resources that would be of interest to the wider community, including our Indigenous Lands collection.