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The first step in the process of developing a NASA Flavor is the elucidation of NASA documentation requirements. These requirements come from many sources including existing metadata systems, future missions, NASA science teams, and users (see Figure 1). Those that come from existing metadata systems are well known and already implemented in operational systems. In contrast, mission and user requirements tend to be emergent, particularly for future missions and applications.Image RemovedImage Added

Classifying Requirements

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NASA requirements that are not addressed by current ISO Standards are important candidates for inclusion in revisions of these Standards. Systematic revisions of ISO Standards can occur every five years at the request of a member. ISO 19115, is just finishing the first systematic review and ISO 19115-1, the revision, includes many improvements motivated by NASA and other members of the U.S. Environmental Data Community. The standard for documenting data acquisition and images (ISO 19115-2) will be eligible for revision during 2014. New metadata elements developed as part of the NASA Flavor will be proposed for inclusion in that revision.

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The ISO Standards also include the concept of online resources and the description is similar to those in the NASA dialects (see Figure). Again, there are small differences and related questions, i.e. how does dif:URL_Content_Type relate to iso:name or iso:function? These differences need to be considered by the community and consensus must be reached in how the details are mapped between the dialects.

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Requirement Not Addressed - Instrument and Sensor Characteristics

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The ISO Standards also include a mechanism for including implementation specific information in the metadata using standard RecordType and Record data types. This mechanism is currently not used for instruments, but the ISO instrument description could be extended by adding additionalAttributeType and additionalAttributeValue elements that would allow the same robust descriptions currently included in ECHO and ECS to be included in the ISO metadata. These extended elements would become part of the NASA Flavor of ISO.

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Conclusion

The process of developing a NASA Flavor of ISO is straightforward and familiar to many members of the ESDIS community. Existing ESDIS metadata dialects provide structured and well-understood picture of many ESDIS metadata requirements. Developing consensus crosswalks between those dialects and ISO is a good step towards understanding the requirements and identifying those that are and are not addressed by the ISO Standards. In addition, this is an important step towards community engagement because the community is already familiar with these dialects. Working with new missions is another important element in the process.

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