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Revision 6833

Added by Matt Jones about 13 years ago

Edited introduction to Metacat admin guide, inserted figure.

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docs/dev/metacat/source/intro.rst
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Introduction
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============
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Metacat is a repository for data and metadata (data about data), which helps


  		




  
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Metacat is a repository for data and metadata (descriptions of data) that helps


  		




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scientists find, understand and effectively use the data sets they manage or


  		




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that have been created by others. Thousands of data sets are currently


  		




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documented in a standardized way and stored in Metacat systems, providing the


  		




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immediately download the data via the Web).


  		




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Metacat's user-friendly Registry application allows data providers to enter


  		




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data-set documentation into Metacat using a Web form. When the form is


  		




  
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data set documentation into Metacat using a Web form. When the form is


  		




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submitted, Metacat compiles the provided documentation into the required format


  		




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and saves it. Information providers need never work directly with the XML


  		




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format in which the data are stored or with the database records themselves. In


  		




  
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and saves it. Information providers need never work directly with the XML_


  		




  
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format in which the metadata are stored or with the database records themselves. In


  		




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addition, the Metacat application can easily be extended to provide a


  		




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customized data-entry interface that suits the particular requirements of each


  		




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project. Metacat users can also choose to enter metadata using the Morpho


  		




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application, which provides data-entry wizards that guide information providers


  		




  
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application, which provides data entry wizards that guide information providers


  		




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through the process of documenting each data set.


  		




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The metadata stored in Metacat includes all of the information you and others


  		




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need to understand what the described data are and how to use them: a


  		




  
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The metadata stored in Metacat includes all of the information needed


  		




  
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to understand what the described data are and how to use them: a


  		




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descriptive data set title; an abstract; the temporal, spatial, and taxonomic


  		




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coverage of the data; the data collection methods; distribution information;


  		




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and contact information. Each information provider decides who has access to


  		




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can also edit the metadata or delete it from the repository, again using


  		




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Metacat's straightforward Web interface.


  		




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Metacat is a Java servlet application that runs on Window or Linux platforms in


  		




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conjunction with a database, such as PostgreSQL (or Oracle 8i), and a Web


  		




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server. The Metacat application stores data in an XML format using Ecological


  		




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Metadata Language (EML) or another ecological metadata standard. For more


  		




  
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Metacat is a `Java servlet`_ application that runs on Linux, Mac OS, and


  		




  
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Windows platforms in conjunction with a database, such as 


  		




  
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PostgreSQL_ (or Oracle_), and a Web


  		




  
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server. The Metacat application stores data in an XML_ format using `Ecological


  		




  
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Metadata Language`_ (EML) or other metadata standards such as `ISO 19139`_ or the


  		




  
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`FGDC Biological Data Profile`_. For more


  		




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information about Metacat or for examples of projects currently using Metacat,


  		




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please see http://knb.ecoinformatics.org.


  		




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.. _XML: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/XML


  		




  
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.. _Java servlet: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Java_Servlet


  		




  
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.. _PostgreSQL: http://www.postgresql.org/


  		




  
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.. _Oracle: http://www.oracle.com/


  		




  
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.. _Ecological Metadata Language: http://knb.ecoinformatics.org/software/eml


  		




  
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.. _ISO 19139: http://marinemetadata.org/references/iso19139 


  		




  
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.. _FGDC Biological Data Profile: http://www.fgdc.gov/standards/projects/FGDC-standards-projects/metadata/biometadata 


  		




  
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What's in this Guide


  		




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--------------------


  		




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The Administrator guide includes information for installing, configuring,


  		




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managing and extending Metacat for both Linux and Windows systems. Chapter Two


  		




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contains instructions for downloading and installing Metacat and the


  		




  
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This Administrator's guide includes information for installing, configuring,


  		




  
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managing and extending Metacat for both Linux, Mac OS, and Windows systems. 


  		




  
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Chapter Two contains instructions for downloading and installing Metacat and the


  		




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applications required to run the software on Linux and Microsoft platforms.


  		




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Chapter Three covers how to configure Metacat, both for new and upgraded


  		




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installations. Chapter Four details the ways in which you can customize the


  		




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Metacat interface so users can access and submit information easily: using


  		




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Metacat's generic web-interface (the Registry), creating your own HTML forms,


  		




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and creating your own desktop client (like Morpho). Chapter Five discusses how


  		




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to work with Metacat's Geoserver. Chapter Six describes how to set up the


  		




  
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to work with Metacat's embedded Geoserver. Chapter Six describes how to set up the


  		




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Metacat's replication service, which permits Metacat servers to share data with


  		




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each other, effectively backing up metadata and data files. Chapter Seven looks


  		




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at the Metacat Harvester, a program that automates the retrieval of EML


  		




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Metacat Features


  		




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----------------


  		




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Metacat is a repository for metadata (data about data), which help scientists


  		




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find, understand and effectively use the data sets they manage or that have


  		




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been created by others. Specifically,


  		




  
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Metacat is a repository for data and metadata (documentation about data), that 


  		




  
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helps scientists find, understand and effectively use the data sets they manage or 


  		




  
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that have been created by others. Specifically,


  		




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* Metacat is a Java servlet application, which can run on both Windows and Linux systems


  		




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* Metadata submitted to Metacat is broken into modules, which are stored to optimize rapid information retrieval


  		




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* Metacat's Web interface facilitates the input and retrieval of data (Figure 1.1)


  		




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* Metacat's optional mapping functionality enables you to query and visualize the geographic coverage of stored documents


  		




  
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* Metacat is an open source web application, which can run on Linux, MacOS, and Windows operating systems and is written in Java


  		




  
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* Metacat's Web interface facilitates the input and retrieval of data 


  		




  
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* Metacat's optional mapping functionality enables you to query and visualize the geographic coverage of stored data sets


  		




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* Metacat's replication feature ensures that all Metacat data and metadata is stored safely on multiple Metacat servers


  		




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* The Metacat interface can be easily extended and customized via Web forms, skins, and/or user-developed Java clients


  		




  
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* The Metacat interface can be easily extended and customized via Web forms, skins, and/or user-developed client tools in Java and other languages


  		




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* The Metacat harvester automates the process of retrieving and storing EML documents from one or more sites


  		




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* Metacat can be customized to use Life Sciences Identifiers (LSIDs), uniquely identifying every data record


  		




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* Metacat has a built-in logging system for tracking events such as document insertions, updates, deletes, and reads


  		




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* The appearance of Metacat's Web interface can be customized via skins. 


  		




  
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* Metacat fully supports the DataONE Member Node interface, allowing Metacat deployments to easily participate in the DataONE federation


  		




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.. figure:: images/screenshots/image007.jpg


  		




  
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   :align: center


  		




  
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   Metacat's default home page. Users can customize the appearance using skins.


  		




  
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