Introduction

A single dataset is usually brought to you, a WIS user, through the hands of many (and various types of) responsible parties (i.e. people, organisations, or entities such as projects) responsible for different aspects of the data. The WIS Discovery metadata describes such responsible parties using the structure called class CI_ResponsibleParty (element gmd:CI_ResponsibleParty in XML).

CI_ResponsibleParty occurs in several places within the metadata, to represent role of the party to the dataset:

• metadata respoonsible party: /contact[1..*]
• /identificationInfo[1..*]/*/citation[1..1]/*/citedResponsibleParty[0..*]__
• dataset responsible party: /identificationInfo[1..*]/*/pointOfContact[0..*]
• /identificationInfo[1..*]/*/descriptiveKeywords[0..*]/*/thesaurusName[0..1]/*/citedResponsibleParty[0..*]
• /distributionInfo[0..1]/*/distributor__[0..*]

There is also an element gmd:role inside CI_ResponsibleParty, to further describe the role of the party. The meaning of the CI_ResponsibleParty can be defined both by the location and the role. In WIS we would like to have a convention that the meaning is defined by the location in principle, and may also be supplemented by role in case of dataset responsible party.

Some communities use 'author' as the CI_RoleCode instead of 'originator'; however, many U.S. records use 'originator' due to a previous metadata standard which they used; and the WMCP recommends the use of the term 'originator', rather than 'author'.

Example of citedResponsibleParty

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What is the difference between citation/*/citedResponsibleParty and pointOfContact ?

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Locations of CI_ResponsibleParty

There are a number of locations in the ISO 19115/19139 to describe the CI_ResponsibleParty structure, but following five are of practical importance in the WIS context.

• Preferred:
  • ((|#Metadata point of contact|Metadata point of contact|))
  • ((|#Dataset responsible party|Dataset responsible party|))
  • ((|#Distributor contact|Distributor contact|))
• Use with care:
  • ((|#citation/*/citedResponsibleParty|citation/*/citedResponsibleParty|))
  • ((|#thesaurusName/*/citedResponsibleParty|thesaurusName/*/citedResponsibleParty|))

Metadata point of contact

ISO 19115	Mandatory
WCMP	Mandatory
Other profiles	Mandatory in INSPIRE Included in ISO Core metadata
Cardinality	[1]
XPath	//gmd:contact
element role inside	WCMP: should be pointOfContact

This is the contact point of the metadata record itself. In WIS context, that should be the WIS Centre which has responsibility on the dataset in WIS. Each WIS Centre is supposed to create their own metadata records and submit to the associate GISC.

Even if the WIS Centre is not capable to create the ISO 19139 document and somebody outside comes to assist temporarily, it is not advisable to put the assistant's name here¹. The metadata remains for long time, and outside people won't continue to work as contact point.

Note 1

if really necessary to remember long term, it's an idea to record the assistant's name in //gmd:metadataMaintenance/*/gmd:contact as he/she would probably be called for again when maintenance becomes required.

Dataset responsible party

ISO 19115	Optional
WCMP	Recommended
Other profile	Mandatory in INSPIRE Included in ISO Core metadata
Cardinality	[1..*]/[0..*]
XPath	//gmd:identificationInfo /*/gmd:pointOfContact
element role inside	Various - see below

Although the ISO XML Schema declares this element optional, it is highly recommended to describe this element, mainly because many profiles (including INSPIRE) mandate it.

This is the contact point for the dataset, for example:

• Sometimes it can be efficient to indicate a point of contact for the content of dataset (here) different from the ((|#Metadata point of contact|metadata point of contact|)), both belonging to a single WIS Centre. In that case role = originator could be used to indicate that.
• If the WIS centre is a World Data Centre which collects data from external parties, the data provider would be ideal to describe here to indicate proper acknowledgement. In that case role = principalInvestigator should be natural.
• If the originator or somebody else claims intellectual property right on the dataset and a special contact point is indicated to obtain a permission to special use (commercial use or re-export for example), that contact point could be indicated separately by role = owner.

It is possible to describe multiple dataset contacts, so we can describe many kinds of responsible parties involved in the single dataset, each identified by the role element. Please see TBD list.

Of course it is nothing wrong that nothing in above list applies, and a single point of contact (ex. help desk) answers all issues of both metadata and dataset (data content). In that case, simply describe the same contact information to the metadata point of contact. In that case role = pointOfContact should be good.

Distributor contact

ISO 19115	Optional
WCMP	Optional
Cardinality	[0..1]/[0..*]/[1]
XPath	//gmd:distributionInfo /*/gmd:distributor /*/gmd:distributorContact
role element	distributor would be appropriate

This is the contact for the distribution. It is used if the data is delivered through the WIS from the originating WIS Centre indicated by ((|#Metadata point of contact|gmd:contact|)) to other WIS Centre(s) to be re-distributed to the WIS Users, the distribution information for the latter centre(s) should be described using this gmd:distributorContact.

For example, the bulletins circulating in the GTS are published at the GISC Cache, and the bulletins do not have URL to point to; so a reference to a GISC Cache would be helpful to the users. It doesn't have to list all GISCs.

It is discouraged to describe an online linkage at gmd:distributionInfo/*/gmd:transferOptions/*/gmd:onLine when gmd:distributor is present. Please use gmd:distributor/*/gmd:distributorTransferOptions/*/gmd:onLine instead. That's because that makes unclear association to the distributor.

This element is optional: it is okay to describe gmd:distributionInfo without gmd:distributor:

• if you are developing software to create metadata, it is suggested to generate gmd:distributorTransferOptions always even if it is same to metadata point of contact
• nevertheless, you cannot rely on that when you are developing software to read metadata, since there are many ISO 19115 profiles which does not mention about gmd:distributor. When gmd:distributor is missing, it is recommended to assume that the WIS Centre indicated at ((|#Metadata point of contact|gmd:contact|)) provides the data directly to the users (because the element is mandatory and non-repeatable).

1. citation/*/citedResponsibleParty

ISO 19115	Optional
WCMP	Optional use is fine but not enforceable
Cardinality	[1..*]/[1]/[0..*]
XPath	//gmd:identificationInfo /*/gmd:citation /*/gmd:citedResponsibleParty

This is a place to describe the contact information to be used as a part of citation information. That may be (or may not be) same as one of the contact points indicated as ((|#Dataset responsible party|dataset responsible party|)).

Please note that this element gmd:citedResponsibleParty is optional, and is not mentioned in most of other ISO 19115 profiles:

• if you are developing software to read metadata records to generate academic citation, it is not wise to fully rely on this element. Considering interoperability, it is highly advised to look also at the dataset responsible party.
• it can be a good habit to always generate this element in writing metadata records, but it's a different thing to enforce many people to do so. Please be careful to make this element mandatory, if you are developing a community profile or guideline of metadata creation. That would be meaningful if it is known in the community that the citation is sometimes different from the dataset responsible party.

2. thesaurusName/*/citedResponsibleParty

ISO 19115	Optional
WCMP	Optional - better way exists
Cardinality	[1..*]/[1..*]/[0..1]/[0..*]
XPath	gmd:identificationInfo /*/gmd:descriptiveKeywords /*/gmd:thesaurusName /*/gmd:citedResponsibleParty

This element is used to describe full citation of the keyword thesaurus in human-readable manner. It is rather preferred to use gmd:thesaurusName/*/gmd:identifier to indicate an computer-readable identifier (typically an URL) to establish unambiguous identification.

CI_ResponsibleParty

The CI_ResponsibleParty has following structure.

Type	Element
CharacterString	((	#individualName	gmd:individualName	)) [0..1]†
CharacterString	((	#organisationName	gmd:organisationName	)) [0..1]†
CharacterString	((	#positionName	gmd:positionName	)) [0..1]†
	gmd:contactInfo [0..1]
		((	#phone	gmd:phone	)) [0..1]
CharacterString			gmd:voice [0..*]
CharacterString			gmd:facsimile [0..*]
		((	#address	gmd:address	)) [0..1]
CharacterString			gmd:deliveryPoint [0..*]
CharacterString			gmd:city [0..1]
CharacterString			gmd:administrativeArea [0..1]
CharacterString			gmd:postalCode [0..1]
CharacterString			gmd:country [0..1]
CharacterString			gmd:electronicMailAddress [0..*]‡
		gmd:onlineResource [0..1]
URL			gmd:linkage [1]
CharacterString			gmd:protocol [0..1]
CharacterString			gmd:applicationProfile [0..1]
CharacterString			gmd:name [0..1]
CharacterString			gmd:description [0..1]
CI_OnLineFunctionCode			gmd:function [0..1]
CharacterString		gmd:hoursOfService [0..1]
CharacterString		gmd:contactInstructions [0..1]
CI_RoleCode	((	#role	gmd:role	)) [1]

† ISO 19115 states at least one of individualName, organisationName, or positionName must be present.
‡ Many profiles recommend or mandate electronicMailAddress.

individualName

A name of natural person - a human being. Legal person or other sorts of organisations (ex. companies or government departments) should be described at ((|#organisationName|organisationName|)) instead. The name of title within an organisation (ex. Director for X Division) should be moved to ((|#positionName|positionName|)) instead.

Maintenance of metadata records would be simpler if only positionName is described, because persons may change.

organisationName

Name of an organisation, such as company or government department.

positionName

Name of a position in an organisation.

phone

Telephone and facsimile numbers. It is recommended to use the international notation defined in ITU-T E.123 (beginning with plus sign followed by country code). National notation such as parenthesized region codes is not recommended.

Example

+41 22 730 81 11

Note that the elements gmd:voice and gmd:facsimile are repeatable. If there are more than one numbers, don't use slash or comma to combine them into one string: please use as many elements instead.

address

For those who are not familiar with culture-independent naming of address:

Element	typical English explanation
deliveryPoint	street address
city	city
administrativeArea	province, prefecture or US state
postalCode	ZIP code
country	country

The element gmd:electronicMailAddress can be given independently from above physical location. INSPIRE profile mandates at least the email address is given in every CI_ResponsibleParty structure.

role

You can choose one of following if no profile specifies that.

role code	meaning
resourceProvider	party that supplies the resource
custodian	party that accepts accountability and responsibility for the data and ensures appropriate care and maintenance of the resource
owner	party that owns the resource (see ((	#Dataset responsible party	above	)) suggestion)
user	party who uses the resource
distributor	party who distributes the resource (mainly used in ((	#Distributor contact	gmd:distributorContact	)))
originator	party who created the resource (see ((	#Dataset responsible party	above	)) suggestion)
pointOfContact	party who can be contacted for acquiring knwoledge about or acquisition of the resource (mainly used in ((	#Metadata point of contact	gmd:contact	)))
principalInvestigator	key party responsible for gathering information and conducting research (see ((	#Dataset responsible party	above	)) suggestion)
processor	party who has processed the data in a manner such that the resource has been modified
publisher	party who published the resource
author	party who authored the resource