GeoNetwork

GeoNetwork is a standards based, Free and Open Source catalog application to manage spatially referenced resources through the web. It provides powerful metadata editing and search functions as well as an embedded interactive web map viewer.1

Description

GeoNetwork opensource is a standardized and decentralized spatial information management environment, designed to enable access to geo-referenced databases, cartographic products and related metadata from a variety of sources, enhancing the spatial information exchange and sharing between organizations and their audience, using the capacities of the internet.2

Function

GeoNetwork opensource provides:3

• Immediate search access to local and distributed geospatial catalogues
• up- and downloading of data, documents, PDFs and any other content type
• An interactive Web Map viewer to combine Web Map Services from distributed servers around the world
• Online editing of metadata with a powerful template system
• Schedule harvesting and synchronisation of metadata between distributed catalogues
• Fine grained access control
• Group and user management

• Visualisation tools
  • Maps
• Metadata
  • Creation and editing
• Non-biological data
  • Environmental data
• User interface
  • Personal use
  • Visual presentation

Why use this tool?

The main goal of the GeoNetwork opensource software is to improve the accessibility of a wide variety of data, together with the associated information, at different scale and from multidisciplinary sources, organized and documented in a standard and consistent way.4

Who will use this tool?

• Data providers
  • Institutions
• Data users
  • Expert
• ALA infrastructure
• Some skills required

How will the tool be used?

• Windows, Linux, Mac OS X
• Uses Java runtime environment v1.5
• Uses MySQL DBMS, Apache Tomcat, Apache HTTP, Druid
• Three different ways to search the database
  1. Search list of maps
  2. Simple text search within entire record
  3. Advanced search
• Desktop use
• User input required

Where in the data chain could this tool be used?

• Data source
• ALA central
• User’s machine

When could this tool be used?

• Before data is made available to ALA
• At the time of a user request

Availability

• GeoNetwork opensource: http://geonetwork-opensource.org/
• Software: http://geonetwork-opensource.org/software hosted at SourceForge
• Documentation: http://geonetwork-opensource.org/documentation
• Mailing list: https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/geonetwork-users
• Version v2.2.0 (4 April 2008)
• An OSGeo Project
• Licence:GPL license and can be used and modified free of charge5

   Creative Commons Attribution-No Derivative Works 3.0 Unported License.

Comments

As a metadata/spatial data server, the metadata editing very useful, it supports the ANZLIC standard.6

This program has an active mailing list and developer community.