Validating stand-alone metadata against a schema

Available with Data Reviewer license.

You can use the Metadata check to validate stand-alone metadata files (stored in XML format) against multiple federal and international metadata standards. Optionally, advanced users can select a custom schema to validate stand-alone metadata documents. A single Metadata check can be configured to validate an entire folder of stand-alone XML documents and requires only that you know which metadata standard the documents are based upon.

Once you have defined the criteria for the check, you can configure the notes and a severity rating. The notes allow you to provide a more specific description for the feature that has been written to the Reviewer table and are copied to the Notes field in the Reviewer table. The severity rating allows you to indicate how important the results from a check are in terms of your quality assurance/quality-control processes. The lower the number, the greater the priority the check's results have.

Caution:

Before running the Metadata check, the metadata on your data must be updated using one of the following to ensure that the check results are complete.

• The Description tab in ArcCatalog
• The Description tab on the Item Description dialog box, which can be opened through the Catalog window in ArcMap
• The Upgrade Metadata geoprocessing tool

1. Start ArcMap.
2. On the main menu, click Customize > Toolbars > Data Reviewer.
3. Click the Reviewer Batch Job Manager button on the Data Reviewer toolbar.

   The Reviewer Batch Job Manager dialog box appears.

4. Create a batch job.
5. Right-click a group in the batch job, then click Add Check > Advanced Checks > Metadata Check.

   The Metadata Check Properties dialog box appears.

   

6. If necessary, type a unique name for the check in the Check Title text box.

   Note:

   The check title can be used to describe the type, metadata standard, and conditions you are evaluating with the check. This is useful when you have a combination of mandatory and optional metadata elements and resources to be evaluated.

7. In the Metadata Location Type area, choose the Folder (for standalone XML files) option.
8. Click Browse to choose the folder that contains the stand-alone metadata resources you would like to validate.

   Note:

   Only one folder resource (excluding child folders) can be evaluated per check. To evaluate multiple folder workspaces you will need to configure a Metadata check for each folder.

   

9. From the Metadata Sources tree, check the check box next to each stand-alone metadata document you want to validate.

   Tip:

   You can click Select All or Clear All to select or unselect all XML documents at once.

10. Click the Metadata Standard drop-down arrow then choose the metadata standard you want to validate your stand-alone metadata document against.

    The standard you select should match the metadata standard on which the stand-alone metadata resources are based.

    Tip:

    You can also choose a custom metadata schema by choosing Select Custom Schema from the Metadata Standard drop-down list.

    The Browse to schema root dialog box appears.

11. Navigate to the root schema .xsd document you want to validate your stand-alone metadata items against.

    Note:

    Correctly identifying the root schema document is important to obtaining an accurate and complete validation of your metadata schema. Consult the author of your custom metadata schema if there is any doubt.

12. In the Check Options area, check the Validate Metadata Standard check box.
13. If necessary, type descriptive text for the check results in the Notes text box in the Reviewer Remarks area.
14. If necessary, click the Severity drop-down arrow and choose a value that indicates the priority of the check's results in the Reviewer Remarks area.

    The severity indicates the importance of the check result. The values range from 1 to 5, with 1 being the highest priority and 5 being the lowest.

15. Click OK.

    Note:

    When validating metadata schema, there is potential for duplicate error results to be generated for those repeating metadata elements that fail validation. To ensure that all schema validation errors are captured in the Reviewer table, choose the Do not check for duplicates option on the Reviewer Methods tab on the Reviewer Session Manager dialog box.

16. Save the batch job.
17. Click OK.