About NPS Data Store

The National Park Service Data Store application (NPS Data Store) manages and shares National Park Service metadata and data generated by the Natural Resource and Servicewide GIS Programs of the National Park Service. To facilitate data dissemination to the public and throughout the National Park Service, the NPS Data Store application posts information to the federal Geospatial One-Stop.

Purpose and General Functions

The National Park Service requires a repository for metadata and data produced by their programs and offices. Metadata and data were formerly housed and served on multiple servers that were not integrated either in content or in stewardship practices. The NPS Data Store application provides data producers and users with standardized, integrated metadata and data management and dissemination capabilities. Functional goals for the NPS Data Store include:

Providing a centralized repository of metadata records from the Natural Resources and NPS GIS Programs
Integrated searching for data and their associated metadata
Distribution of metadata and data to other federal and non-federal clearinghouses
Streamlining metadata and data stewardship with standardized, real-time record uploading and editing capability

Needs Assessment and Objectives

Currently, NPS resource managers, data producers, and stewards (including Inventory and Monitoring Program (I&M) data managers) lack a centralized, comprehensive repository for their data sets (tabular and GIS), digital documents, digital photos, and the metadata records that describe and catalog them.

In addition to issues with managing GIS data and metadata, NPS resource and data managers face challenges in managing digital data other than tabular data sets and GIS layers. Increasingly, network and park personnel are asked to manage and integrate their data with existing digital document, and photo repositories. And, parks and networks need to serve digital documents that target resource management needs and integrate with other program requirements.

The NPS Data Store is a web-based system designed to integrate data dissemination and metadata maintenance for Natural Resource, GIS, and other program data sets, digital documents, and appropriate digital photos. The primary information management objectives include:

Implementing a common metadata data model for diverse types of data sets
Consolidating duplicate metadata and data set postings
Integrating metadata records with data files
Establishing relevant GIS and other data standards for interoperable enterprise data sets
Providing robust search interfaces to facilitate data discovery
Facilitating data stewardship by data producers
Integrating as seamlessly as possible with other NPS applications like the NPSFocus Digital Library and Research Station (NPS-wide), NatureBib, NPSpecies and the NPS enterprise metadata system.

Implementation and Architecture

The NPS Data Store includes the following components:

An integrated metadata database (NPS Metadata Database) based on the NPS Metadata Profile
A web-based data server (NPS Data Server) with hierarchical folder structure for storing and organizing data sets
Remote, secure file and folder management capability for data stewards
Search interfaces for data and metadata discovery
Automated posting of appropriate records to NPS Focus and the National Spatial Data Infrastructure (NSDI) Clearinghouse (e.g., non-sensitive metadata records; links to non-sensitive digital documents and digital images)

The NPS Metadata Profile forms the basis for the NPS Metadata Database and supporting NPS Data Server. The Profile was developed in FY 2004 to support the NPS-wide interoperability of GIS metadata with natural resource and other data management systems using Extensible Markup Language (XML). The NPS Metadata Profile Document Type Definition (DTD) combines the FGDC Content Standard for Digital Geospatial Metadata (CSDGM), the FGDC Biological Data Profile, the ESRI Profile of the CSDGM, the NPS Inventory and Monitoring Program’s Dataset Catalog, GIS data layer standards tracking, and other NPS-specific metadata system requirements. The NPS Metadata Profile is utilized in the NPS Data Store for managing GIS and other data for both internal use and publication to the NPS GIS Clearinghouse and NPS Focus Digital Library and Research Station.

All GIS data layers must be documented with applicable FGDC and NPS metadata standards. The NPS GIS Committee (GISC) requires GIS layers to be described with FGDC standards and the NPS Metadata Profile.

Data and metadata resources for this project include: