View and edit metadata

Metadata is any information that describes an item. In ArcGIS Online, an item's information is created, edited, and viewed on the item page. Some examples of item information include the item title, type, description, source, author, last modified date, thumbnail, and tags. This information helps others discover and validate the usefulness of the items. In ArcGIS, item information is saved with the item it describes. It is copied, moved, and deleted with the item.

Metadata can also take the form of standards-based metadata documents or records, which are commonly referred to as geospatial metadata or metadata. Organizations can enable metadata, which allows members of the organization to use a built-in metadata editor to include additional standards-based metadata for all item types. Metadata can be included for all items in a portal including web maps, web scenes, and web apps. Organizations select a metadata style, which applies a style sheet for the metadata standard and the schema used to validate metadata according to the standard. The style also configures the organization’s experience for editing and viewing metadata according to the standard.

In addition to determining the information available for viewing and editing, the metadata style identifies the metadata standard you are following and the schema used to validate an item's metadata for the standard. Regardless of the applied style, the metadata is always stored in ArcGIS metadata format. This means that metadata is not lost if the organization switches the metadata style.

A built-in metadata viewer is available to allow you to see the metadata associated with an item. If your organization has metadata enabled, this same viewer allows item owners and administrators to edit the metadata. To provide you with access to the viewer, a Metadata button appears on item pages in the following circumstances:

• For organizations that have enabled metadata, the Metadata button is available to item owners and administrators so they can add metadata and edit.
• Once an item has metadata, the Metadata button is available to anyone who has access to the item to allow them to view the item's metadata. This is true no matter how the metadata was added—directly to the item or included when you published the data from ArcGIS Pro. Even if metadata is disabled, you can view the metadata of those items that have it.

You will also see a Metadata button on the sublayer pages of hosted feature layers that have associated metadata. To view an individual layer's metadata in the metadata style configured for the organization, click the layer in the Layers or Tables list on the hosted feature layer or table layer's Overview tab and click Metadata on the sublayer's page.

Providing standards-based metadata with your item helps people learn about the item and decide which item best meets their needs. In ArcGIS, the metadata is saved with the item it describes. It is copied, moved, and deleted with the item and appears with items as they are used throughout the system. For example, if your organization has enabled Open Data, metadata documents managed from ArcGIS Online are available in ArcGIS Hub sites from dataset pages, and the documents are included in shapefile downloads. The availability of standards-based metadata for these datasets helps ensure that your content is findable, accessible, interoperable, and reusable (FAIR).

Enable metadata for the organization

Administrators configure metadata for the organization through the organization item page settings. The configuration includes choosing the metadata style. The style controls how the metadata appears and which elements are required and available for creating the metadata on an item. The organization administrators should choose the style of metadata the organization already uses in other applications to create its metadata.

If the organization disables metadata, the metadata is still part of the item, but you can no longer edit the item-level metadata in ArcGIS Online. Any standards-based metadata authored while metadata was enabled for the organization can still be viewed from the item page. To remove standards-based metadata from an item, you must delete the metadata using the web editor while metadata is enabled for your organization.

Additionally, any metadata associated with layers in a hosted feature layer is not lost if metadata is disabled for the organization; you can still view the layer-level metadata.

View metadata

If an organization has enabled metadata, a Metadata button appears on their item pages for item owners. Item owners use the button to access a built-in editor and include metadata. When an item includes metadata, anyone with access to the item also sees a Metadata button and can use it to view the metadata in the metadata style configured by the organization.

For hosted feature layers that have associated metadata, you can access the metadata for individual layers from the Metadata button on the item page for each layer. To open the layer's page, click the layer name in the Layers list.

Edit metadata

If an organization has enabled metadata, item owners can include additional standards-based metadata for their items. Item owners use the built-in metadata editor on the item to include additional metadata based on the style applied by the organization.

When you open the editor for the item for the first time, the editor is populated with existing item information metadata from the following item page elements:

• Title
• Tags
• Summary
• Description
• Credits (Attribution)
• Terms of use
• Extent

If you upload a local metadata .xml file in the ArcGIS metadata format, you can overwrite the item details with the imported metadata from the .xml file or use the existing item information.

Owners of hosted feature layers and organization administrators can also add or edit metadata for individual sublayers in a hosted feature layer. To open the layer's page, click the sublayer name in the Layers list.

You cannot edit metadata for items that are shared to your organization through a distributed collaboration.

Edit metadata for an item

Follow these steps to add or edit metadata for an item:

1. Verify that you are signed in, have the privilege to create, update, and delete content, and that your organization has enabled metadata.
2. From the My content tab of the content page, click the title of the item for which you want to include metadata.

   The item's page opens to the Overview tab.

3. Click Metadata to open the metadata editor.

   If the item is a hosted feature layer, you can edit each sublayer's metadata. To access the metadata editor for a sublayer, click the sublayer name in the Layers list on the Overview tab.

4. Provide metadata content that describes the item.

   How you input metadata information varies depending on the editor you use. See the sections below for the appropriate editor.

Metadata editor

At minimum, you must provide metadata for the elements that are required for the metadata style you're using. These required elements have an asterisk (*) next to them. Some metadata elements that are not included in an official metadata standard or profile but are included in the item information are included as suggested elements, such as thumbnails. Both the required and suggested elements are presented on the Essential metadata tab.

To provide additional metadata beyond what is required or suggested, click the All metadata tab.

The metadata editor displays dynamic information about what metadata has been added and what is still required. The information is validated and updates as you edit the metadata.

Click Save when you finish editing and before you close the editor.

The following options are available from the Options button at the top of the editor:

• View XML—Opens the metadata document in XML format in a new browser tab with the style configured for the organization. To see changes made to the metadata, you must save them before you view the metadata.
• View HTML—Opens the metadata document in HTML format in a new browser tab with the style configured for the organization. To see changes made to the metadata, you must save them before you view the metadata.
• Download—Creates an .xml file of the metadata in ArcGIS metadata format without a metadata style applied to it and downloads it to the local machine.
• Overwrite—Replaces the current metadata information with content uploaded from a metadata .xml file or another item. See the Overwrite metadata section below for instructions.
• Reset—Deletes all metadata values other than those inherited from the item information.

Overwrite metadata

When you overwrite ArcGIS metadata for an item in the metadata editor, you can use the metadata of an existing item or upload a metadata (.xml) file.

1. Sign in to the organization as the item owner or an administrator.
2. Open the item page.
3. On the Overview tab of the item page, click Metadata.

   Tip:

   To open the metadata for a sublayer in a hosted feature layer, click the layer in the Layers list and then click Metadata on the sublayer page.

   The Metadata Editor appears.

4. Click the Options button at the top of the editor and choose Overwrite.

   The Overwrite window appears.

5. Choose one of the following for the metadata source that will replace the metadata for this item:
   • From item—In the Item page URL or item ID field, provide the URL of the item or the item ID that you copy from the item's page.
   • Choose file—Click Choose file, browse to the location on disk of the metadata file (.xml), and click Open.
6. Choose one of the following options that determine how much of the item's metadata is overwritten:
   • Maintain metadata from item details—Certain metadata values that were populated from the item's details will be maintained for the item, but all other values will be overwritten using values from the metadata source file or item. For a list of which values are maintained, see the FAQ.

     Unpopulated values will be overwritten by the metadata in the source file or item. For example, if title, summary, and description are set for the item but none of the other information is, the values for the item's title, summary, and description are preserved, but the values for the other, unpopulated information—such as tags and extent—will be taken from the metadata in the file or source item you chose in the previous step.

   • Overwrite all metadata—All values from the metadata source will be used when overwriting the existing metadata
7. Click Overwrite.

ArcGIS metadata storage format

Regardless of the applied style, ArcGIS Online stores the metadata in ArcGIS metadata storage format. Item owners use the built-in metadata editor on the item to include additional metadata. The ArcGIS metadata storage format contains all the elements that can have values in all metadata standards supported by ArcGIS. The ArcGIS format also stores item information, such as thumbnails, that are not included in the standards-based metadata styles. Metadata stored in the ArcGIS storage format can be transformed to a different standard by applying a different style. This means that metadata is not lost if the organization switches the metadata style.

Metadata styles, standards, and profiles

A metadata style configures the editing and viewing experience of the metadata content. A metadata style is like applying a style sheet to the ArcGIS metadata. The style controls how you view the metadata and the pages that appear in the metadata editor. A standards-based metadata style is designed to support a metadata standard or profile. The style determines how metadata is validated for that standard or profile.

The default item page allows you to see and edit a simple set of metadata elements for an item. The information is indexed and searchable and is available to be used by applications across the platform. The item information is straightforward and effective, suitable for anyone who doesn't need to adhere to specific metadata standards. When metadata is enabled for your organization, item information is synchronized with the item’s standards-based metadata.

Metadata styles

The following metadata styles are provided to support different metadata:

• FGDC CSDGM Metadata—This style allows you to view and edit metadata following the FGDC Content Standard for Digital Geospatial Metadata (CSDGM) guidelines and validate it using the CSDGM XML DTD.
• INSPIRE Metadata Directive—This style allows you to view and edit a complete ISO 19139 metadata document that adheres to the INSPIRE implementing rules and validate it using the ISO 19139 XML schemas.
• ISO 19139 Metadata Implementation Specification—This style allows you to view and edit a complete metadata document that complies with ISO standard 19139, Geographic information—Metadata—XML schema implementation, and validate it using the standard's XML schemas. Use this style to create metadata that complies with ISO standard 19115, Geographic information—Metadata.
• ISO 19139 Metadata Implementation Specification GML3.2—This style is identical to the one above, except the files use the GML 3.2 namespace, and therefore can be validated with versions of the ISO 19139 XML schemas that reference the GML 3.2 namespace. For example, use this style if you plan to validate the metadata files using the NOAA NCDDC XML schemas.
• North America Profile of ISO 19115 2003—This style allows you to view and edit a complete metadata document that complies with North American Profile of ISO 19115:2003—Geographic information—Metadata, and validate it using the ISO 19139 XML schemas.
• ISO 19115-3 XML Schema Implementation—This style allows you to view and edit a complete metadata document that complies with ISO content standard 19115-1, Geographic information—Metadata—Part 1: Fundamentals, and validate it using the standard's XML schemas defined as part of ISO 19115-3, Geographic information—Metadata—Part 3: XML schema implementation for fundamental concepts.

Share and transform the metadata style and encoding format

Sometimes you need to share a standards-based metadata document outside the ArcGIS platform. Two common ways to share metadata are through a website URL and as a file.

Tip:

Optionally, you can obtain the metadata style information by printing or saving the web page content if the web browser provides those options.

To share the metadata website URL, display the metadata, and copy the URL from the address bar of the web browser.

Note:

The item must be shared publicly to be viewed by those who are not members of your organization.

In ArcGIS, the metadata is displayed using a well-known URL structure that supports two parameters—format and output—and includes the item's unique ID, as shown in the example URL below:

https://www.arcgis.com/sharing/rest/content/items/a123b04cdef5/info/metadata/metadata.xml?format=default&output=html

In this example URL, the item ID is a123b04cdef5.

To change the encoding format for the page, change the output value in the URL. In the example above, the encoding format is HTML (output=html). To change it to XML, replace html with xml.

By default, metadata is displayed using the current default style applied by the item owner’s organization. To change the style displayed using the metadata document website URL, modify the format value in the metadata URL. In the example above, replace default with the desired style. Use the appropriate short name value shown in the table below.

Note:

Because each style requires different elements, changing the format parameter to a different value may result in the metadata document missing some element values required for the metadata style to be considered complete.

Metadata style	Short name
The current default style applied by the item owner's organization	default
ISO 19139 Metadata Implementation Specification	iso19139
ISO 19115-3 XML Schema Implementation	iso19115-3
INSPIRE Metadata Directive	INSPIRE
North America Profile of ISO 19115 2003	NAP
FGDC CSDGM Metadata	fgdc

Metadata standards and profiles

A metadata standard is a document identifying content that should be provided to describe geospatial resources such as maps, map services, vector data, imagery, and nonspatial resources such as tables and tools that are relevant to your spatial work. A metadata standard may also specify an XML schema describing the format in which the content should be conveyed. Typically, a standard XML format is defined using XML schema or document type definition (DTD). Standards are typically ratified by national or international standards bodies.

Many geospatial metadata standards are produced by ISO committees including ISO 19115 Geographic Information—Metadata and ISO 19119 Geographic Information—Metadata—Services, which are content standards. In contrast, ISO 19139 Geographic Information—Metadata—Implementation Specification provides a set of XML schemas that define the XML format in which ISO 19115 and ISO 19119 metadata content should be stored.

The Federal Geographic Data Committee (FGDC) created the Content Standard for Digital Geospatial Metadata (CSDGM) that has been used in the United States for many years; it is commonly referred to as the FGDC metadata standard. It is another example of a content standard. While there is an accepted format in which to store this content in XML format, there are also several other file formats that are commonly used to present the information.

A metadata profile is a document that modifies a metadata standard. A profile may reduce the overall number of metadata elements defined by a standard. A profile may further restrict whether a metadata element is optional, making it mandatory where before it was optional; however, a profile cannot make mandatory elements optional. A profile may further restrict the values allowed in a metadata element. Metadata profiles can be adopted by a standards body, agency, or organization in place of a metadata standard. One example of a metadata profile is the North America Profile of ISO 19115:2003 that has been jointly created and adopted by the United States and Canada.

Whether by choice or by obligation, if you plan to create metadata that follows a standard or profile, you can obtain a copy of the standard or profile document. For ISO standards, you must purchase the document from ISO or the national organization that participates in ISO, such as ANSI, in the United States. Profiles should be available from the organizations that create them.

Frequently asked questions about metadata

Answers to common questions about metadata in ArcGIS Online can be found in the Metadata section of FAQ.

Metadata considerations

Consider the following when using metadata:

• Currently, organizations can choose only one metadata style.
• ArcGIS metadata format is the only format supported for importing metadata.
• Currently, the title element is not synchronized between the metadata editor and item page. This includes when you upload a metadata .xml file. The first time you open the editor, the element has the title from the item page. Any changes you make (and save) to the title in the metadata editor are saved to the standards-based metadata. They are not saved to the item page.
• Currently, edits you make to a hosted WFS layer's metadata do not update the capabilities file of the underlying WFS service.
• To view layer-level metadata for public layers with FGDC styling, your organization must allow anonymous access. If your organization is private—that is, if anonymous access is disabled—layer-level metadata for public layers is available by default with ISO styling.
• Edits to layer-lever metadata are not synchronized with the item. Similarly, edits to item metadata are not synchronized with layer-level metadata.