About ANZMP (Australia New Zealand Metadata Parser)

ANZMP is an online service, for members of the Eco Companion catalogue, to validate geospatial metadata documents that purport to conform to the ANZMETA Document Type Definition. The DTD defines the structure and content of dataset descriptions in Australia and New Zealand.

The maintenance of geographic dataset descriptions is enabled by retrieving and processing SGML/XML metadata documents. The parser will validate the document to ensure that its structure is sound and that certain content is valid. Presentation documents are generated in HTML and plain-text format. If the member chooses to publish the document, then it is added to the public collection and indexed by the search service.

The ANZMP parser will ensure that the SGML/XML document conforms to the DTD by assessing that the structure of the document is proper and that all required elements are present. The parser will also validate the content of many elements in accordance with the ANZLIC Guidelines for Core Metadata Elements.

Dataset descriptions that are managed by Eco Companion members are guaranteed to have sound structure and consistent presentation. The documents are published using digital library management techniques, so enabling them to be readily discovered on the network.

Some Eco Companion members are silent authors ... meaning that they do not publish through the Eco Companion catalogue. Rather, they manage documents in their private space, then transfer the set of consistent documents to their own server. Some organisations manage their dataset descriptions at their own site, and use ANZMP to validate their documents to ensure that the structure and content is correct. The batch processing facilities enable you to specify a list of datasets. ANZMP will retrieve each metadata document, validate it, produce presentation documents (optionally insert your own header and footer), and advise you by email when the process is complete. This enables processing of dataset descriptions that are output from other systems in the ANZMETA structured XML format. Examples of these other systems are ANZLIC Metadata Entry Tool (MET) for Windows or even from a simple text editor or a capable word processor.

Our parser is similar to the 'mp' metadata parser, which contributes to the US FGDC assisted geospatial data Clearinghouse. It is also similar to the W3C HTML validator, which ensures that your web documents can be consistently viewed.

We have built our ANZMP service based on the wonderful 'nsgmls' SGML/XML parser.

Both the 'mp' and 'ANZMP' parsers will validate geospatial dataset descriptions to ensure that they conform to the necessary standards. Upon that base, interoperable spatial data directories can be built.

URL:http://www.indexgeo.com.au/ec/about/anzmp.html
Last Modified: 23 March 1999