"Resource discovery" is the discipline of information technology that is concerned with all aspects of finding, locating, and retrieving resources that are relevant to the user who is conducting a search.
See also: IndexGeo / Geospatial Metadata / Resource discovery
Every unit of data or information that is available on the network is a "resource". There are many forms: WWW pages, images, text documents in various formats, movies, databases, sound files, photographs, programs, spreadsheets, bibliographies, interactive Internet services.
"Resource descriptions" serve as records in a searchable catalogue. They concisely describe the resources (using elements of metadata or data about data), so then the searching facilities can more readily find relevant documents. They enable effective resource discovery.
"Geospatial resource discovery" includes facilities to conduct searches that are restricted to certain geographic regions and locations, and to certain periods of time.
URL:http://www.indexgeo.com.au/metadata/rd.html
Last Modified: 21 August 1998