Strategies for Making Field/Attribute Metadata Available to Users While Using ISO 19115-3 Metadata Standard

Question

I work for a state agency with requirements that metadata be written to conform to ISO 191** group style standards, and I am beginning to work through the metadata for our existing datasets to ensure that they conform to the ISO 19115-3 standard. As I have been looking at the xml files downloaded when viewers obtain metadata from our portal items, I've noticed that the fields information that was included in FGDC style metadata documents is not included in ISO style documents. After my colleagues and I did some digging, we learned that the fields information in ISO standards is meant to be communicated in an attached ISO 19110 feature catalogue, though apparently metadata creation software developers have been slow to implement this in their products. We found these two Esri Community posts from 2023 and 2024 indicating that Esri is planning to embed the ISO 19110 feature catalogue elements within the ISO 19115-3 document in near-term updates to ArcGIS Pro and/or ArcGIS Online, though it's been a few years since those posts, and we're not sure whether that timeline has changed since then.

If anyone knows whether there have been more recent developments in the timeline for ISO 19110 metadata to be embedded within ISO 19115-3 metadata in ArcGIS Online, Enterprise Portal, and Pro, we would really appreciate some more current information. We'd also be interested to hear what strategies people are using to make the fields information currently housed in feature catalogues available to their users in the interim before Esri has made their updates to ISO 19115-3 xml generation.

KevinBoes2 · Answer

For people looking to give other users access to attribute field metadata prior to the point where the ISO 19110 file gets incorporated into the ISO 19113-5 style file, our organization has identified an interim solution.

When users accessing metadata for datasets they don't own click on the metadata button on the dataset's item details page, the attribute field metadata does not show up in the XML or HTML views when using the ISO 19113-5 organizational style, as detailed above.

However, users who have access to ArcGIS Pro can access the dataset's ArcGIS metadata in the Catalog view. Since the ArcGIS metadata format stores the attribute field metadata, users can view metadata about the dataset's attributes in ArcGIS Pro even though the publishing organization's metadata style doesn't include that section. As long as a user can connect to the dataset (whether by navigating to it in their enterprise portal or through ArcGIS Online), they can view attribute field metadata which has been filled out by the dataset's publisher.

We have found that ArcGIS Pro users connecting to a dataset shared on ArcGIS Online while not being connected to an active portal are only able to view the dataset's Item Description metadata content, but I imagine most people with access to ArcGIS Pro will be able to connect to an active portal.

For users who don't have access to ArcGIS Pro, this solution does not get them access to attribute field metadata before Esri can incorporate the ISO 19110 file into the ISO 19113-5 style file in the portal interface. Still, being able to share attribute field metadata with at least a subset of potential users is an improvement over not being able to share that information at all without changing the organization's metadata style or manually exporting xml files.

KevinBoes2 · Answer

Hi @JordanDuft! I'm glad to hear that this is still on Esri's to-do list! I'm also glad to hear that the ArcGIS Metadata Format is storing field metadata even if it doesn't appear in the output ISO 19115-3 XML file.

One thing we've been noticing within our ArcGIS Enterprise metadata editor is that attribute metadata populated for a feature service is not immediately visible when we open the metadata editor. However, if we add a section to the data dictionary, the existing metadata then becomes visible. Our ArcGIS Enterprise is running version 11.3. Is this a bug that has already been identified and fixed in subsequent versions of ArcGIS Enterprise?

JordanDuft · Answer

Hi @KevinBoes2 !

Supporting ISO 19115-3 (19110) is still on the roadmap.

Please don’t let this prevent you from documenting attribute field metadata today. Attribute field metadata is stored in ArcGIS Metadata XML, Esri’s internal metadata format, so your work is preserved. When the ISO 19115‑3 (with ISO 19110) metadata style becomes available and is applied, this existing attribute field metadata will appear in both the XML and HTML views.

If you’re documenting metadata in ArcGIS Pro, a recommended approach:

* Populate the field alias in the table schema
* Synchronize metadata
* Complete remaining description attribute field metadata (e.g. field descriptions) in the metadata editor

If you’re documenting metadata in ArcGIS Online or Enterprise, a recommended approach:

* Use the Item Details assistant (beta) to quickly create or enhance attribute‑level metadata
* Then use Synchronize in the metadata editor (ArcGIS Online or Enterprise) to incorporate those updates into your ISO‑style metadata output