Have you searched far and wide for data, only to realize that when you find what you need, you open the attribute table or data table and discover that you have no clue about the attribute fields and the information they contain? The data is difficult to comprehend, making it nearly impossible to use, let alone trust. Metadata, particularly attribute field metadata, is crucial. This information is important because it allows someone reviewing your data to more effectively assess its suitability. It directly influences the user experience in ArcGIS. Check out Transform your layers’ value with more functional attribute field names, aliases, and descriptions blog to learn more.
With increasing AI integration, Large Language Models (LLMs) also need to understand data to produce accurate results. Descriptive attribute field metadata, such as field aliases and descriptions, enhance models' ability to accurately understand and use the data effectively.
If you have taken the time to populate this metadata, you know it is time-consuming investment! You may have populated attribute field metadata in the data table, only to open up the metadata editor and realize that NONE of that metadata you populated earlier was there!
There are two resources I want to share to make creating and maintaining attribute field metadata easier.
- Use Hosted Feature Service Alias Updater script to update the attribute field metadata using a lookup table.
- Use the new enhancement from the ArcGIS Online June 2025 update to synchronize the updated attribute fields and metadata to the metadata record. Learn more in the Sync Attribute Fields Using the Metadata Editor blog.
With this script and recent enhancement, it is easier than ever to maintain attribute fields' metadata across each layer’s item page.
