Metadata lives between users and the GIS data. It presents friendly names to to end-users and eases the administration of the GIS database.
Encompass applications use a SQL-based dictionary to store information about an organization’s GIS data. This dictionary fulfills several needs:
- the user’s need to easily find and use GIS data,
- the administrator’s need to move, add, delete, and define relationships between GIS data without disrupting application use, and
- the need to control view and edit access to the data.
For the End-User
Encompass applications use the data from the Feature Dictionary to present an organized, succinct list of the GIS feature data that is available to users in discipline-specific terms. For example, rather than have users browse to a file, open it, and then pick from a list of table names like “CG_APBL” or “CG_APLAB”, they can pick directly from a list of available data that uses terms like “Assessment Parcel Boundary Line“ and “Storm Water Main Pipe”. The dictionary also defines default display characteristics to encourage the generation of consistent map products across the enterprise.
For the Administrator
The Feature Dictionary defines the location and type of the GIS feature data. GIS data can be in Encompass tables in any ADO-compliant database (like Oracle, MySQL, SQL Server, or Microsoft Access) or in ESRI’s shape files, coverages, or personal and SDE geodatabases. The metadata provides control over
- user authorizations for viewing and editing,
- attribute data definition and validation parameters,
- allowable edit methods for each feature class, and
- relations between feature classes like the link/node relationship between manholes and main pipes.
These capabilities give administrators the tools they need to manage security and reinforce data consistency.
The Feature Dictionary Manager (shown above) is used to describe an organization’s GIS data. This application may be used in conjunction with Microsoft Access to support a wide variety of administrative tasks.