KeywordsΒΆ

This section of your metadata record is where you include keywords or phrases describing the subject or content of your dataset.

The keywords supported by the Research Workspace come from the Global Change Master Directory (GCMD) maintained by NASA (Version 6.0.0.0.0). The benefit of using a formal directory is that your data can be grouped with similar data on a global scale. The downside is that sometimes these keywords may not be as specific as you may expect (e.g., zooplankton is present in the library, microzooplankton or microplankton are not). If the GCMD keywords do not describe your data specificly enough, you can supplement your records by including arbitrary keywords in Arbitrary Keywords.

Field

Best Practice

Example

Thematic Keywords

Select thematic keywords that address the larger themes of the subject of your study or project. The goal of this field is to help future users who are searching for data from a theme discover your data.

Thematic keywords can be selected from the following libraries:

Examples of thematic keywords include the following:

  • Agriculture

  • Air

  • Biology

  • Boundaries and Base Data

  • Chemicals

  • Cleanup

  • Climate

  • Climate Change

  • Compliance

  • Conservation

  • Contaminant

  • Disaster

  • Drinking Water

  • Ecological

  • Ecology

Location Keywords

Provide at least one location keyword that gives future users an accurate idea of where your project was conducted or applies to.

Location keywords can be selected from the following libraries:

  • GCMD Location and Platform Keywords

Examples of location keywords include the following:

  • Alaska

  • Prince William Sound

  • Noatak River

  • Woronofski Island

Temporal Keywords

Use this field to connect your metadata record to a particular point or era in time. Future users may search for data sets based on when they were collected or for modeling projects that address a particular period in time.

Examples of temporal keywords include the following:

  • The Holocene

  • June 2010

Other Keywords

Use this field to add descriptive keywords to the metadata to describe other aspects of the dataset or project. First, select a Keyword Library, then select a keyword type to make explicit what aspect of the resource or project the keywords describe. To add another set of keywords and a new keyword type, click the plus-arrow to add another box.

The other types of keyword that can be added are listed below, and are defined elsewhere in the help docs.

  • Data Center

  • Discipline

  • Feature Type

  • Instrument

  • Place

  • Platform

  • Product

  • Project

  • Service

  • Stratum

  • Temporal

  • Theme

Arbitrary Keywords

Use this field to include keywords that help describe your project but do not belong to a controlled vocabulary or could not be found in the categories above, such as local placenames or uncommon species. Select a keyword type to make explicit what aspect of the resource or project the keywords describe. Keyword type defintions are defined elsewhere in the help docs. To add another set of keywords and a new keyword type, click the plus-arrow to add another box.

Examples of arbitrary keywords include the following:

  • Pedro Bay

  • Populus trichocarpa