Catalogs

SEDAC Catalog

The Socioeconomic Data and Applications Center (SEDAC), a Distributed Active Archive Center (DAAC) of the NASA Earth Observing System and Data and Information System (EOSDIS), maintains a catalog primarily of SEDAC data, as well as applications and services. The metadata records in the catalog conform to the FGDC Content Standard for Digital Geospatial Metadata (CSDGM) and can be accessed in a browse mode, as well as through the SEDAC Gateway, a web-based interface that uses the Z39.50 information retrieval protocol. By implementing the Z39.50 standard for searching, this web-based interface can search numerous catalogs simultaneously. In addition to those held locally, it searches approximately 20 others, distributed throughout federal and international organizations. The SEDAC Gateway is capable of performing searches across multiple metadata formats, including FGDC and DIF. Any catalog registered with the FGDC Clearinghouse Registry can be included in our Gateway.

World Data Center (WDC) for Human Interactions in the Environment

The World Data Center (WDC) for Human Interactions in the Environment is a portal hosted by SEDAC, providing access to a wide range of global data, associated documentation, visualization and analysis tools, and the community of experts on global data.

FGDC National Geospatial Data Clearinghouse

The FGDC National Geospatial Data Clearinghouse is a collection of more than 200 spatial data servers that have digital geographic data primarily for use in Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and image processing software. These data collections can be searched through a single interface based on their descriptions. The SEDAC catalog is registered with the FGDC Clearinghouse, and therefore can be accessed through the Clearinghouse, or through any other Z39.50 client participating in the Clearinghouse.

For more information on the Clearinghouse, go to the FGDC Geospatial Data Clearinghouse Activity. For a list of all nodes participating in the clearinghouse activity, go to the FGDC Clearinghouse Registry.

Global Change Master Directory (GCMD)

Unlike the Clearinghouse Activity, which is a distributed system of catalogs that can be searched across one interface, the Global Change Master Directory (GCMD) provides a centralized catalog for metadata from more than 1500 "distributed" international and national sources. The mission of the GCMD is "to assist the scientific community in the discovery of and linkage to Earth science data (and to related services), as well as to provide data holders a means to advertise their data to the Earth Science Community." It was developed to describe and catalog Earth science and Global Change related datasets from a wide variety of disciplines, and serves the user community in the discovery of Earth science data. As an additional service for the Earth sciences community, GCMD offers descriptive information about commercial and non-commercial data services that assists its user community in analyzing, processing, and evaluating Earth science datasets.

Earth Observing System ClearingHOuse (ECHO)

The Earth Observing System ClearingHOuse (ECHO) is a clearinghouse of spatial and temporal metadata enabling the science community to exchange data and information. ECHO technology can provide services and work as an order broker for Client and Data partners while supporting efficient discovery and access to Earth Science data. NASA's Earth Science Data and Information System (ESDIS) is building ECHO based on Extensible Markup Language (XML) and Web Service technologies. ECHO interfaces with different clients and users through its series of Application Program Interfaces (APIs). ECHO is an open system with published APIs available to the ECHO Development and User community. The Warehouse Inventory Search Tool (WIST) is a client-in-development for searching and ordering earth science data from various NASA and affiliated centers represented in the ECHO database.

National Biological Information Infrastructure (NBII) Metadata Clearinghouse

The National Biological Information Infrastructure (NBII) Metadata Clearinghouse is an initiative of the U.S. Geological Survey to help in locating, evaluating and accessing biological data and information from a distributed network of cooperating data and information sources. It contains standardized metadata-based descriptions of biological datasets and information products and uses the Biological Data Profile of the FGDC's CSDGM. It is also a participating node in the FGDC's National Spatial Data Clearinghouse.

Columbia University Electronic Data Service (CU-EDS)

The Electronic Data Service (EDS) is operated jointly by the Columbia University Libraries and Columbia University Information Technology (CUIT) to support instruction and research that involve numeric and geospatial data resources. EDS maintains a library of data and documentation that covers a wide range of topics, both national and international, including so socio-demographic topics, public opinion polls, politics, health, and economics. The current inventory includes data files from well over a thousand studies, comprising thousands of data files. Much of the data is online and accessible through the web, but Census and other data from governments and international agencies are also available on CD-ROMs. EDS data holdings can be searched online by accessing the DataGate catalog.

Discovery, Access, and Delivery of Data for IPY (DADDI)

Discovery, Access, and Delivery of Data for IPY (DADDI) is a NASA supported project aiming to improve the availability of arctic coastal data by developing a system that can be readily extended to support the International Polar Year (IPY). DADDI is a collaborative project between the National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC), Oak Ridge National Laboratory Distributed Active Archive Center for Biogeochemical Dynamics (ORNL DAAC), Socioeconomic Data and Applications Center (SEDAC) at Columbia University, and the Canadian Cryospheric Information Network (CCIN), in addition to the International Permafrost Association's Arctic Coastal Dynamics (ACD) project and the interagency Study of Environmental Arctic Change (SEARCH).

The project has two phases. The first phase focuses on identification, acquisition, and description of data to facilitate discovery and will build off ORNL's Mercury toolset for metadata harvesting, indexing, and searching. The second phase centers on the advertisement, visualization, and delivery of the data in a manner that facilitates analysis. As the system develops, the site will provide tools for registering and accessing arctic coastal data.