CIESIN's Guide to FGDC Compliant Metadata

9. Time Period Information

Time Period Information is information about the date and time of an event. (Note: this section provides a means of stating temporal information, and is used by other sections of the metadata standard. This section is never used alone.)

9. Time Period Information  (Mandatory)

CONTAINS a choice of 1 out of 3 elements:

9.1 Single Date/Time  (Mandatory)
9.2 Multiple Dates/Times  (Mandatory)
9.3 Range of Dates/Times  (Mandatory)

NOTE: This guide only provides information concerning optionality at the section level and top level elements within each section. Keep in mind that the optionality of a section or compound element always takes precedence over the elements that it contains, and if deemed applicable, then the optionality of its subordinate elements is to be interpreted. Refer to either the FGDC Metadata Workbook, Version 2.0 or Section 9 of the USGS's "Image Map of the Content Standard for Digital Geospatial Metadata", a graphical representation of the Standard for rules concerning optionality.

9.1 Single Date/Time

Definition: Means of encoding a single date and time. This metadata element contains the following sub-elements:

9.1.1 Calendar Date

Definition: The year (and optionally month, or month and day).

Format: Free date.

Example:
Calendar Date: 2000
Calendar Date: January 2000
Calendar Date: 2000-01-01
Calendar Date: 2000/01/01
Calendar Date: 20000101
Calendar Date: Unknown

9.1.2 Time of Day

Definition: The hour (and optionally minute, or minute and second) of the day.

Format: Free time.

Example:
Time of Day: 00:00:00
Time of Day: 12:00:00
Time of Day: Unknown

9.2 Multiple Dates/Times

Definition: Means of encoding multiple individual dates and times.

9.3 Range of Dates/Times

Definition: Means of encoding a range of dates and times. This metadata element contains the following sub-elements:

9.3.1 Beginning Date

Definition: The first year (and optionally month, or month and day) of the event.

Format: Free date.

Example:
Beginning Date: 2000
Beginning Date: January 2000
Beginning Date: 2000-01-01
Beginning Date: 2000/01/01
Beginning Date: 20000101
Beginning Date: Unknown

9.3.2 Beginning Time

Definition: The first hour (and optionally minute, or minute and second) of the day for the event.

Format: Free time.

Example:
Beginning Time: 00:00:00
Beginning Time: Unknown

9.3.3 Ending Date

Definition: The last year (and optionally month, or month and day) of the event.

Format: Free date.

Example:
Ending Date: 2002
Ending Date: January 2002
Ending Date: 2002-01-01
Ending Date: 2002/01/01
Ending Date: 20020101
Ending Date: Unknown
Ending Date: Present

9.3.4 Ending Time

Definition: The last hour (and optionally minute, or minute and second) of the day for the event.

Format: Free time.

Example:
Ending Time: 12:00:00
Ending Time: Unknown

CIESIN's Guide to FGDC Compliant Metadata

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