Research And Practice Of Geospatial Metadata Visualization

Geospatial Metadata is one of the main contents of Spatial Information Infrastructure. Thetraditional spatial metadata service has defects in pattern and efficiency, has already hindered thefurther development and popularity of geographic information resources. Geospatial metadatavisualization is an effective combination of Information Visualization and metadata service. Itwill effectively improve service pattern, and obviously improve availability level. Based oncharacteristics of Information Visualization techniques, this paper analyses the basic theories andmethods of geospatial metadata visualization. The main contents are as follows:1. From the perspective of holism, this paper analyses defects of the traditional metadataservice in pattern and efficiency, and summarizes the techniques and characteristics. Combinedwith the background of metadata retrieval, the single attribute and multiattribute visualizationtechniques and applicable conditions of geospatial metadata are also discussed.2. According to the basic elements of metadata service model: object, user, tool, this paperintroduces the design process of geospatial metadata visualization. By summarizing steps andfunctions of each phase, a logical model of geospatial metadata visualization has been formed.3. This chapter analyses the main design contents of geospatial metadata visualization.Firstly, it develops influence factor model, which is composed of user, requirement and metadatacharacteristic. Secondly, by summarizing available research materials and characteristics of theexisting service platforms, contents of each influence factors have been refined. It alsointroduces the interactive ways between user and visual interface, between visual views. Lastly,it builds the application model of geospatial metadata visualization, and analyses thecharacteristics and advantages of visual model, by the way of comparing with traditional service.4. The implementation process of geospatial metadata visualization is the key content ofthis paper. Firstly, presentation form, service mode, preprocessing steps and storage mode ofmetadata have been determined for building metadata database. Secondly, for solving theproblems of effective data display, hierarchical organization of data, acquiring associatedattributes and diversified retrieval methods are considered effective ways to filter data. Theprocess of visualization mapping has also been introduced for building mutual mappingrelationships between metadata information and visual factors, and for advancing ways ofquantitative and qualitative data. Lastly, it implements algorithms for three main visualizationtechniques.5. At last, prototype system of geospatial metadata visualization has been realized, it putsforward and quantitates the contents and indicators of visual evaluation in detail. Compared with traditional mode from aspects of task requirements and user, some experiments have been carriedout for evaluating and summarizing the deficiencies of prototype system.