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InPort XML Version Changelog

Version 1.11

April 4, 2024

Best Available Metadata

A new set of fields have been added to designate records as the "Best Available Metadata": <best-available-metadata> and <best-available-metadata-explanation>.

Example:

<catalog-details>
  <best-available-metadata>Yes</best-available-metadata>
  <best-available-metadata-explanation>Sample explanation</best-available-metadata>
</catalog-details>

Version 1.10

February 29, 2024

Data License

A new set of fields have been added to document data license information for Data Sets: <data-license-type>, <data-license>, <data-license-url>, and <data-license-statement>.

Example:

<access-information>
  <data-license-type>Custom</data-license-type>
  <data-license>CC-BY</data-license>
  <data-license-url>https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/</data-license-url>
  <data-license-statement>Sample Data License statement</data-license-statement>
</access-information>

Version 1.9

September 30, 2023

Distribution Format

The <file-type> field has been deprecated, and has been replaced by <distribution-format>, which uses a controlled codelist.

Example:

<distribution>
  <distribution-format>GeoTIFF</distribution-format>
</distribution>

Version 1.8

July 7, 2022

Metadata Last Review Date and Metadata Review Frequency

The <metadata-next-review-date> field is no longer editable in InPort. Instead, two new fields are provided, <metadata-last-review-date> and <metadata-review-frequency>.

The next review date is derived from the values of these two fields and is now read-only -- i.e. it will appear in the InPort XML export when the other two fields are populated.

Example:

<catalog-details>
  <metadata-last-review-date>2020-01-01</metadata-last-review-date>
  <metadata-review-frequency>1 Year</metadata-review-frequency>
  <metadata-next-review-date>2021-01-01</metadata-next-review-date> <!-- derived -->
</catalog-details>

Version 1.7

July 22, 2021

Controlled and Uncontrolled Keywords

Keywords in InPort are being revamped. As part of this effort, the most commonly used thesauri in InPort will be standardized and controlled against authoritative sources, and will be referred to within InPort as "Controlled Keywords." Thesauri that InPort does not officially support will be referred to as "Uncontrolled Keywords."

While both Controlled and Uncontrolled Keywords will continue to be emitted in InPort XML in the <keywords> section, they will also be annotated with a new "controlled" attribute with a value of "Yes" for Controlled Keywords, and "No" for Uncontrolled Keywords. Other than this attribute, <keywords> will remain exactly the same in InPort XML.

Example:

<keywords>
  <!-- Controlled Keyword -->
  <keyword controlled="Yes">
    <keyword-type>Theme</keyword-type>
    <thesaurus>Global Change Master Directory (GCMD) Science Keywords</thesaurus>
    <keyword>EARTH SCIENCE > TERRESTRIAL HYDROSPHERE > WATER QUALITY/WATER CHEMISTRY > CONTAMINANTS > MAGNESIUM</keyword>
  </keyword>
  <!-- Uncontrolled Keyword -->
  <keyword controlled="No">
    <keyword-type>Theme</keyword-type>
    <thesaurus>Sample Uncontrolled Thesaurus</thesaurus>
    <keyword>Keyword 1</keyword>
  </keyword>
</keywords>

Tags

In addition to the new delineation between Controlled and Uncontrolled Keywords, users can also add Tags to records. Tags function in a similar way to Keywords, but are more appropriate for labels and identifiers which do not correspond to a formal vocabulary.

Tags are emitted in the <catalog-details> section.

Example:

<catalog-details>
  <tags>
    <tag>My Tag 1</tag>
    <tag>My Tag 2</tag>
  </tags>
  ...
</catalog-details>

For more information on changes coming to InPort for Keywords, please see the full help page on Controlled Keywords, Uncontrolled Keywords and Tags.

Version 1.6

July 6, 2021

Child Entity Item Identification Fields

Item Identification fields (such as <catalog-item-id>, <abstract>, etc.) for Child Entities of a Data Set were previously placed directly under the <entity> node within the <entity-attribute-information> section.

To be more consistent with the normal structure of a Catalog Item and its sections, these are now wrapped within an <item-identification> section under <entity>.

Version 1.5 Additional Note 2

November 24, 2020

Automatic NOAA Contact Insertion

Contacts referenced in InPort XML files (such as in Support Roles) -- which have a NOAA email address listed in <contact-email> (i.e. ending in "@noaa.gov") -- are now automatically added to InPort if they do not already exist.

Note that in this scenario, the <contact-name> must also be present for the Contact to be automatically added.

This feature is provided as a convenience for users, but we continue to recommend adding Contacts to InPort prior to loading, as the preferred approach.

Version 1.5 Additional Note 1

September 22, 2020

Contact Name Format Recommendation

Previously the recommended format for <contact-name> was [First Name] [Middle Name/Initials] [Last Name]. We are now recommending the format:

[Last Name], [First Name] [Middle Name/Initials]

Note that the actual functionality of the XML Loader has not been changed -- both formats have been and will continue to be supported. However, in practice, we have found that the use of the comma provides additional, helpful information for processing full person names, where the division between first, last and middle name can be ambiguous.

Since XML Loader functionality has not been modified, we do not consider this recommendation change to be a version change. All XML Loader documentation and samples, however, now reflect this new recommendation.

Version 1.5

June 4, 2019

Publications and Publication Information

A new Catalog Item Type, Publication, has been added to InPort. In addition, a new section, Publication Information, has also been added. Please see the Publication Information documentation for more information.

Date Field Consolidation

Certain date fields which were previously Catalog Item-type specific have now been consolidated into new fields in the Item Identification section, which apply across all Catalog Item Types.

Deprecated Fields:

  • Data Set Info: Data Set Creation Date
  • Data Set Info: Data Set Revision Date
  • Data Set Info: Data Set Publication Status
  • Data Set Info: Publish Date
  • Document Info: Publication Date

New Consolidated Fields:

  • Item Identification: Creation Date
  • Item Identification: Revision Date
  • Item Identification: Publication Date

The new fields also accept "Unknown" as a value, when it is desired to document the relevant date as being unknown.

Version 1.4.1

February 28, 2019

Reference Systems

A new subsection, Reference Systems, under the Spatial Information section, has been added. This subsection provides a way of documenting Spatial Reference System information used for a Data Set. Please see the Reference Systems documentation for more information.

Coordinate Reference System URL

The field, Coordinate Reference System URL (<coordinate-reference-system-url>) under Vertical Extents has been removed from InPort and is no longer supported.

It has been replaced by the <coordinate-reference-system> node, with a child node <epsg-code> which specifies the Coordinate Reference System EPSG Code as an identifier.

Linking Share Level

The Linking Share Level field (under the Catalog Details section) is no longer supported.

Version 1.4.0

November 15, 2018

Support Roles

Support Roles now refer to Contacts, rather than Persons or Organizations. Consequently, the fields <person-email> and <organization> have been deprecated.

Instead, a Contact (which can be a Person, Organization or Position) should now be identified with a <contact-email> or <contact-name>. In addition, the <contact-type> must be specified.

Support Roles using the deprecated <person-email> or <organization> fields will continue to be processed for a temporary transitional period, but will match against InPort Contacts and not InPort Persons or Organizations.

See the full InPort XML Loader documentation on Support Roles for more information.

Distributors (in Distribution Information)

Since Support Roles now refer to Contacts rather than Persons or Organizations, references to Distributors in the Distribution Information section should also refer to these Contacts. Consequently, the fields <person-email> and <organization> have been deprecated.

Instead, the Contact specified as the Distributor should now be identified with a <contact-email> or <contact-name>. In addition, the <contact-type> must be specified.

Distributors using the deprecated <person-email> or <organization> fields will continue to be processed for a temporary transitional period.

Process Contacts (in Lineage Process Steps)

Process Contacts now refer to Contacts, rather than Persons or Organizations. Consequently, the fields <process-contact-type>, <process-contact>, <process-contact-email> and <process-contact-phone> have been deprecated.

Instead, a Contact (which can be a Person, Organization or Position) should now be identified with a <contact-email> or <contact-name>. In addition, the <contact-type> must be specified.

Support Roles using the deprecated <person-email> or <organization> fields will continue to be processed for a temporary transitional period, but will match against InPort Contacts and not InPort Persons or Organizations.

Instead, <process-contact> has been converted into a wrapping node for a reference to a Contact (which can be a Person, Organization or Position). The Contact can be identified with a <contact-email> or <contact-name>. In addition, the <contact-type> must be specified.

Process Contacts using the deprecated <process-contact> field will continue to be processed for a temporary transitional period, but will match against InPort Contacts and not InPort Persons or Organizations. In addition, Non-InPort Persons and Organization specified with the <process-contact>, <process-contact-email>, or <process-contact-phone> fields are no longer supported and will be skipped during loading.

See the full InPort XML Loader documentation on Lineage Process Steps for more information.

Originators/Publishers (in Lineage Sources)

Previously, the Originator/Publisher for a Source was specified with <originator-publisher-type> and <originator-publisher>. These fields are now deprecated and replaced by 3 new fields: <contact-role-type>, <contact-type> and <contact-name>.

Note that unlike other sections, the <contact-name> field for Lineage Source is a standalone free text field, and not a reference to an InPort Contact. Consequently, it does not need to refer to a pre-existing InPort Contact.

Sources using the deprecated <originator-publisher-type> and <originator-publisher> fields will continue to be processed for a temporary transitional period.

See the full InPort XML Loader documentation on Lineage Sources for more information.

FGDC Content Type

The field, FGDC Content Type (from the Distribution Information section) has been deprecated and is no longer supported in the XML loader.

Source Media Type

The field, Source Media Type (from the Data Set Information section) has been deprecated and is no longer supported in the XML loader.

Linking Share Level

The field, Linking Share Level (in the Catalog Details section) has been deprecated, and is no longer supported in the XML loader. This field has been used to restrict what Catalog Items can be linked as Related Items. The field will be completely removed in a future release, after which any Catalog Items can be related to each other without restriction.

Version 1.3.1

May 24, 2018

Data Set Creation Date, Data Set Revision Date

Two new fields, Data Set Creation Date and Data Set Revision Date, have been added to the Data Set Information section. These are optional fields which refer to the creation date and revision date of the Data Set, respectively. Please see the Data Set Information documentation for more information.

InPort XML Date/Time Format Changes

InPort XML now uses ISO 8601 extended format to represent date and time for better readability. However, the Loader will continue to accept both extended and basic format.

Version 1.3.0

January 23, 2018

A new section, Acquisition Information, has been added. This section provides a more detailed and reusable method for documenting Instruments, Platforms, and Physical Collection / Fishing Gear. It replaces the respective fields under the Data Set Information section, which are now deprecated. Please see the Acquisition Information documentation for more information.

A number of additional fields have been added to various sections. Please consult the documentation links below for more information.

  • Item Identification
    • DOI (<doi>)
    • DOI Registration Authority (<doi-registration-authority>)
    • DOI Issue Date (<doi-issue-date>)
  • Keywords
    • New Keyword Types: Instrument and Platform
  • Data Set Information
    • Data Set Scope Code (<data-set-scope-code>)
  • URLs
    • Name (<name>)
  • Lineage Sources (under Lineage)
    • Citation URL Name (<citation-url-name>)
    • Citation URL Description (<citation-url-description>)
  • Data Quality
    • Horizontal Positional Accuracy (<horizontal-positional-accuracy>)
    • Vertical Positional Accuracy (<vertical-positional-accuracy>)
  • Related Items
    • Relationship Type (<relationship-type>)

Version 1.2.2

October 19, 2017

Source Contribution

A new field, Lineage Source Contribution, has been added to the Lineage section. This field is an optional brief statement under a Lineage Source which identifies the information contributed by the source to the data set. Please see the Lineage documentation for more information.

Version 1.2.1

August 8, 2017

Currentness Reference

Previous versions of InPort XML incorrectly used <currentness> as the XML name for the Currentness Reference field (in the Extents section). As of this version, it has been corrected to be <currentness-reference>. The old name <currentness> will continue to be supported for a temporary period, however it is strongly recommended to update to the corrected node name at the earliest convenience. Please see the Extents documentation for the updated documentation and examples.

Version 1.2.0

July 6, 2017

Spatial Information (Phase One)

A new section, Spatial Information, has been added. This represents the first of two phases for supporting the ability to document spatial information-related metadata in InPort. Please see the Spatial Information documentation for detailed information on fields added in this release.

Maintenance Note

A new field, Maintenance Note, has been added to the Data Set Information section. This field contains information regarding specific requirements for maintaining the resource. Please see the Data Set Information documentation for more information.

CC ID

The previous version of the InPort XML Loader documentation incorrectly listed the CC ID option as a child node of the section or element it belonged to, rather than as an attribute of the containing element. The documentation has been corrected to fix this error, however the XML Loader functionality has not changed, and retains the original correct processing of cc-id as an attribute.

Version 1.1.1

April 4, 2017

Geographic Areas

Each geographic area must contain either geographic bounds, or a description, or both. "Blank" geographic areas are not allowed.

On an update, if the geographic bounds or description are removed, which results in a blank geographic area, the blank area will also be removed from the list of extents.

Version 1.1.0

March 14, 2017

Keywords

Keyword thesauri can no longer have the value "None". Keywords with no thesauri should not include the <thesaurus> node. The InPort XML Loader will convert any thesauri with a value of "None" to a null value.

Distribution Information (formerly "Downloads")

The Downloads (<downloads>) section has been renamed to Distribution Information (<distribution-information>). Each Download (<download>) is now referred to as a Distribution (<distribution>). In addition, three new fields have been added, which are also supported in the InPort XML Loader:

  • Start Date (<start-date>) - signifies the start of the Distribution.
  • End Date (<end-date>)- signifies the end of the Distribution. Note that when Start Date is specified, but no End Date is given, the Distribution is considered to be current to the present date.
  • Distributor (<distributor>) - an association between a Distribution to one of the Distributors for the Catalog Item. The reference is made to the Distributor by providing the Distributor's email address (if a person), organization (if an organization), and effective dates (if any). Please see the full InPort XML Loader Documentation for additional details on referencing Distributors within Distributions.