Attached to this blog post is the download for the FGDC Metadata Editor add-in. This add-in provides a command that can be added to the Metadata toolbar in ArcCatalog. When clicked it opens the same FGDC metadata editor available at previous releases. This editor can be used to modify content in FGDC elements in an item’s metadata. These elements sit alongside ArcGIS elements in the item’s metadata. ArcGIS 10 will not automatically update any content in any FGDC elements. If you’re using a metadata style that supports full access to the item’s metadata, any FGDC elements that are present can be viewed under the FGDC metadata heading.
Steps to getting started:
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Download and save the attached file (fgdc.esriaddin) to your ArcGIS Desktop add-in folder (C:Users…DocumentsArcGISAddInsDesktop10.0)
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Open ArcCatalog (if open, close and re-open)
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In ArcCatalog go to the Customize menu and select Customize Mode
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On the Commands tab scroll down to the Metadata category
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From the Metadata Commands, drag the Show Metadata Editor command to the Metadata toolbar or someplace on the users interface to access the FGDC Editor.
For more information on Metadata Editing at ArcGIS 10 see the following help topics
Is it possible that you can create a similar add in for the ESRI ISO profile?
An add-in for the 9.3.1 version of the ISO metadata editing wizard won’t be created.
Here is another good help topic on Metadata styles and standards
http://help.arcgis.com/en/arcgisdesktop/10.0/help/index.html#//003t00000008000000.htm
FGDC metadata editor availability is greate in ArcGIS 10 with the Addin. But, how do I see all the information from FGDC format? The ArcGIS 10 metadata format does not list complete information from all tabs in FGDC. How do I see the field definitions that I had entered under Attributes tab in FGDC?
ns
I think I have found the information about my previous question on how to view complete metadata. The link below provides info in ArcGIS 10 Help how to activate different metadata styles and view your metadata entered in 9.3.1.
http://help.arcgis.com/en/arcgisdesktop/10.0/help/index.html#//003t00000001000000.htm
Is there a place to get sample code for a metadata addin, such as the FGDC one, or something simpler?
I created a custom metadata editor for ArcGIS 9.x. What modifications are necessary to be able to use it with version 10? Sample code for C#.NET would be greatly appreciated.
Is there a reason why the FGDC metadata editor, or stylesheets to support previously created FGDC metadata, isn’t available in v.10 except by downloading an optional extension? I’m all for letting the user choose to simplify the process of creating metadata, but given that FGDC/CSDGM is still a widely recognized and accepted standard I can’t see why it isn’t included in the core product.
Thanks!
I’m likewise perplexed (to put it kindly) why core functionality like full metadata editing that’s been integrated with desktop for many years is suddenly yanked out and requires extra work just to use.
Why do we need to install an add-inn?
Where are the tabs for seeing the spatial and attribute information?
What is the reason to take all that away that worked so well on 9.x and leave this neanderthal metadata schema on 10??
I honestly don’t understand the reasons ESRI might have on this and can’t find a good excuse to tell my students when they ask me about this.
Somebody please give me an explanation because right now I see no reason to have our 500 computers upgraded to a version that is way worse than the previous!
Metadata an add-in! I couldn’t believe it. I didn’t notice until it was pointed out to me. I’ve been too busy dealing with ArcGIS 10 hanging my computer or dozens of other problems with the new version to notice that metadata has been downgraded to “Description”. Tell me this is just a misunderstanding on ESRI’s part and that this will be put back into place ASAP.
To all: ESRI has taken the position to address metadata for those who choose NOT to follow the FGDC standard…as opposed to those who do and why it worked out so nice in 9x. I’m still fumbling my way through and still, as of yet, can not produce the exact metadata as I did before in 9x. I’m still missing information in my metadata after conversion to this new ARCGIS version??!!???. Seems all new technology and programming are involved. What took seconds now takes minutes, though you can create a script now to import/export metadata. The FGDC editor is only a temp fix and will go bye-bye. I’m still in the early phases of trying to figure this out but ESRI should have ONE simple document to discuss what the heck changed and step by step procedures to reproduce what was done in 9x. I’m finding information, but it’s scattered all over the help files. Not liking what I see at this point but hoping for the best. Might make the switch to the EPA’s metadata editor if ESRI refuses to budge. EPA states that their tool will be ARCGIS 10 compliant soon. Fingers crossed on that and holding up a special finger just for ESRI for making my job so much harder. LOL
I still can not edit my old version 9.3 metadata and the new export tyols do’t work what gives here? Something that should take a little bit of time to update and edit is nearly impossible. Are you telling us that we need to rewrite all our metadta on our legacy projects in order for it to work in ArcGIS 10 properly and to be in what ever this new ArcGIS metadata format is. Out clients won’t pay us to do soimething that has been in place for a couple of years. They want the ESRI FGDC compliant metradata like they are used to.
I found this helpful as it gives somewhat of an explanation and remedy:
http://help.arcgis.com/en/arcgisdesktop/10.0/help/index.html#//003t00000024000000.htm
Blog posts now on the website explain why ESRI took the path it did. However, we are still left with 90% of our metadata content invisible within the ArcGIS environment.
The Help documentation talks a good talk, but the graphics show things that we simply cannot duplicate on our pcs. Even something as (seemingly) simple as getting the column of metadata sections to appear on the side of the Description tab in the Item Description window. Very poor delivery by ESRI on this front.
Coming from a purely GIS background I have nothing but support for ESRI and I am one of ESRI’s biggest fans. I have greatly benefited from the full suite of GIS software tools delivered over the years for geospatial everything (capture, manage, analyze, display, “maps and apps”). The vision that ESRI propagates, permits my GISer’s soul to thrive on what’s cool and awesome about a career in GIS. Large US Federal Government agencies have been ESRI’s loyal customers from “day 1” back in the early 80’s. As an employee of such an agency I am compelled to join this blog, not because I have my own agenda to promote another metadata editor tool or software, but because I am bound by current policy and the requirement to adhere to the FGDC metadata standard. According to some of the blog postings, some ESRI users are not bound in this same way by a particular metadata standard, but choose to adopt one when metadata is needed to post (or promote) their data externally on a website or GIS portal.
There was without doubt much thought that went into the decision, and a variety of reasons, for the ESRI Metadata Team to decide to make metadata one of the “large areas of change” for the new release of ArcGIS Desktop 10. ESRI typically has been really great in asking for our comments and ideas, and acting in response to user input to make changes and enhancements to their software products. It has been my experience; sometimes it is only a handful of users who do the complaining to instigate a change that has broad reaching affects. There probably were (100’s to 1000’s of) users that quietly took the time to learn the ESRI FGDC Metadata Editor, and have had success in integrating it into their metadata workflow, with this system working just fine based on the ArcGIS 9.3.X model for documenting metadata. Whether one of the reasons for change was to push the envelope toward adoption of other standards like NAP of the ISO 19115, or recognition of more widely accepted international standards, I am disappointed that the FGDC Metadata Editor and FGDC Style Sheet was removed from ArcGIS 10. This has left my agency scrambling for a solution to prepare users for “Day One in ArcGIS 10.” I must admit I’m beginning to slightly take exception to having to install the FGDC Metadata Style patch, and use the FGDC.esriAdd-In, create user guides to instruct clients on the initial setup for accessing the FGDC Metadata Editor, including how to gain access to the FGDC style sheet. In regard to the FGDC Metadata Editor to quote my co-worker, “It confused the heck out of people initially, but it was a system that worked.” We have grown to rely on its use as a best practice.
There is so much to look forward to in all the new functionality delivered as a total package in ArcGIS 10! There is no denying that “ESRI is awesome” in so many ways. But in some respect I think the ESRI Metadata Team has missed its mark in supporting the FedGov group (that part of the backbone of their loyal customer base), currently bound by policy and the requirements to adhere to the FGDC metadata standard. I hope that the ESRI Metadata Team remembers that this requirement will be in effect for some time to come along with the need to create FGDC compliant metadata, until the policy officially changes and funnels down through the proper channels toward moving to a different standard.
I have uploaded and installed the FGDC Metadata Editor add-in, but in ArcCatalog I am only able to edit one file fully then when I try to edit the metadata in the next file the add-in freezes and forces me to shut down ArcCatalog.
Any Suggestions?
Is anyone an amazing programmer that is going to be creating an metadata editor which contains pre-loaded tables for faster metadata population? I’m looking for something similar to the “ThreeTab metadata editor”.
Has anyone had any luck getting metadata output to html? It used to be so easy in 9.x to output html of the metadata (FGDC even!) of a file.
I’ve tried the USGS MP Metadata Translator tool and all I get are the contact info of the metadata. I can view all of the metadata in ArcCatalog 10 but export doesn’t work completely (and no errors seem to be generated) when I specify a log file.
Metadata has never been easy but this seems so much more complicated to do with Arc than ever especially with decreased tools/functions.
Writing metadata to html,
This is a work around given to me by ESRI support:
When you preview your metadata in ArcCatalog from the Description tag or from Item Description, an HTML file is created in the User Profile Temp (TMP) directory. If you browse to this location you will find a file with a name similar to xxx123.tmp.htm. You can use this file as a substitute for what would normally be generated by XLST transformation tool.
Other issues to be aware of
The FGDC CSDGM Metadata style in ArcGIS 10 does not show all the information entered in the Metadata Editor (Add-in). The spatial reference information is missing due to the FGDC Classic Stylesheet in ArcGIS 10.
Metadata does not show editing updates: Work around is to REFRESH the folder then the edits are shown.
ArcGIS 10 metadata = FAIL.
Starry said it best, “ArcGIS 10 metadata = FAIL”.
Why isn’t this part of Service Pack 1? It is ridiculous that you can’t even find this tool unless you know what you are looking for.
It is so frustrating to see the changes in metadata at 10.0. Not only was it frustrating to see the changes in 10.0 but a burden for the state I live in. Back when 8.0 was released my state created standards for metadata and they worked through 9.3.1 but have to ‘start over’ essentially to create a similar metadata product that was already working.
Why fix what isn’t broken? Because of the metadata, or lack thereof, in 10.0 my organization is sticking with 9.3.1 where products work.
It would probably be a good idea to read some of the posts about the goals for the changes that took place relating to metadata for ArcGIS 10. The fact of the matter is the 9.3.1 FGDC metadata editor is a VB6 application. ArcGIS 10 doesn’t ship with any VB6 applications. Therefore, the 9.3.1 FGDC metadata editor CANNOT be included in any ArcGIS 10 product or patch. Microsoft withdrew support for that language and therefore all ArcGIS applications that were written using that programming language have to be rewritten.
“It would probably be a good idea to read some of the posts about the goals for the changes that took place relating to metadata for ArcGIS 10. The fact of the matter is the 9.3.1 FGDC metadata editor is a VB6 application. ArcGIS 10 doesn’t ship with any VB6 applications. Therefore, the 9.3.1 FGDC metadata editor CANNOT be included in any ArcGIS 10 product or patch”
well so what: if they rewrote the other code into VB.net or whatever, why then shirk on the metadata editor? Your logic is as bad as ESRI’s decision tree… do you work for ESRI?
I understand it seems like the easiest solution would be to rewrite the existing applications in a current programming language, but the reality of the situation is complex.
The US has not one, but *two* official metadata standards, and in some government agencies one branch is moving to NAP and the other is staying with FGDC for the present. Many people have to provide the same metadata content to both groups in different formats. They shouldn’t have to type the same content into two or three different editors to do that. In the next few years even more metadata profiles and new versions of existing metadata standards will appear on the scene. The model of having many metadata editors that each saves content in a different format doesn’t work if you look at the long game.
The change in how metadata is handled in ArcGIS 10 can be compared to the move from shapefiles and coverages to geodatabases as the primary data format for ArcGIS. You can export data from a geodatabase to shapefiles and coverages if you need them. In the same way, ArcGIS metadata is the primary metadata format for ArcGIS, and we can export content from that format to FGDC, NAP, INSPIRE, or whatever format is needed when it is needed. In the same way that shapefiles don’t support all the same capabilities as geodatabases, people who use the add-in editor or other custom editors will not have the same capabilities as those who use ArcGIS metadata as their primary means of storing their metadata content.
In this way, Esri can meet the needs of each metadata standard and profile as it emerges, while also stepping back from the fray. Our goal is to build an easy-to-use system for creating and maintaining metadata that works for all of our users.
I am not able to use this utility. The only way I could access the file was through “add file” button within the customize window. However, I get the messsage “No GUI components found in this Add-In.
Cannot open C:Documents and SettingswrehanMy DocumentsArcGISAddInsDesktop10.0fgdc.esriaddin.”.
Any words of wisdom or help will be appreciated.
I have the same issue, I am getting “No GUI…” like rwaheed above. Can someone help?
This add-in wraps the ArcGIS 9.3.1 VB6 FGDC metadata editor in C++ to try to make it available in ArcGIS 10. This solution is not guaranteed to work in all cases. For example, it requires a machine to have the VB6 runtime installed and operational. On older machines the runtime should have been installed at some point in the past, but it may not be available on new or rebuilt machines.
The FGDC metadata editor add-in is not required for you to create FGDC metadata with ArcGIS 10. You can create FGDC metadata in the Description tab using the ArcGIS metadata editor as described in this blog post: http://blogs.esri.com/Dev/blogs/arcgisdesktop/archive/2011/06/09/Test.aspx and the new Help topic: http://help.arcgis.com/en/arcgisdesktop/10.0/help/index.html#/Creating_and_managing_FGDC_metadata/003t00000031000000/
I had the same problem as rangermry and rwaheed, and the solution was to move the file fgdc.esriaddin up one level to C:Documents and Settings[username]My DocumentsArcGISAddIns and then follow the instructions at the top of this blog post. ArcCatalog couldn’t find the add-in when I saved it within the Desktop10.0 subfolder.
Does anyone know the correct path to use for Windows 7?
@BrokenLegMike -the path should work but try downloading again it right to that folder.
C:UsersxxxxxxDocumentsArcGISAddInsDesktop10.0
I couldn’t get it to load after moving it around in Windows Explorer, but after a direct download to that folder, it worked right away.
@BrokenLegMike -the path should work but try downloading again it right to that folder.
C:UsersxxxxxxDocumentsArcGISAddInsDesktop10.0
I couldn’t get it to load after moving it around in Windows Explorer, but after a direct download to that folder, it worked right away.
“In the same way, ArcGIS metadata is the primary metadata format for ArcGIS, and we can export content from that format to FGDC, NAP, INSPIRE, or whatever format is needed when it is needed”
In concept, great.
However, the unwary should be warned that at ArcGIS 10.0, the FGDC exports from ArcGIS metadata are only “FGDC-like”, a compliant record that is standard-conformant and uploads correctly to catalogs will not be produced.
I have just been asked to create metadata for the project I am working on as it still in its early stages and been sent a documentation for creating metadata using the ESRI ISO wizard to get started…so let me get this straight:
ESRI ISO 19139 was amazing in v9.3 (what I started on but was still in University so metadata wasn’t essential to me)
Now I am proficiently trained and experienced with v10 they discontinue this format and wizard so now in ArcCatalog you get the descriptions tab instead which is slow and no use to anybody
The FGDC add-in is great but this will not be able to carry the info over to the new version of ArcGIS out next year? so anything I enter will just become irrelevant
I have just been asked to create metadata for the project I am working on as it still in its early stages and been sent a documentation for creating metadata using the ESRI ISO wizard to get started…so let me get this straight:
ESRI ISO 19139 was amazing in v9.3 (what I started on but was still in University so metadata wasn’t essential to me)
Now I am proficiently trained and experienced with v10 they discontinue this format and wizard so now in ArcCatalog you get the descriptions tab instead which is slow and no use to anybody
The FGDC add-in is great but this will not be able to carry the info over to the new version of ArcGIS out next year? so anything I enter will just become irrelevant
In response to Konopkaeh, when you create metadata content in the Description tab and export it to the FGDC format using the ArcGIS to FGDC exporter you get an XML file that follows the FGDC CSDGM XML specification. Given that fact, I don’t know how you can propose that it is merely “FGDC-like”.
In response to Tully22, ArcGIS metadata is essentially version 2 of the ESRI-ISO metadata format. Almost everything you could type in with the 9.3.1 ISO metadata wizard is stored exactly the same way in 10 as it was in 9.3.1. Everything you did before will carry over successfully to version 10. In fact, your ESRI-ISO metadata will be automatically updated for you the first time you edit it in the Description tab. In contrast, FGDC metadata must be upgraded manually. We no longer provide the old 9.3.1 ISO metadata wizard for the same reason that we no longer provide the old 9.3.1 FGDC metadata editor as part of the product… because both of them were written using VB6, which is no longer supported by Microsoft.
Like many, I have found the ArcGIS 10 metadata implementation to be very weak. I just came across a very honest Q&A on the subject with Jack Dangermond (scroll down to metadata):
http://events.esri.com/uc/QandA/index.cfm?ConferenceID=DD02CFE7-1422-2418-7F271831F47A7A31
A couple of snippets:
“In ArcGIS 10, we added a new series of capabilities to strengthen our support for FGDC metadata. However, we did a very poor job in documenting and communicating what we did and how our U.S. and North American users can apply these new capabilities. We apologize and will strive to do better.”
“There was a bug in ArcGIS 10 that introduced an invalid path that prevented the process from completing. This will be fixed in an upcoming patch.”
I really appreciate the honesty. And I would suggest that esri staff (e.g. avienneau) identify themselves on these blogs so that the “official” position is clear.
Is the FGDC Metadata Editor add-in still available for download? The download link provided does not appear to be working.
Download link has been fixed. Sorry for the inconvenience.
Thanks, Eleanor!
I don’t see the link anywhere on this page.
Eric
It’s in the first sentence of the post. Perhaps the styling & coloration is making it hard to read? In any case, here is the URL path – http://downloads.esri.com/blogs/arcgis/fgdc.esriaddin
I downloaded the archive from the link specified, then extracted it, but I didn’t find a .esriaddin file anywhere. Am I missing somethign?
Thanks.
It now comes with SP3, but you still have to customize ArcGIS and add the tool. The ADD-In may have been moved, I can’t connect either, but I still have a copy of the ADD-IN
The editor works for me – but the text is too large, making it unreadable when it’s cut off by text from an adjacent field. Has anyone else encountered this problem?
I am trying to use FGDC CSDGM Metadata in Metadata Style in ArcGIS10 but there no such style! Does any body knows why I don’t have FGDC CSDGM Metadata style in my ArcGIS?
How can get it in ArcGIS 10?
Thank you
The FGDC CSDGM Metadata Style was first included in Service Pack 1 for ArcGIS 10.0. However, if you want to create FGDC CSDGM-compliant metadata, you should use Service Pack 4 or higher.
There is no active link for the add-in attached file (fgdc.esriaddin) on this page. Where can I get fgdc.esriaddin?
Nevermind…found it.
where did you find it? were you able to edit “read only” fgdc metadata?
I am not finding fgdc.addin either…
After downloading the file stored in the hyperlink (above) am I supposed to put the file here; C:\Users\branndon\Documents\ArcGIS\AddIns\Desktop10.0 ? Placing the “fgdc” folder in this location, I cant seem to proceed with the remaining instructions 2 through 5. Any help?
Yes, the downloadable files for this post seemed to have changed, but the instructions have not changed, but the instructions no longer work for the new download, can someone please document how to install the download?? Thanks.
Nevermind, I figured out that IE 9 for whatever reason interprets the download as “fgdc.zip” whereas if you use a different browser like Chrome, it interprets it properly as “fgdc.esriaddin” and it works as described. Renaming the .zip file to “fgdc.esriaddin” may also work.
I have tried to UPGRADE METADATA by pressing the magic button and I get the following error…
An error has occured in the script on this page.
file:///C:\Users/User/AppData/Roaming/ESRI/Desktop10.0/ArcToolbox/Dlg/MdDlgContent.htm
Did I not install something way back when? What is ArcGIS looking for?