CERES Standards
Data standards are central to the exchange of information between CERES partners. Some data are exchanged by manually transferring them into a shared system. Other data are exchanged using machine to machine transfers. CERES has found the following websites and standards to be useful for coordinated data sharing.
California Environmental Information Catalog (CEIC)
The California Environmental Information Catalog is CERES own online directory for reporting and discovery of information resources for California. Participants include cities, counties, utilities, state and federal agencies, private businesses and academic institutions that have spatial and other types of data resources. CEIC is based on the Federal Geographic Data Committee (FGDC) metadata standard. Contributors may enter data into the catalog via a convenient web interface, or with a batch process by exporting the data to an XML file made available to CEIC over the Internet. The following documents describe the CERES implementation of the FGDC standard for the batch XML data transfer process:
CEIC FGDC Metadata Usage Guide: Data field requirements and descriptions for CEIC entries including CEIC required fields from the FGDC standard.DRAFT Sample CEIC FGDC XML Record: A sample record for CEIC compatibility testing.
Graphic Guide to Entire FGDC Standard: An image map of the entire FGDC standard including fields not required for CEIC submissions.
California State Library and Archives Provisional Standard for Resource Metadata - Version 0.8
Resource Metadata Standard for the California Resources Agency and affiliates.
Sample XML Exchange Document
California Environmental Data Exchange Network (CEDEN)
CEDEN is a growing statewide cooperative data exchange program of various groups involved in the water and environmental resources of the State of California. Most of CEDEN's data exchange services are custom developed using a robust tool set which has been used to connect scores of programs into the network. Multiple projects are underway to extend CEDEN data exchange to additional standards and those services should be available in the coming year. The following links describe the standards used for these services:
Surface Waters Ambient Monitoring Program (SWAMP): Data collection and exchange standards for SWAMP.Environmental Data Standards Council (EDSC) : Standards being used by CEDEN to establish data exchanges with the CalEPA node of the US EPA National Environmental Information Exchange Network.
The Natural Resource Projects Inventory (NRPI)
NRPI is California's most comprehensive database of natural resource projects. Data may be submitted using a web forms interface or arrangements may be made for batch data uploads. For more information on submitting data to NRPI go to the link above and look for the section titled "Enter and Edit Projects".
Digital Libraries
A number of digital library standards initiatives have emerged and some of them will lead to development of vital tools for distributing information on the environment. The links below lead to some of these proposed standards:
Digital Library Federation endorsed standards