Multi-Standard Compatible Metadata Framework for Geo-Spatial Data

There is coexistence of different metadata standards in the field of Earth Science. It causes many challenging difficulties of data Sharing and Management in Earth Science. In order to deal with the problem, a multi-standard compatible metadata framework named "XMCMF" is proposed by extending the tree model and introducing object types, inheritance mechanisms and alias mechanisms. XMCMF can make different metadata standards coexist in one unified metadata framework as different object types. It can also make different metadata standards be stored and managed uniformly in systems. The application case shows that the framework "XMCMF" is flexible, cost less and scalable when a new metadata standard joins XMCMF. XMCMF can also be a demonstration of application in other fields with the requirement of multi-standard, high flexibility and scalability.