Chanin Tinnachote
Department of Survey Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Chulalongkorn University,
Thailand
Email: [email protected]
Tanya Teerasarn
ESRI (Thailand) Co.
Ltd.
Geospatial metadata are very important as they document the geospatial datasets and facilitate the access, dissemination, and uses of those valuable assets. In Thailand, metadata for geospatial datasets are considered to be a major prerequisite for the development of our National Spatial Data Infrastructure (NSDI). Recently, the International Standard for Geographical metadata, ISO19115, has been adopted as the Thai Industrial Standard 19115. This has intensified the attention of all members of Thailand GIS community in the contents and the practical implementation of this ISO19115. There is also a certain requirement to develop a national standard for geospatial metadata, based on ISO19115, which suits the situation in Thailand. This paper portrays the result of a study on users’ opinion about their requirements and readiness for implementing metadata items specified in ISO19115. About fifty major geospatial data producer and user organizations in Thailand were interviewed using questionnaires. The interviewees have classified ISO19115 metadata items into four classes based on their usage purpose: data discovery, suitability assessment, data access, and data application. The degree of importance as well as the ability to construct each metadata item is also identified. Based on those results together with the mandatory items listed in the international standard, a list of mandatory metadata items is proposed. This information provides a major step toward the development of National Geospatial Metadata Standard for Thailand.
