[eml-dev] EML Question, resource is available both online and offline

[Margaret O'Brien]

Hi Jonathan -
I think you could a couple of things:
1. as you suggested, it's OK to add this bit of info to the abstract. 
Noting that there are 2 options for retrieving the resource (due to its 
size) does not seem out of place there.

2, The best thing to do is to add another distribution node for the 
offline copy, since the physical tree allows multiple distribution 
elements. That way, in HTML the offline option will show up right next 
to the online url you have already provided, which makes the choice 
pretty obvious.

<physical>
...
<distribution>
<online>
<url function="download">http://url.bes.etc/gis/resource1</url>
</online>
</distribution>
<distribution>
<offline>
<mediumName>BES Geodatabase hard drive</mediumName>
<mediumFormat>FAT32</mediumFormat>
</offline>
</distribution>
</physical>

Only the mediumName element is required in <offline>, but see the 
documentation for the other available elements. If you have a contact 
tree, I think it is implied that a request for the offline copy should 
be directed there, but you could reiterate that in an offline/mediumNote.
Here is a link to the documentation:
http://knb.ecoinformatics.org/software/eml/eml-2.1.0/eml-physical.html#PhysicalDistributionType
http://knb.ecoinformatics.org/software/eml/eml-2.1.0/eml-resource.html#OfflineType

3. as a final alternative, there is an <additionalInfo> element at the 
resource level (located between <keywords> and <intellectualRights>) for 
text that you can't find other places for. But I don't think that is the 
best place to describe something like an offline resource.

Are you on the IMC-GIS committee? I hope so -- your input will help in 
writing Best Practices. Also, your experiences with EML and your GIS 
database would be interesting for the eml-dev group to hear about. 
Integrating the two is one area that has been put off. BTW, I cc'd that 
mailing list here to get you on their radar, so you can reply-all with 
any other comments on EML/GIS, and also in case they think of any other 
answers to this question.

Enjoy your holidays!
Margaret
-----------------

Jonathan Walsh wrote:
>
> Hi Margaret,
>
> I hope this time of year has been fun for you.
>
> I wish to add a note to my metadata in eml.
>
> We have this geodatabase and although I’ve managed to produce eml that 
> points to it directly, the files are very large.
>
> So I want to add a note saying that upon request we can send an 
> external hard drive containing the geodatabase in the mail.
>
> I can’t figure out where in the EML schema such a thing would go. 
> Could you suggest a node?
>
> I could concatenate it to the abstract if such a node doesn’t exist.
>
> Thanks,
>
> Jonathan
>
> ------------------------------------------------------
>
> Jonathan M. Walsh
>
> Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies
>
> Box AB
>
> 65 Sharon Turnpike
>
> Millbrook, NY 12545
>
> Phone: 845-677-7600, ext. 103
>
> FAX: 845-677-5976
>
> E-mail: WalshJ at caryinstitute.org
>
> ------------------------------------------------------
>

-- 
Margaret O'Brien
Information Management
Santa Barbara Coastal LTER
Marine Science Institute
University of California
Santa Barbara CA 93106
805-893-2071