RE: Make your data indexable by search engines

Of course the point here is that Geospatial's long-time rather deviant obsession with providing 'metadata records' is at least in part because the datasets are not searchable by traditional crawlers - not enough text!
So we decided feed the indexes the text we wanted.
Now we have found that it must be pre-masticated in order to not cause indigestion.

Simon

From: Byron Cochrane [mailto:bcochrane@linz.govt.nz]
Sent: Tuesday, 23 August 2016 12:56 PM
To: 'eparsons@google.com' <eparsons@google.com>; 'SDW WG (public-sdw-wg@w3.org)' <public-sdw-wg@w3.org>
Subject: Make your data indexable by search engines

Hi,

I have been struggling with the "Make your data indexable by search engines" BP.   While I agree that it is useful to make data discoverable by common search engines, there is much is the discussion include in this BP that I take issue with.  But also, it seems too wordy to be easily understood.  So I have created a "Starter for Ten" revision that I feel focuses on the main idea while removing the contentious arguments while not decreasing the impact (I hope).

Here it is:

Make your data indexable by search engines

Search engines should be able to crawl and index metadata for spatial data on the web.

Why?

In SDIs, data are commonly managed and published through the provision of authoritative ISO 19115 metadata collated in web based catalogs.  These catalogs and metadata may be difficult for non-professionals to find and use as they often do not support discovery through common search engines.  These data therefore do not find their broadest audience. This is particularly true for SpatialThings that reside inside datasets.

Intended Outcome

Metadata for spatial data, datasets and SpatialThings, are indexable by search engine crawlers thereby making these data discoverable through common search engines.

Possible Approach to Implementation

To make your data indexable by search engines expose the appropriate elements of the spatial metadata (ISO 19115 and other) in formats that crawlers can use, such as DCAT, Schema.org, microdata and Opensearch.  Where possible, do this at both the dataset and SpatialThing level.


Look forward to getting some feedback.

Cheers,

Byron Cochrane
SDI Technical Leader
New Zealand Geospatial Office

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