Re: MetaData SVG

Hi, Thibaud-


Thibaud Elziere wrote:
> 
> Fotolia (www.fotolia.com) will soon announce the launch of a vector 
> bank. The specificity of this vector bank is that only SVG format will 
> be accepted. 

Sounds great!


> We already accept images (JPG) and we use IPTC metadata to 
> embed information within images (title, keywords etc). We are looking 
> for the best way to do the same with SVG. Which data structure do you 
> think will be the best for SVG format ?

Well, first you should be aware that, as XML, SVG can contain its own 
metadata natively.  The 'title', 'desc', and 'metadata' elements can be 
children of (just about?) every element, including the root.  So you 
might have a document that looks like:

<svg ... >
   <title>Crops Growing Under the Sun</title>
   <desc>A drawing by Someguy, Jan 23, 2007</desc>
   <!-- some art -->
   <g>
     <title>Crops</title>
     <!-- some path elements -->
   </g>
   <circle ... >
     <title>The Sun</title>
   </circle>
</svg>

The only downside here is that the data are unstructured, so an author 
can put any info they want there, which might make it less than ideal 
for your purposes.

Thus, I think that RDF is probably your best choice.  There are RDF 
subformats for various uses, such as description, authoring info, and 
licensing.  Inkscape is a popular SVG editor, and it uses RDF for just 
those use cases.  I suspect that many people might contribute images 
drawn in Inkscape, as they have with the Open Clip Art Library, so it 
would be easy and natural to use a compatible format.  You can see how 
they handle it in their interface:

File > Document Metadata

I've attached a sample output file for you.

If you do go the RDF route, I'd suggest that you also provide your own 
interface for inserting metadata, something as simple as a Web form, so 
that you can get consistency across all your files, regardless of their 
provenance.  You might suggest or mandate particular items (like title, 
author, or license) for further compatibility.  Also, you could scan the 
file for existing metadata, and let them replace or supplement it, then 
insert the RDF directly into the file.

Regards-
-Doug

Research and Standards Engineer
6th Sense Analytics
www.6thsenseanalytics.com
mobile: 919.824.5482