World Spatial Metadata Standards, edited by Harold Moellering, Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio, represents years of work by the International Cartographic Association (ICA) Spatial Data Standards Commission during the 1995�2003 ICA cycles. Parts one and two describe the spatial metadata activities happening in Africa/Middle East, Asia/Pacific, Europe, Latin America, North America, and the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) community. Part three provides the broader context and description of the milieu in which these standards operate so that the reader can more easily understand the scientific and technical framework from which a particular standard has emerged. The third section is a complete listing of all three levels of scientific and technical characteristics and their meanings, which are included in the book's set of definitions of metadata terms. The fourth section contains 22 chapters that assess each of the major national and international spatial metadata standards in the world and also includes a few representative subject matter profiles derived from a major standard. They have been carried out in terms of all three levels of characteristics. Each assessment has been conducted by a commission member who has been an active participant in the development of the standard being assessed in the native language of that standard. The fifth section contains a cross-table wall size summary chart that includes all 22 standards and profiles, which are cross tabulated by 70 of the crucial characteristics. The columns provide a thumbnail sketch of each individual standard while the rows facilitate a quick comparison of individual critical characteristics across all 22 standards and profiles.

World Spatial Metadata Standards is for all those interested in spatial data standards for analytical cartography, geographic information science, geographic information systems, photogrammetry, remote sensing, surveying, geodesy, vehicle navigation systems, geology, biology, satellite imagery, demography, and related subject matter sciences.

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For full details on ordering World Spatial Metadata Standards, 500 pages (ISBN: 0-08-043949-7), including full contents summary, visit www.elsevier.com/locate/isbn/0080439497.