IGFS Metadata for Gravity. Structure, Build-up and Application Module

Abstract

Gravity field related products have been the focus of almost all geosciences in the sense that they give a realistic representation of the physical properties of system Earth. The rigorous documentation and archiving of gravity field related data (e.g., absolute gravity, gravity anomalies etc.), either irregularly distributed and on a grid, has become mandatory in order to ensure coherent and unambiguous utilization by users and archiving in related data management servers and services. Given the above, the International Gravity Field Service (IGFS) has taken steps in order to generate metadata for gravity field related data so that fragmentation of databases at national and international level as well as user needs can be addressed. To that respect, a new ISO19115-1 profile for gravity field metadata has been prepared, describing all necessary fields that the metadata should have, while an online PHP-based (PHP: Hypertext Preprocessor) web application (XML generator) has been developed and became available as an IGFS product to assist users to generate compliant metadata. In this work, we describe the main characteristics of the metadata structure and give details on the developed web application. Finally, the dedicated IGFS application server, igfsapps.topo.auth.gr, is described and details on the incorporation of the gravity metadata application as an online IGFS service are provided.