GIS Data Management Consultation Service Guide
The Harvard Map Collection actively collects and preserves GIS data for long-term discovery and reuse in the Harvard Geospatial Library (HGL) and other platforms like Dataverse and the Open Science Framework (OSF). Whether you're considering depositing your data in tools like HGL or Dataverse, seeking feedback on communicating your project's GIS components, or simply beginning to explore this topic, we're here to help you ensure your GIS components are well-communicated and discoverable.
On this page, you will find:
- Our consultation services: how we partner with you to create robust metadata.
- Impactful project examples: cases where careful documentation led to extended research value.
- Metadata prompts (DIY guide link): a link to flexible prompts to help you start documenting your GIS data context.
- Official metadata standards (for reference): an example of a comprehensive metadata template to illustrate the scope of formal records.
Consult with our team on your GIS Metadata
- Email maps@harvard.edu to set up a consultation.
Why partner with us for metadata?
The usability of your data hinges on quality documentation. While creating standardized metadata can be time-consuming and requires technical expertise, our guided interviews bridge this gap. We liaise between your vast project knowledge and the specific techniques to capture it, ensuring many can benefit from your work.
| What's in it for the researcher | What's in it for the library |
|---|---|
| Extend the value and reproducibility of your work. | Provide better access to well-described and discoverable data. |
| Facilitate transparency and ensure you retain rights to your data (not a publisher). | Fulfill objectives of supporting GIS needs of researchers. |
| Enhance the long-term impact and discoverability of your research. | Contribute to open access best practices for geospatial data. |
Impactful GIS Project Examples with Well-Described Data:
The visibility of public-facing GIS projects is significantly extended when their underlying data and methods are transparently documented. This documentation extends the projects' utility, allowing researchers to build upon them, combine datasets, and perform new analyses. For instance, Mapping Inequality's project about redlining meticulously documents its geospatial data in a way that enables integration with diverse datasets for further spatial analysis, such as impacts on health outcomes or educational access.
| GIS project | Data, methods and documentation |
|---|---|
| Mapping Inequality | Data, methods and documentation |
| Land-Grab Universities | Data, methods and documentation |
| Undoing Empire, One Plant at a Time (Harvard example) | Data, methods and documentation |
Understanding Metadata Standards (for Reference):
Standardized metadata is vital for library systems like HOLLIS, Dataverse, and HGL, allowing researchers to discover resources. Creating it can be complex. For a deeper understanding of the importance of metadata and the roles of metadata librarians in research, you can refer to this article: The Roles of the Metadata Librarian in a Research Library.
Important note: you are not required to fill out official metadata templates yourself. This template is provided for informational purposes only, to illustrate the comprehensive scope of information that goes into a formal, standardized metadata record. Our guided interviews help you provide this information without needing to navigate this template yourself.
Full Federal Geographic Data Committee Metadata Template.
FGDC metadata is a common standard for professional-quality descriptive metadata for GIS.
Suggested Next Steps:
Schedule a guided interview with us. We will walk through prompts designed to generate high-quality metadata. Even if your goal is not to deposit datasets, organizing your thoughts about communicating your data work can be highly beneficial. If you'd like to preview our flexible prompts ahead of time, please refer to our guide to creating README-style metadata for GIS data tab at the top of this page.