Publish resources

The success of a geoportal depends on the quality resources it hosts. A resource must be published to the geoportal and approved before it can be discovered through the geoportal search. The following is a list of methods that can be used to publish a resource:

1. Register a resource on the network
2. Upload or validate metadata file from the local disk
3. Use dedicated editor to create metadata manually
4. Publish through the Geoportal Publish Client
5. Publish using the CSW INSERT transaction
6. Publish through the REST API

Note:

Publishing privileges are only available to users who are registered in the geoportal organization's LDAP. To become a publisher, first Create a regular registered user account, then send a message to your geoportal administrator to request publishing privileges (you can do using the geoportal's Feedback link). Once the geoportal administrator has worked with the security administrator to grant your account publishing privileges, you can login to the geoportal as a publisher.

Register a resource on the network

By registering a resource on the network, you provide connection information to a resource that can be revisited by the geoportal catalog for new resources and updates. This process is called synchronization. For example, if you have a web-accessible folder (WAF) containing metadata records describing data holdings for your organization, you can register the folder and the geoportal would copy the resources from the WAF to the geoportal catalog. Further, it would also visit the WAF frequently to check for new records, delete records in the geoportal catalog that were no longer in the WAF, and update existing records that had changed. There are several types of resources that can be registered, as described below. Complete these steps to register a resource:

1. Log into the geoportal and click the Administration tab.
2. Click Add.
3. Click Register a resource on the network.
4. Choose one of the following protocol options that corresponds with the resource you want to synchronize:
   • URL—Use this option for the following types of resources:
     • A GetCapabilities URL to an OGC service (OWS, WMS, WCS, WFS, WPS, SOS, SPS, CSW, or KML)
     • A REST URL formatted in GEORSS
     • An OpenSearch description XML
     • A URL to a metadata XML (such as FGDC, ISO-based profiles, Dublin Core, and so on)
   • ArcGIS—Use this option for the following types of resources:
     • A URL to an ArcGIS Server that contains services
     • A URL to one specific service, for example, MapServer, GlobeServer, ImageServer, GeoDataServer, MobileServer, GPServer, GeocodeServer, GeometryServer,NAServer, FeatureServer, SearchServer, WMSServer, WFSServer, and WCSServer
   • ESRI MS—ESRI Metadata Server service or ArcIMS metadata service

     Note:

     ArcIMS Image services, ArcIMS Feature services, and Z39.50 connections are not supported through the Register a network service feature.

   • OAI—Open Archive Initiative service
   • WAF—URL to a web-accessible folder
5. Provide additional information for the protocol you chose in the following fields:
   • Url—The URL the geoportal should use to access the resource. The geoportal will use the information available from the URL to generate the metadata document describing the resource. You can verify that that the service is running by clicking the Test button next to the Url text box.
   • Title—The title of the resource. Some resources, such as CS-W catalogs, have default titles. Providing a title for a resource that already has a title will result in the new title being displayed in search results.
   • ArcGIS—The following are additional fields required for the ArcGIS protocol:
     • REST Url—The REST URL of the ArcGIS Server service.
     • SOAP Url—The REST URL of the ArcGIS Server service. This allows the SOAP URL to be associated with the resource in the geoportal catalog.
   • ESRI MS—The following are additional fields for the ESRI MS protocol:
     • Port Number—The port on which the metadata service is running.
     • Service Name—The name of the metadata service to be accessed. For example, Browse_Metadata.
     • User Name—The user name used to access the service if it's secured.
     • User Password—The password used to access the service if it's secured.
     • Root Folder—If you only want to harvest data from a certain publisher's folder, use this field to indicate the folder.
   • OAI—The following are additional fields for the OAI protocol:
     • Prefix—The prefix of the metadata records stored in the OAI database.
     • Set—The name of the set or database from which you want to retrieve resources.
   • WAF—The following are additional fields for the WAF protocol:
     • User Name—The user name used to access the WAF if it's secured.
     • User Password—The password used to access the WAF if it's secured.

     Note:

     Subfolders will automatically be included.

   • CSW—The Profile field defines the CSW profile used when communicating with the resource.
6. Click the Resource ownership drop-down arrow and choose the user that will own the resources retrieved from the registered resources.
7. Choose Purpose of the registration options as necessary:

   Allow this resource to be found when searching for metadata	Checking this check box makes the resource you are registering discoverable when a user searches for resources on the search page.
   Include this endpoint on the federated search list	Checking this check box allows the resource to be listed as a remote catalog in the federated search on the search page. This option is only available when CSW is chosen as the Protocol Type.
   Allow this resource to be synchronized at an interval	Checking this check box indicates that the resource should be synchronized at a specified time interval. If you uncheck this check box, continue with step 11.

8. Choose options in the Choose actions to be performed during synchronization section as necessary:

   Update this resource description	Checking this check box will update the metadata describing the resource if the source endpoint has been updated when the resource is synchronized. For example, if you register a CS-W catalog GetCapabilities endpoint, and between synchronization intervals the GetCapabilities information is updated, the resource's metadata will also be updated the next time the resource is synchronized.
   Copy the entire contents of this remote catalog into the local catalog	Checking this check box harvests all child resources in the registered resource into the local geoportal catalog when synchronization occurs. For example, a CS-W endpoint containing 1000 records would harvest all 1000 records into the geoportal catalog each time synchronization occurs, if this option is checked.
   Automatically approve newly acquired resources	Checking this check box automatically approves all child resources from the registered resource after they are synchronized and published to the geoportal.

9. Choose an option for How often do you want this resource so be synchronized.
10. Choose if you want to receive a notification email that provides the results of the synchronization activity.

    Note:

    You can update your email information by clicking My Profile.

11. Click the Save button.

    The metadata document that describes the resource is published. The resource is also added to the list of resources in the geoportal on the Administration > Manage page.

Upload or validate metadata file from the local disk

Uploading a metadata XML file from your local machine or mapped network drive is a quick way to get one local metadata document published to the geoportal, or to check that a metadata record is valid. A valid document will have all the mandatory metadata elements populated, and will publish to the geoportal. An invalid document will fail to publish. To validate or upload a metadata file, follow these steps:

1. Log into the geoportal and click the Administration tab.
2. Click Add.
3. Click Upload metadata file from the local disk.
4. Click Choose File and browse to the location of your metadata XML file.
5. Click OK to load the file.
6. Optionally click Validate to validate the document.

   If the document is invalid, the geoportal will report which elements in the document need to be addressed. If the metadata schema to which the document conforms is not supported by the geoportal, the error will indicate that the schema is invalid. If the document is valid, a successful message will appear.

7. When you are ready to upload the file, click Upload.

   One of the following messages appear:

   • Your document was published successfully—The document posted in the geoportal and must be approved by the administrator before it can be discovered through search.
   • Your document was replaced successfully—The uploaded version of the document replaced an existing document in the geoportal. This occurs when you are republishing a document to update it. The geoportal checks the following items in the order listed below to determine if a document is replacing another document.
     1. Checks for an internal file identifier. Examples are an ISO fileIdentifier metadata element or an Esri/PublishedDocID element.
     2. Checks the file name, looking for the following pattern: {uuid}.xml.
     3. Checks where the document is coming from by looking at the source URI. Source URI is assigned at the time of publishing, and is stored in the geoportal database.
     If the geoportal does not find a match using this criteria, the document will be duplicated:
   • <Error message>—There are many different types of errors. Examples are failure to publish because the document is invalid, failure because the metadata schema is unrecognized, or the document itself can't be parsed (the document may not be an XML file, or may have an invalid schema).

Use dedicated editor to create metadata manually

The geoportal supports creating standards-based metadata to describe your resource using the geoportal interface. Using the dedicated editor to create metadata manually is a good way to publish resource information when you don't have existing metadata to upload or the resource can't be registered as a resource on the network. The geoportal Create Metadata interface supports several metadata schemas, and can be configured to support additional standards or profiles. For more information about metadata schemas supported by the Geoportal, see Custom Metadata Profiles . Complete these steps to create metadata using the geoportal Create Metadata interface:

1. Log into the geoportal and click the Administration tab.
2. Click Add.
3. Click Use dedicated editor to create metadata manually.
4. Click the option next to the schema to which you want your metadata document to conform.

   A form with fields for the schema you chose appears.

5. Complete as many of the fields as possible.

   Fields that appear in bold-italic font are mandatory. The form will not publish if these are not filled out. All other fields are optional. Some elements that are not mandatory become mandatory when its section is activated. Sections are portions of the form that define a group of information elements. If a section has an unchecked check box next to it, it's not mandatory. To provide information in that portion of the form check the check box to expand the section.

6. When you have finished filling out the form, chose one of the following options:
   • Validate—Submits the metadata form to the geoportal and reports any errors or missing values necessary for the document to be published.
   • Save as Draft—Saves the metadata document with a draft status. You can complete the metadata form at a later time by logging into the geoportal, clicking the Administration tab, choosing your draft document, and clicking the pencil icon to open the document.
   • Save—Saves the information you have entered, and submits the form to the geoportal for publishing.

     The metadata is listed in the table of resource on the Administration tab.

     Note:

     The metadata won't be available in search results until it has been approved by the geoportal administrator.

Publish using the Geoportal Publish Client

If you use ArcGIS Desktop to author and update information associated with your resource, the easiest way to publish the resource to the geoportal is through the Geoportal Publish Client. The Publish Client allows you to publish many resources at one time. See the Publish Client for more information on how to install and use the Publish Client.

Publish using the CSW INSERT transaction

It's possible to interact with the Geoportal resource catalog directly using Catalog Service for the Web (CS-W) protocol. One of the supported transactions in the Geoportal's CS-W service is insert. Using a CS-W insert request, it's possible to insert a record into the geoportal catalog. For more information, see Geoportal Catalog Service.

Publish using the REST API

It's possible to publish resource metadata using the HTTP PUT operation. In this scenario, you would need to have access to an XML editor that can open and save XML documents using HTTP GET and HTTP PUT protocols. This publishing would work similar to the process of editing a metadata document using an XML editor.