geonetwork

GeoNetwork is an open-source geospatial metadata catalog application designed to manage, catalog, search, and share metadata about spatial datasets, services, and related resources. It provides a web-based user interface and a catalog service interface for programmatic access, enabling organizations to publish, discover, and distribute metadata across distributed catalogs.

Key features include creation and editing of metadata records, validation against ISO 19139, multilingual support, metadata templates, and role-based access control. It offers powerful search and browsing capabilities, thumbnail previews, and the ability to link metadata to data and services. The system supports harvesting from other catalogs and data sources, export options, and interoperability with external clients through standard interfaces.

Architecture and implementation: GeoNetwork is written in Java and runs in a servlet container such as Apache Tomcat. It stores metadata in a relational database, typically PostgreSQL, and can integrate with spatial data infrastructures that use PostGIS and GeoServer. The platform provides both a user-facing web interface and programmatic access through REST and CSW APIs, enabling interoperability with other GIS tools and metadata catalogs. It also supports harvesting via CSW and OAI-PMH to accumulate metadata from multiple sources.

Standards and compatibility: The software supports ISO 19115/19139 metadata standards and implements the OGC Catalog Service for the Web (CSW). It is designed to facilitate metadata quality, consistency, and discoverability across organizations and communities.

History and governance: GeoNetwork originated with the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and has evolved through a global community under the Open Source Geospatial Foundation (OSGeo). It is widely used by government agencies, international organizations, research institutions, and NGOs to manage geospatial metadata.