Research Data Management

• 6 Unofficial Rules of Data Management for ArcGIS (ESRI):

  • Leverage the power of geodatabases
    • Essential readings about the geodatabases (ArcGIS)
  • Give your map document (.mxd) a purpose
  • Work in workspaces
    • Current workspace (environment setting)
  • Practice proper naming conventions
  • Implement quality control procedures
  • Create a backup

• Geospatial Data Management

  • Chapter 5 in the Open Education Resource: Campbell, J. E., & Shin, M. (2011). Essentials of geographic information systems. https://www. saylor. org/books/.

• ArcGIS Pro: An Overview of the Data Management Toolbox

• USGS: Priorities for Maintaining and Enhancing Spatial Data Management

  • In: National Research Council. (2002). Research opportunities in geography at the US Geological Survey. National Academies Press.

• Further reading and resources:

  • Downs, R. R. (2015). Management, curation, and preservation of geospatial data: Introductory perspectives. Journal of Map & Geography Libraries, 11(2), 117-122. https://doi.org/10.1080/15420353.2015.1064848
  • Kong, N. N. (2015). Exploring best management practices for geospatial data in academic libraries. Journal of Map & Geography Libraries, 11(2), 207-225. https://doi.org/10.1080/15420353.2015.1043170
  • Kong, N. N. (2019). One store has all? - the backend story of managing geospatial information toward an easy discovery. IASSIST Quarterly, 42(4), 1–14. https://doi.org/10.29173/iq927
  • Li, Y., Kong, N., & Pejša, S. (2017). Designing the cyberinfrastructure for spatial data curation, visualization, and sharing. IASSIST Quarterly, 41(1-4), 15-15. https://doi.org/10.29173/iq11

Please note that when depositing (i.e. publishing) geographic/GIS/geospatial data or collections of data that include location-based information, the current best practice is to also publish/deposit associated geospatial/geographic metadata. Without accompanying metadata, it may be difficult or impossible to find, access, or use the data. The current standard format for GIS metadata is ISO 19115: Geographic Information – Metadata.

GIS/geospatial metadata readings and resources:

• Digital Geospatial Metadata (Canada)
• ArcGIS Pro: Create ISO 19115 and ISO 19139 metadata (ESRI)
• ISO Geospatial Metadata Standards (US Federal Geographic Data Committee)
• Data Curation Network Primers on curating research data in the following formats:
  • GeoDatabase
  • GeoTIFF
  • GeoJSON

Data Deposit Options:

• GIS and geography repositories (Stanford Library list)
• McGill Dataverse (inclusion of ISO 19115-compliant metadata is mandatory)
• Federated Research Data Repository (FRDR) - includes a geographic data discovery tool (Geodisy)

Further reading and resources:

• Brodeur, J., Coetzee, S., Danko, D., Garcia, S., & Hjelmager, J. (2019). Geographic information metadata—an outlook from the international standardization perspective. ISPRS International Journal of Geo-Information, 8(6), 280. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijgi8060280
• Griffin, E., & Lipkin, R. (2018). 10. How Metadata Informs Purpose: A Case Study of NYPL’s Open Source GIS-Driven MapWarper Tool. In Organization, Representation and Description through the Digital Age (pp. 160-174). De Gruyter Saur. https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110337419-011
• Jünger, S., Borschewski, K., & Zenk-Möltgen, W. (2019). Documenting Georeferenced Social Science Survey Data: Limits of Metadata Standards and Possible Solutions. Journal of Map & Geography Libraries, 15(1), 68-95 https://doi.org/10.1080/15420353.2019.1659903