Documentation of INSROP GIS data
The documentation of a new INSROP GIS data set involves the following steps:
1. Update the database topics definition file
2. Update the proper data set definition file
3. Create a data set member definition file
4. Create data set member attribute definition files
5. Create data set member attribute value look-up-files
6. Create metadata documentation
These steps are further described in the following:
Update the database topics definition file
If your data set is to be included in one of the existing database topics this
step is not necessary. However, if you must create a new database information
topic, you must add a new line to the database topics definition file (datasets.def) and fill in the proper contents of this file.
Update the proper data set definition file
If your data set represents a new data set, you must update the proper data set definition file. If you have created a new database topic, you may copy and
modify an existing data set definition file. To define the new data set you must
add a new line to the data set definition file and fill in the proper
contents. If your new data represents a modification to an existing data set you may
skip this step.
Create a data set member definition file
Create a data set member definition file for the data set. The easiest way to do this is by using the Theme/Table-Create Field Definition File menu choices. This will use existing information, prompt you for
modifications and save data a file corresponding to the Theme/Table file name. Afterwards
this file may be edited in a text editor, if needed. If a data set consists of
several files with the same attributes, i.e. the files include the same
information attributes but differ in geographic or temporal coverage, the combined set
of files represents one data set member. As the files may have completely
different filenames, a special file name, Alias.fld, should be used for the attribute definition file, and the Theme-ID should be
set to All. However, in such cases this step may be skipped.
Create data set member attribute definition files
An attribute definition file must be created for each different data set member.
Create data set member attribute value look-up-files
An attribute value look-up-file must be created for each attribute to be displayed with a default legend.
Create metadata documentation
Metadata ASCII files are generated using the Theme/Table-Create Metadata ASCII File menu choices. The information required to create proper metadata
documentation come from three sources: Data set specification known by ArcView; The data
set member definition file (also called field definition file), The contents of
the Comments field in Theme/Table properties. The latter source can be typed
into the Comments field, but if an ASCII file called <data set name>.dco exists
when the data set is loaded into the project, the contents of this file is
entered into the Comments field. The purpose of this is to include textual
information about the data set, how it was created, etc. When creating metadata using
this INSROP GIS menu choice, the *.dco file is written based on the contents of
the Comments field. If the *.dco file exists, the user is prompted for whether to
replace the existing file or not.