A major obstacle to the wider use of geographical information (GI), from the point of view of both would-be users and would-be providers, is the lack of an effective shop window. Although demand for individual datasets may be specialised and/or sporadic, collectively the demand is substantial and unsatisfied by existing arrangements. This may be because the data is highly specialised, say, the distribution of sensitive sites for fish farms across the UK, or only required occasionally, say, maps of heather distribution in Scotland.

When the data is needed, the need is frequently urgent, and the person requiring the information may well not know where to turn. Equally, the providers of GI, frequently government agencies but also commercial information services, would like to reach all those with an interest in the information they offer.

The proposed solution to these complementary problems is the NGDF Metadata service. Metadata is a big word for ‘data about data’. A library catalogue could be described as metadata, and one view of the metadata service is that it is no more than a catalogue of available datasets providing information about the datasets, such as when it was captured, what part of the country it relates to, how it can be accessed and who to contact to get hold of it. However, that description doesn’t do justice to the benefits that the new NGDF Metadata service could bring to the GI community in this country.

In the first place, the service is distributed among a number of linked nodes, so that different bodies are able to maintain their own metadata and to publicise the service within their own communities of potential interest and support. This will also distribute the work of maintaining the data and self-interest should ensure that the data is kept current and accurate.

The second major benefit is that the service is based on international standards that have been thoroughly tested and discussed. This means that all information providers should describe their datasets in the same way, offering a standard description that should enable users to understand what they are getting.

The third major benefit is that the service enables you to search the system in a variety of different ways, through a map, through an index, through keywords or through a sample phrase. Once you have identified a source of the information you need, the service will point you in the direction of a supplier, or suppliers if the same dataset is available from several different sources. Needless to say, the service will be no better than the information it contains. This means that there is a responsibility placed on information providers to maintain it and promote it. Luckily it is in their interest to do just that.

Finally, the service will assist the user when making decisions and also help to reduce the amount of data duplication, as people will be made aware of what datasets are already available for them to use.

Those charged with putting the service together felt that it was going to be hard work promoting something called the NGDF Metadata Service. It doesn’t trip off the tongue and might deter, say, a school teacher, the local scout group or a park warden. After a great deal of consultation and brainstorming, we decided to call it AskGIraffe, with a friendly Giraffe ready to appear on mousemats, T-shirts and the web-site.

We felt that the name was memorable, fitted the culture of the World Wide Web, had a GI connection, had strong visual cues, and would ease the task of selling the idea of a Metadata service into many different communities: official, academic, commercial, educational and recreational. Our GIraffe will be ready for business in June, ready to show people how to find the data they require.