NGDF Metadata Gateway

Architecture V1.2

Appendix B - Distributed Search Engines
The Search engine responds to z39.50 search requests, searches the local metadata indexes and provides summary or detailed metadata responses to the query. A number of systems provide general Z39.50 support of which there are currently three options (two commercial options) to implement FGDC compliant Clearinghouse servers. For a list of other Z39.50 tools see http://lcweb.loc.gov/z3950/agency .

  1. Isite
    ISite is a document based Z39.50 application provided as freeware from CNIDR. The Isite software, written by CNIDR, includes Z39.50-1995 client, gateway, and indexing subsystems to search for relevant documents. It has been enhanced by CNIDR to support numeric fields such as dates and co-ordinates and may someday support polygon search. Isite readily indexes SGML documents and can deliver HTML documents to standard Web browsers via a Web-Z39.50 gateway program.
    FGDC has commissioned a version of     Isite to support the GEO profile and provides support and access to the application from its web site ( http://www.fgdc.gov ). Isite is recommended for relatively small and stable collections of metadata for either the UNIX or NT platforms where metadata collections or data systems do not already exist. The Isite product includes modules to index the metadata records and provide Z3950 server and client services. ANZLIC has also commissioned a local version of Isite, which they provide access and support for ANZLIC participants.

  2. Blue Angel
    The MetaStar Suite, from Blue Angel in the USA, supports metadata in FGDC format as well as other metadata formats (e.g. GILS and Dublin Core). Blue Angel has also made minor modifications to their application for ANZLIC use. The MetaStar Suite provides complete support for metadata collection, indexing, and presentation via Z39.50. The MetaStar suite can use a variety of relational databases for metadata management in addition to a number of non-database search engines (     http://www.blueangeltech.com ).

  3. Compusult
    A commercial application, developed in Canada, which can manages large quantities of metadata in a relational database (Access, SQLServer, or Oracle) and includes an FGDC-compliant Z39.50 server (     http://www.compusult.nf.ca ).

  4. Crossnet
    CrossNet is a software company based in the UK that specialises in networked information and retrieval systems. Crossnet provides software packages, bespoke systems, consultancy, studies, training and services to the library, geospatial, museum, archive and their respective user communities. In the geospatial community, Crossnet has software solutions to enable your data and database systems to be searched with the GEO Z39.50 profile on UNIX and Windows platforms(     http://www.crxnet.com ).


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