[ckan-dev] ckanext-spatial and pycsw synchronization workflow

[Tom Kralidis]

On Wed, Nov 20, 2013 at 7:45 PM, Ryan Clark <ryan.clark at azgs.az.gov> wrote:
> To be clear, is the real goal here ISO-compliant metadata, or is it access to CKAN sites through the CSW API?
>

Very good question.  Thinking about this more, in GeoNode we took ISO
as our base model for metadata. In OpenDataCatalog, we used DC. In
both cases pycsw binds directly against the underlying database,
stores a full XML document in a column, and the downstream's
application columns are mapped to pycsw's model by way of a Python
dict.

Having said this, Ryan's point clarifies things (a bit, for me at
least).  I think we should provide DC as the goal of CKAN CSW support
of local records, the advantage being pycsw runs read-only atop the
CKAN database.  Harvested records, being in ISO already, can still
exist and pycsw converts them on the fly to DC if needed.

If this is an iteration or two away or needs more thought, we could
move ahead with the current sync approach and extend it to support
local records, as a near term (easier) quick win.

Comments?

> CSW itself doesn't require you to use ISO metadata. CKAN's minimum Packages still don't meet CSW's core returnables, but its gets you a little closer, and the required csw:Record metadata encoding is **much** easier to map to/from than full-blown ISO.
>
> Thanks,
> Ryan
>