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GeoNetwork Quickstart

GeoNetwork opensource is a standards based, distributed spatial information management system. It is designed to enable access to spatial data from a variety of data providers through descriptive metadata.

Apart from how to start GeoNetwork, this Quick Start describes:

  • some of the different ways you can search for spatial data
  • how to download and display data from the search results
  • the system of privileges, roles and user groups that GeoNetwork uses.

Detailed documentation can be found in http://localhost:8880/geonetwork/docs/eng/users/index.html (once GeoNetwork has been started), or by clicking on the ‘Help’ link on the GeoNetwork home page.

Start GeoNetwork

  • OSGeoLive is memory constrained. As such, it is recommended to stop default Tomcat service before launching GeoNetwork. On OSGeoLive, GeoNetwork will typically use up to 1GB of RAM.
sudo service tomcat6 stop
  • Select the “GeoSpatial -> Web Services -> GeoNetwork -> Start GeoNetwork”.
  • The application will take a few moments to start up
  • Go to the GeoNetwork home page at http://localhost:8880/geonetwork. Your first view (an empty Home tab) of GeoNetwork should look like the screenshot below.
../../_images/geonetwork-firstviews.png
  • To get to know GeoNetwork (and provide a much more interesting Home page!) we are going to load the sample metadata. Log in to GeoNetwork using the username admin and password admin by clicking on Sign in at the end of the left hand menu at the top of the page.
../../_images/geonetwork-login.png
  • You should now see an Administration link appear next to the logged in user details in the left hand menu at the top of the Home page. Click on it.
../../_images/geonetwork-administration-banner.png
  • When the Administration page appears in a new browser tab, select the iso19139 schema from the list and load the sample data by clicking on the ‘Add sample metadata’ button.
../../_images/geonetwork-addsampledatabutton.png
  • After the sample metadata has been loaded, return to the Home page by either closing the Administration tab in the browser or clicking on the tab to the left of the Administration tab. Refresh the page using the browser refresh icon and your screen should look something like the one shown below.
../../_images/geonetwork-returntohomepage.png

Searching

There are many different ways to search the catalogue for maps and other geographic data. This guide will introduce you to the most popular search methods: free text and advanced. Whichever search you choose, remember that you will see results based on your privileges and assigned work group (more on this later).

Note

The term data refers to datasets, maps, tables, documents, etc, in fact anything that can be linked to the metadata record that describes it.

To access Search functions, click on the Catalogue tab.

../../_images/geonetwork-catalogtab.png

Search Results

The output of a search provides you a list of the metadata records that should fit your request. For each record, a summary is presented showing the title, abstract, keywords, thumbnail (if any), owner (according to privileges) and date of modification. The bounding box of the metadata record is shown in the Preview window at the lower right of the screen.

../../_images/geonetwork-search_output13.png

Search results: a summary of each record is presented

The list of icons beneath the summary for each record indicates the links that the record has available to online resources, permanent etc. The icons that appear here will depend upon the privileges that the current user has been assigned. Hovering over the icon will present a tooltip that describes what clicking on the icon will do.

../../_images/geonetwork-summarylinks.png

Yellow star: This is a link to the metadata record that can be copied into the brower bookmarks.

Globe: If the record has a link to an OGC Web Map Service (WMS), then clicking on this icon will generate a kml file that can be opened in google earth.

Green plus sign: If the record has a link to an OGC Web Map Service (WMS), then clicking on this icon will add the WMS link as a layer to the GeoNetwork web map viewer and open the Map tab with the layer displayed.

../../_images/geonetwork-openlinktowms.png

Clicking on a link to a WMS

Orange down arrow: This is a link to a file for download that has been attached to a metadata record as an online resource. Clicking on this link will start a download dialogue.

../../_images/geonetwork-downloaddialog.png

Clicking on a link to a file for download

Blue right arrow: This is a link to a web resource that has been attached to the metadata record. The resource could be a downloadable file or another html page or any type of html link. The web resource will open in a new browser tab.

../../_images/geonetwork-weblink.png

Hovering over a link to a web resource

Refining your search results using the Filter section (Faceted Searching)

As discussed above, the output of a search provides you with a list of the metadata records that should fit your request. In GeoNetwork 2.10.x, additional information from the search results is also returned and summarized in the Filter sidebar. These pieces of information (known as facets) can be used indivdiually or in sequence to refine the search results and produce a smaller, more useful set of results.

../../_images/geonetwork-filtersidebar.png

The Filter sidebar for the search results

This feature is obviously useful when the catalog has more than a few metadata records in it, however an idea of how it works is useful as the ability to refine your search by analyzing facets of information from the search results is a powerful tool. To refine your search simply select one of the facets from the categories shown in the filter sidebar:

../../_images/geonetwork-refinesearchwithfacets.png

Refining your search to datasets using facets in the Filter sidebar

To get a better idea of how useful this facility can be, try searching the Dutch National GeoRegister at http://www.nationaalgeoregister.nl/geonetwork

Privileges, roles and user groups

GeoNetwork uses a system of Privileges, Roles and User groups.

There are no restrictions for users to search and access public information in a GeoNetwork catalogue. To get access to restricted information or advanced functionality, an account to log in is required. This should be provided by the GeoNetwork administrator.

Log in to GeoNetwork using the username admin and password admin by clicking on Sign in at the end of the left hand menu at the top of the page.

../../_images/geonetwork-login.png

Login

Privileges. Depending on the privileges set on a metadata record and on your role as an authenticated user, you will be able to read about a resource and download or interactively browse data related to that resource.

Roles. Users with an Editor role can create, import and edit metadata records. They can also upload data and configure links to interactive map services.

User groups. Every authenticated user is assigned to a particular work group and is able to view data within that work group.

More information

Click on the ‘Help’ link in the banner of the GeoNetwork home page or go there directly by clicking on this link: http://localhost:8880/geonetwork/docs/eng/users/index.html

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