Geospatial metadata are often described as "information about data." Metadata provide important information about spatial data assets, including reliability, update frequency, liability, distribution and access information, licensing, attribute definitions, scale, and accuracy.
Metadata are useful for tracking data within an organization and/or for communicating the appropriate use of geospatial information to external organizations. Users of geospatial data have a tendency to misuse or ignore data layers without good metadata due to the lack of information involving the development and attributes of the data. Also, geospatial search engines (such as the federal Geospatial One Stop www.geodata.gov) rely on complete metadata records to locate GIS data housed on different GIS clearinghouses throughout the country.
