Search and Retrieve Metadata services

Search metadata (xml.search)

The xml.search service can be used to retrieve metadata records from GeoNetwork.

Requires authentication: Optional

Request

Search configuration parameters (all values are optional)

remote: Search in local catalog or in a remote catalog. Values: off (default), on
extended: Values: on, off (default)
timeout: Timeout for request in seconds (default: 20)
hitsPerPage: Results per page (default: 10)
similarity: Lucene accuracy for searches (default 0.8)
sortBy: Sorting criteria. Values: relevance (default), rating, popularity, changeDate, title

Search parameters (all values are optional):

eastBL, southBL, northBL, westBL: Bounding box to restrict the search
relation: Bounding box criteria. Values: equal, overlaps (default), encloses, fullyOutsideOf, intersection, crosses, touches, within
any: Text to search in a free text search
title: Metadata title
abstract: Metadata abstract
themeKey: Metadata keywords. To search for several use a value like "Global" or "watersheds"
template: Indicates if search for templates or not. Values: n (default), y
dynamic: Map type. Values: off (default), on
download: Map type. Values: off (default), on
digital: Map type. Values: off (default), on
paper: Map type. Values: off (default), on
group: Filter metadata by group, if missing search in all groups
attrset:
dateFrom: Filter metadata created after specified date
dateTo: Filter metadata created before specified date
category: Metadata category. If not specified, search all categories

Request to search for all metadata example:

Url:
http://localhost:8080/geonetwork/srv/eng/xml.search

Mime-type:
application/xml

Post request:
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<request />

Request with free text search example:

Url:
http://localhost:8080/geonetwork/srv/eng/xml.search

Mime-type:
application/xml

Post request:s
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<request>
  <any>africa</any>
</request>

Request with a geographic search example:

Url:
http://localhost:8080/geonetwork/srv/eng/xml.search

Mime-type:
application/xml

Post request:
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<request>
  <any>africa</any>
  <eastBL>74.91574</eastBL>
  <southBL>29.40611</southBL>
  <northBL>38.47198</northBL>
  <westBL>60.50417</westBL>
  <relation>overlaps</relation>
  <sortBy>relevance</sortBy>
  <attrset>geo</attrset>
</request>

Request to search using dates and keywords example:

Url:
http://localhost:8080/geonetwork/srv/eng/xml.search

Mime-type:
application/xml

Post request:
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<request>
  <title>africa</title>
  <themekey>"Global" or "World"</themekey>
  <dateFrom>2000-02-03T12:47:00</dateFrom>
  <dateTo>2010-02-03T12:49:00</dateTo>
</request>

Response

The response is the metadata record with additional geonet:info section. The main fields are:

response: Response container.
- summary: Attribute count indicates the number of metadata records retrieved
  - keywords: List of keywords that are part of the metadata resultset. Each keyword contains the value and the number of occurences in the retrieved metadata records.
- metadata: Container for each metadata record found. Each container has a geonet:info element with the following information:
  - id: Metadata internal identifier
  - uuid : Metadata Universally Unique Identifier (UUID)
  - schema: Metadata schema
  - createDate: Metadata creation date
  - changeDate: Metadata last modification date
  - source: Source catalogue the metadata
  - category: Metadata category (Can be multiple elements)
  - score: Value indicating the accuracy of search

Metadata search response example:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<response from="1" to="7">
  <summary count="7" type="local">
    <keywords>
      <keyword count="2" name="Global"/>
      <keyword count="2" name="World"/>
      <keyword count="2" name="watersheds"/>
      <keyword count="1" name="Biology"/>
      <keyword count="1" name="water resources"/>
      <keyword count="1" name="endangered plant species"/>
      <keyword count="1" name="Africa"/>
      <keyword count="1" name="Eurasia"/>
      <keyword count="1" name="endangered animal species"/>
      <keyword count="1" name="Antarctic ecosystem"/>
    </keywords>
  </summary>
  <metadata xmlns:gmx="http://www.isotc211.org/2005/gmx">
    <geonet:info xmlns:geonet="http://www.fao.org/geonetwork">
      <id>12</id>
      <uuid>bc179f91-11c1-4878-b9b4-2270abde98eb</uuid>
      <schema>iso19139</schema>
      <createDate>2007-07-25T12:05:45</createDate>
      <changeDate>2007-11-06T12:10:47</changeDate>
      <source>881a1630-d4e7-4c9c-aa01-7a9bbbbc47b2</source>
      <category>maps</category>
      <category>interactiveResources</category>
      <score>1.0</score>
    </geonet:info>
  </metadata>
  <metadata xmlns:gmx="http://www.isotc211.org/2005/gmx">
    <geonet:info xmlns:geonet="http://www.fao.org/geonetwork">
      <id>11</id>
      <uuid>5df54bf0-3a7d-44bf-9abf-84d772da8df1</uuid>
      <schema>iso19139</schema>
      <createDate>2007-07-19T14:45:07</createDate>
      <changeDate>2007-11-06T12:13:00</changeDate>
      <source>881a1630-d4e7-4c9c-aa01-7a9bbbbc47b2</source>
      <category>maps</category>
      <category>datasets</category>
      <category>interactiveResources</category>
      <score>0.9178859</score>
    </geonet:info>
  </metadata>
</response>

Get metadata (xml.metadata.get)

The xml.metadata.get service can be used to retrieve a metadata record stored in GeoNetwork.

Requires authentication: Optional

Request

One of the following parameters:

uuid : Metadata Universal Unique Identifier (UUID)
id: Metadata internal identifier

Get metadata request example:

Url:
http://localhost:8080/geonetwork/srv/eng/xml.metadata.get

Mime-type:
application/xml

Post request:
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<request>
  <uuid>aa9bc613-8eef-4859-a9eb-4df35d8b21e4</uuid>
</request>

Response

Successful response (HTTP status code 200) is the XML metadata record with additional geonet:info section. The principal fields for geonet:info are:

schema: Metadata schema
createDate: Metadata creation date
changeDate: Metadata last modification date
isTemplate: Indicates if the metadata returned is a template
title: Metadata title
source: Source catalogue the metadata
uuid : Metadata Universally Unique Identifier (UUID)
isHarvested: Indicates if the metadata is harvested
popularity: Indicates how often the record is retrieved
rating: Average rating provided by users
State of operation on metadata for the user: view, notify, download, dynamic, featured, edit
owner: Indicates if the user that executed the service is the owner of metadata
ownername: Metadata owner name

Get metadata response example:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<Metadata xmlns:geonet="http://www.fao.org/geonetwork"
  xmlns:csw="http://www.opengis.net/cat/csw/2.0.2">
  <mdFileID>aa9bc613-8eef-4859-a9eb-4df35d8b21e4</mdFileID>
  ...
  <geonet:info>
    <id>10</id>
    <schema>iso19115</schema>
    <createDate>2005-08-23T17:58:18</createDate>
    <changeDate>2007-03-12T17:49:50</changeDate>
    <isTemplate>n</isTemplate>
    <title />
    <source>881a1630-d4e7-4c9c-aa01-7a9bbbbc47b2</source>
    <uuid>aa9bc613-8eef-4859-a9eb-4df35d8b21e4</uuid>
    <isHarvested>n</isHarvested>
    <popularity>0</popularity>
    <rating>0</rating>
    <view>true</view>
    <notify>true</notify>
    <download>true</download>
    <dynamic>true</dynamic>
    <featured>true</featured>
    <edit>true</edit>
    <owner>true</owner>
    <ownername>admin</ownername>
    <subtemplates />
  </geonet:info>
</Metadata>

Error response (HTTP 500 status code) is an XML document with the details of what went wrong. An example of such a response is as follows:

<error id="operation-not-allowed">
  <message>Operation not allowed</message>
  <class>OperationNotAllowedEx</class> 
  .....
</error>

See Exception handling for more details.

Errors

Request must contain a UUID or an ID, if a uuid or id parameter was not provided. Returns 500 HTTP code
Operation not allowed (error id: operation-not-allowed), when the user is not allowed to view the metadata record. Returns 500 HTTP code

Get user metadata (xml.user.metadata)

The xml.user.metadata service can be used to retrieve a metadata records according to the user profile of the authenticated user running the service:

Administrator profile: return all metadata records
Reviewer or User Administrator profile: return all metadata records with groupOwner in the set of groups the user belongs to
Editor profile: return all metadata records owned by the user

Requires authentication: Yes

Request

sortBySelect : (optional) parameter specifying sort order of metadata records returned.

Get metadata request example:

Url:
http://localhost:8080/geonetwork/srv/eng/xml.user.metadata

Mime-type:
application/xml

Post request:
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<request/>

Response

Successful response is an XML document with a response container and the user metadata records as children of that container. Each child has a geonet:info element which gives GeoNetwork specific metadata about the metadata record. An example response (with some content removed for brevity) is as follows:

<response>
  <!-- metadata record 1 -->
  <gmd:MD_Metadata ....> 
  </gmd:MD_Metadata>
  <!-- metadata record 2 -->
  <gmd:MD_Metadata ....>
  </gmd:MD_Metadata>
</response>

Error response is an XML document with error container and the details of the error. Example:

<error id="service-not-allowed">
    <message>Service not allowed</message>
  ....
  <object>xml.user.metadata</object>
  <request>
    <language>eng</language>
    <service>xml.user.metadata</service>
  </request>
</error>

See Exception handling for more details.

Errors

Service not allowed (error id: service-not-allowed), user isn't allowed to run this service. Returned 500 HTTP code.
Unauthorized user attempted to list editable metadata (error id: operation-not-allowed), when the user is not allowed to list metadata records. Returned 500 HTTP code

RSS Search: Search metadata and retrieve in RSS format (rss.search)

The rss.search service can be used to retrieve metadata records in RSS format, using regular search parameters. This service can be configured in WEB-INF/config.xml with the following parameters:

maxSummaryKeys: Maximum number of RSS records to retrieve (default = 10)

Requires authentication: Optional. If not provided only public metadata records are retrieved

Request

Parameters:

georss: valid values are simple, simplepoint and default. See also http://georss.org
- simple: Bounding box in georss simple format
- simplepoint: Bounding box in georss simplepoint format
- default: Bounding box in georss GML format
eastBL, southBL, northBL, westBL: Bounding box to restrict the search****
relation: Bounding box criteria. Values: equal, overlaps (default), encloses, fullyOutsideOf, intersection, crosses, touches, within
any: Text to search in a free text search
title: Metadata title
abstract: Metadata abstract
themeKey: Metadata keywords. To search for several use a value like "Global" or "watersheds"
dynamic: Map type. Values: off (default), on
download: Map type. Values: off (default), on
digital: Map type. Values: off (default), on
paper: Map type. Values: off (default), on
group: Filter metadata by group, if missing search in all groups
attrset:
dateFrom: Filter metadata created after specified date
dateTo: Filter metadata created before specified date
category: Metadata category. If not specified, search all categories

RSS search request example:

Url:
http://localhost:8080/geonetwork/srv/eng/rss.search

Mime-type:
application/xml

Post request:
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<request>
  <georss>simplepoint</georss>
  <any>africa</any>
  <eastBL>74.91574</eastBL>
  <southBL>29.40611</southBL>
  <northBL>38.47198</northBL>
  <westBL>60.50417</westBL>
  <relation>overlaps</relation>
  <sortBy>relevance</sortBy>
  <attrset>geo</attrset>
</request>

Response

The principal fields of the response are:

channel: This is the container for the RSS response
- title: RSS channel title
- description: RSS channel description
- item: Metadata RSS item (one item for each metadata retrieved)
  - title: Metadata title
  - link: Link to show metadata page. Additional link elements (with rel="alternate") to OGC WXS services, shapefile/images files, Google KML, etc. can be returned depending on metadata
  - description: Metadata description
  - pubDate: Metadata publication date
  - media: Metadata thumbnails
  - georss:point: Bounding box in georss simplepoint format

RSS search response example:

Mimetype:
application/rss+xml

Response:
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<rss xmlns:media="http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/" xmlns:georss="http://www.georss.org/georss" xmlns:gml="http://www.opengis.net/gml" version="2.0">
  <channel>
    <title>GeoNetwork opensource portal to spatial data and information</title>
    <link>http://localhost:8080/geonetwork</link>
    <description>GeoNetwork opensource provides Internet access to interactive maps, satellite imagery and related spatial databases ... </description>
    <language>en</language>
    <copyright>All rights reserved. Your generic copyright statement </copyright>
    <category>Geographic metadata catalog</category>
    <generator>GeoNetwork opensource</generator>
    <ttl>30</ttl>
    <item>
      <title>Hydrological Basins in Africa (Sample record, please remove!)</title>
      <link>http://localhost:8080/geonetwork?uuid=5df54bf0-3a7d-44bf-9abf-84d772da8df1</link>
      <link href="http://geonetwork3.fao.org/ows/296?SERVICE=wms$amp;VERSION=1.1.1&REQUEST=GetMap&BBOX=-17.3,-34.6,51.1,38.2&LAYERS=hydrological_basins&SRS=EPSG:4326&WIDTH=200&HEIGHT=213&FORMAT=image/png&TRANSPARENT=TRUE&STYLES=default" type="image/png" rel="alternate" title="Hydrological basins in Africa"/>
      <link href="http://localhost:8080/geonetwork/srv/eng/google.kml?uuid=5df54bf0-3a7d-44bf-9abf-84d772da8df1&layers=hydrological_basins" type="application/vnd.google-earth.kml+xml" rel="alternate" title="Hydrological basins in Africa"/>
      <category>Geographic metadata catalog</category>
      <description><![CDATA[ ... ]]></description>
      <pubDate>06 Nov 2007 12:13:00 EST</pubDate>
      <guid>http://localhost:8080/geonetwork?uuid=5df54bf0-3a7d-44bf-9abf-84d772da8df1</guid>
      <media:content url="/geonetwork/srv/eng/resources.get?id=11&fname=thumbnail_s.gif&access=public" type="image/gif" width="100"/>
      <media:text>Major hydrological basins and their sub-basins ...</media:text>
      <!--Bounding box in georss simplepoint format (default) (http://georss.org)-->
      <georss:point>16.9 1.8</georss:point>
      </item>
  </channel>
</rss>

RSS latest: Get latest updated metadata (rss.latest)

The rss.latest service can be used to retrieve the most recently modified metadata records in RSS format. This service can be configured in WEB-INF/config.xml file with the following parameters:

maxItems: Maximum number of RSS records to retrieve (default = 20)
timeBetweenUpdates: Minimum time (in seconds) between queries for latest updated metadata. If a request is received less than timeBetweenUpdates seconds after the last request, it will receive the same response.

Requires authentication: Optional. If not provided only public metadata records are retrieved

Request

Parameters:

georss: valid values are simple, simplepoint and default. See also http://georss.org
- simple: Bounding box in georss simple format
- simplepoint: Bounding box in georss simplepoint format
- default: Bounding box in georss GML format

RSS latest request example:

Url:
http://localhost:8080/geonetwork/srv/eng/rss.latest

Mime-type:
application/xml

Post request:
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<request>
  <georss>default</georss>
  <maxItems>1</maxItems>
</request>

Response

The following are the principal fields of the response:

channel: This is the container for the RSS response
- title: RSS channel title
- description: RSS channel description
- item: Metadata RSS item (one item for each metadata retrieved)
  - title: Metadata title
  - link: Link to show metadata page. Additional link elements (with rel="alternate") to OGC WXS services, shapefile/images files, Google KML, etc. can be returned depending on metadata
  - description: Metadata description
  - pubDate: Metadata publication date
  - media: Metadata thumbnails
  - georss:where: Bounding box with the metadata extent

RSS latest response example:

Mimetype:
application/rss+xml

Response:
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<rss xmlns:media="http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/" xmlns:georss="http://www.georss.org/georss"
  xmlns:gml="http://www.opengis.net/gml" version="2.0">
<channel>
  <title>GeoNetwork opensource portal to spatial data and information</title>
  <link>http://localhost:8080/geonetwork</link>
  <description>GeoNetwork opensource provides Internet access to interactive maps,
  satellite imagery and related spatial databases ... </description>
  <language>en</language>
  <copyright>All rights reserved. Your generic copyright statement </copyright>
  <category>Geographic metadata catalog</category>
  <generator>GeoNetwork opensource</generator>
  <ttl>30</ttl>
  <item>
    <title>Hydrological Basins in Africa (Sample record, please remove!)</title>
    <link>http://localhost:8080/geonetwork?uuid=5df54bf0-3a7d-44bf-9abf-84d772da8df1</link>
    <link href="http://geonetwork3.fao.org/ows/296?SERVICE=wms$amp;VERSION=1.1.1&REQUEST=GetMap
      &BBOX=-17.3,-34.6,51.1,38.2&LAYERS=hydrological_basins&SRS=EPSG:4326&WIDTH=200
      &HEIGHT=213&FORMAT=image/png&TRANSPARENT=TRUE&STYLES=default" type="image/png"
      rel="alternate" title="Hydrological basins in Africa"/>
    <link href="http://localhost:8080/geonetwork/srv/eng/google.kml?
      uuid=5df54bf0-3a7d-44bf-9abf-84d772da8df1&layers=hydrological_basins"
      type="application/vnd.google-earth.kml+xml"
      rel="alternate" title="Hydrological basins in Africa"/>
    <category>Geographic metadata catalog</category>
    <description><![CDATA[ ... ]]></description>
    <pubDate>06 Nov 2007 12:13:00 EST</pubDate>
    <guid>http://localhost:8080/geonetwork?uuid=5df54bf0-3a7d-44bf-9abf-84d772da8df1</guid>
    <media:content url="/geonetwork/srv/eng/resources.get?id=11&fname=thumbnail_s.gif
      &access=public" type="image/gif" width="100"/>
      <media:text>Major hydrological basins and their sub-basins ...</media:text>
   <!--Bounding box in georss GML format (http://georss.org)-->
   <georss:where>
     <gml:Envelope>
       <gml:lowerCorner>-34.6 -17.3</gml:lowerCorner>
       <gml:upperCorner>38.2 51.1</gml:upperCorner>
     </gml:Envelope>
   </georss:where>
  </item>
</channel>
</rss>