Basic metadata

Every asset page in your portal displays basic metadata. This includes two default metadata templates, Asset, available for every asset, and Dataset, for datasets only, and may also include custom metadata templates.

This article explains how to access your basic metadata in the back office, what the Asset and Dataset templates contain, and finally refers you to the page about creating and editing new metadata templates.

How to fill out basic metadata

To fill out an asset's basic metadata, go to its Metadata tab.

There, click on the Asset tab from the list down the left-hand side. In the case of a dataset, you will also want to fill out the Dataset template.

What the Asset and Dataset templates contain

The Asset template holds the metadata every asset has, whatever its type. The Dataset template holds the metadata specific to datasets. The tables below describe the fields visible on the Metadata tab, and how they're used or should be filled out.

The Asset and Dataset templates are default templates, and can't be deleted. The only change you can make to them is the requirement level of some of their fields, in Catalog > Metadata templates, on the Basic tab. See Changing the requirement level in a system template for more information.

Note that both templates include additional metadata fields that ensure the proper functioning of the platform. As such, they require no action on your part and are not visible in the portal.

Asset template

These are the metadata found in the Asset template.

Field	Description	Usage
Title	The title you give your asset.	An asset's title can always be modified, and all special characters are supported. Note that modifying the title does not change the asset's technical identifier.
Technical identifier	The asset's unique name.	An asset's technical identifier is defined when the asset is created. It can be modified, but you must save and unpublish the asset in order to do so.
Description	A description of what the asset contains.	Write a asset description in the textbox. HTML is accepted. A set of formatting options are available in the grey bar at the top of the textbox: hover the buttons for more information and click on the chosen buttons to use any formatting option.
Themes	Themes the asset belongs to. Asset themes are one of the catalog filters available in a workspace's portal.	Click on the textbox. A drop down selection of the themes defined for the workspace automatically appears. Click on the chosen theme. (optional) To add another theme to the dataset, click repeat steps 1 and 2 of this procedure. To delete an asset theme, click on the cross at the right of the theme name.
Keywords	Keywords to define the asset and better find it through searches. Keywords are one of the catalog filters available in a workspace's portal.	Write one or more keywords in the textbox. These can contain special characters and be comprised of one or more words. (optional) A list of already used keywords appears, matching the letters just written in the textbox. It is possible to click on one of these keywords to reuse them. Once the keyword is selected or written, press Enter. (optional) To add other keywords, repeat steps 1 to 3 of this procedure. To delete a keyword, click on the cross to the right of the keyword.
Category	The main category the asset belongs to, used to organize your catalog.	Click the drop-down menu and choose a category. The available categories are those defined in Catalog > Asset categories & themes.
Creator	Name of the person or organization who published the asset.	Write the name of the publisher in the textbox. A list of already used publisher names appears, matching the letters just written. It is possible to click on one of these names to reuse them.

Dataset template

These are the metadata found in the Dataset template.

General information

Field

Description

Usage

Display modification date

("Modified")

Date indicating when the dataset was last modified.

The date can either be set 1) manually or 2) automatically.

To set the date manually, activate the Update manually button. Using the date picker displayed below the button, choose a date and time.
To set the date automatically, depending on which action should lead to the modification of the date, click either or both:
- The Update automatically when metadata has changed button
- The Update automatically when data has changed button.

Changes to the data include any change to the Processing tab, such as adding a processor or modifying filters. Modifying a dataset's source, and republishing if the data has changed will also count, for example if you schedule a republication using a URL or an FTP server as a source.

Depending on the dataset, some options can be unavailable. If the dataset is federated, or if there is no data source, the last modification date can only be set manually, or when metadata have changed.

Last processing dates

Dates indicating when an asset's metadata and data were last modified.

These dates are updated automatically whenever an asset is published or republished.

The date indicated for "(metadata)" is systematically updated when the asset is published.
The date indicated for "(data)" is updated only if the data itself has been modified.

Note that these dates can therefore indicate different times. They are the dates used for the "Modification date," discussed just above in this table, when you choose to automatically update the "Modification date" according to changes in the data or metadata.

Regional information

Field	Description	Usage
Data language "Language"	Language of the data in the dataset.	Click on the drop down menu. Choose a language among the workspace's languages or other languages available.
Timezone	This metadata forces the dataset to use the timezone defined here for the date and datetime fields. It keeps the dataset from being displayed based on the timezone setting in the user's browser. See here for more information on timezones in Huwise.	Click on the arrow on the right of the textbox. A drop down selection of timezones appears. Click on the chosen timezone. It is also possible to write in the textbox. Matching results from the list will appear. Click on a result to select it.
Geographic coverage ("Geographic References")	Geographic coverage of the data contained in the dataset.	Click the button of the chosen option amongst the following: None (default for datasets without geographical data): the geographic coverage won't be set for the dataset, which won't be searchable through the geographic filter. Automatic (default): if the dataset contains geopoints, the geographic coverage will be automatically defined as the smallest envelope containing all of the records' locations. Note that all data will be taken into account for this computation, regardless of security parameters. If the dataset doesn't contain geopoints, but that a Datasets default location was set for the workspace, this default location will be used. Specific: Enter the names of the data locations in the textbox; a drop-down selection of matching location names will appear. Click on the right locations, which will appear on the map. All added locations must be at the same administrative level.

Licensing & attribution

Field	Description	Usage
License	License attached to the dataset.	Click on the arrow on the right of the textbox. A drop down selection of licences defined for the workspace automatically appears. Click on the chosen license.
Reference	Link of the source of the dataset.	Enter the URL of the reference of the dataset in the textbox.
Attributions	Link of a source of the dataset that should be mentioned for legal reasons (e.g. if the license demands the mention of a specific source or organization).	Enter the URL of the source in the textbox.

Metadata inherited from the Asset and Dataset templates

Some metadata from the Asset and Dataset templates is also found in other templates. To make filling out metadata easier and less redundant, and to improve the search performance for those metadata, those other templates will "inherit" the relevant values from the Asset and Dataset templates.

In the image above, you can see that the DCAT-AP template includes inherited metadata, and they are indicated in a separate box.

We encourage you to always fill out out the Asset and Dataset metadata templates. But note that if you have not done so, to fill out all of the metadata for a template with inherited metadata you must complete the inherited fields within the Asset or Dataset template itself.

To make this easier, if you're within a template with inherited metadata and wish to fill out or modify one of those pieces of metadata, you can always click on the arrow to its right.

This will take you back to the Asset or Dataset template, where you can modify that metadata. Don’t forget to Save your changes, then click Publish to make them visible in the portal.

Creating and modifying a custom template

For instructions on how to create a custom template, or how to modify one, see this page.

We strongly encourage you to read the page linked above before editing your templates, as some necessary and permanent consequences may not be immediately obvious.