Metadata of the geophysical data sources in the Czech Republic: Case study in the IGN

Summary Geophysical data are used in many sectors of human activity but so far have only been discoverable and accessible in a limited way within the frame of international scientific networks. By approving the INSPIRE directive (Infrastructure for Spatial Information in Europe), the EU member states have committed themselves to provide access to digital geoscientific spatial data with a unified metadata description (see http://inspire. ec. europa. eu/). Therefore, an individual topic has been set up within the CzechGeo/EPOS project to enable the provision of geophysical data in the Czech Republic. In the first phase, an inventory of the geophysical data resources maintained by eight institutions of the CzechGeo consortium has been created. All types of data and information were taken into account: structured and unstructured digital data, paper documents, primary documentation. The relevant data resources were subsequently described by structured metadata (according to the INSPIRE requirements) which is accessible through the Czech National INSPIRE Geoportal (https://geoportal. gov. cz/) . Each metadata record contains basic information about the data as well as information about possible ways of accessing this data. In this way, geophysical data are more visible, reusable across institutions and, at the same time, under control of their provider in terms of licensing and updates.