data.gov Guidance

Follow the guidance below for items to be sent to data.gov.

What products go into data.gov?

The information below is based on the best available information about data.gov as of April 2018. A future Department of the Interior data governance board may issue written guidance about what is appropriate for data.gov.

• Machine-readable, non-proprietary data sets are top priority (e.g., .csv, txt, etc.), including GIS files (e.g., .shp, .jpg, .tif, geotif, etc.).

• If no machine-readable version of the data exists, then proprietary data formats (e.g., .mdb, .accdb, .xlxs, FGDB, etc.) may be cataloged.

• Cataloging spatial or non-spatial data web services (OGC, WMS, WFS, etc.), ESRI (map services, feature services, hosted feature layers, image services), etc. is acceptable.

• Data (or static maps) in the form of a .pdf file is acceptable to catalog if there is no other file format of of the data.

• Data.gov is intended for data only. As such, NO publications, report documents, web pages, or presentation recordings are to be cataloged.

Avoid submitting a dataset more than once. If someone else from any organization has cataloged the identical data on data.gov, do not enter it again.

Requirements to send something to data.gov

1. Set the appropriate data.gov Metadata Repository tag.

2. List the Science Applications National Data Steward first in the list of Responsible Parties (#0). data.gov only displays the first contact and the data steward should be listed first.

3. Include a Distribution Link where the product can be accessed or downloaded.

data.doi.gov

Items actually go through an intermediary before they harvested to data.gov. All Department of the Interior items go through data.doi.gov first.

Link to DOI data.gov: https://data.doi.gov/dataset

Link to LCC Network items: https://data.doi.gov/dataset?organization=lcc-network

Link to SA items: (insert link here)