As a data provider, you understand the importance of making your data Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, and Reusable (FAIR) by wide audiences. One step in achieving this is by sharing your trusted and curated content using standards-based catalogs like ArcGIS Hub.
Hub is a comprehensive data sharing, collaboration, and community engagement platform designed to help organizations share their data, maps, and applications with stakeholders. By providing a geo-enabled destination for your community, Hub enables organizations to work better together.
ArcGIS Hub now supports DCAT 3!
Thousands of organizations already use ArcGIS Hub to share open data and federate their content with data catalogs like Data.gov and Data.Europe.EU. With DCAT3 support, these organizations—such as federal, state, and local government agencies—can share their data more effectively, making it easier for users to find, access, and utilize valuable information.
Esri is excited to announce support for DCAT3 in ArcGIS Hub, beginning with the availability of DCAT-AP 3 (the DCAT Application Profile for Europe) and with DCAT-US 3 planned for the near future. This enhancement further increases the discoverability of data shared using ArcGIS Hub catalogs.
Continue reading to learn more about data federation and how Hub supports DCAT3.
Federating your data: enhancing discoverability
Federating your data means making your datasets discoverable on other data platforms without having to physically move or duplicate the data. Instead, these platforms regularly harvest your metadata using catalog feeds, allowing users to access the original data from your organization’s Hub catalog. This approach enables you to maintain control over your data while still making it visible and accessible to additional audiences.
For example, Data.gov and Data.Europa.EU are two prominent open data portals that can register data from content providers using catalog feeds. These platforms play crucial roles in promoting open data and transparency in their respective regions, enabling users to discover, access, and utilize valuable datasets for various purposes.
How catalog feeds work in ArcGIS Hub
The process is straightforward. When you publish content in ArcGIS Hub and enrich it with detailed metadata, you make it more discoverable and reusable. This same metadata is transformed into the catalog feeds. This is where interoperability standards come into play. The Hub catalog automatically generates catalogs feeds, including those compliant with DCAT3, ensuring that your data is not only accessible but also optimized for search engines. ArcGIS Hub supports multiple catalog standard formats, including GeoRSS, DCAT, and OGC API Records, providing flexibility and broad compatibility.
| Catalog Feed Type | Description |
| GeoRSS | A format for syndicating geographic content |
| DCAT | Data Catalog Vocabulary for interoperability |
| OGC API Records | An API for accessing records in a catalog |
What is DCAT and why is it important?
DCAT is a standardized data catalog vocabulary designed to facilitate interoperability between data catalogs published on the Web.
ArcGIS Hub has a long history of supporting DCAT for catalog federation, including DCAT-US 1.1, DCAT-AP 2.1.1, and now DCAT-AP 3.0.0 enabling organizations to share their data with other platforms like Data.gov and Data.Europa.EU. We now have access to more data and information than ever, so finding data that is relevant and fit for purpose is more important than ever to make better, timely decisions.
Try it out
To see DCAT3 in action, you can explore a site’s DCAT-AP 3 feed by appending /api/feed/dcat-ap/3.0.0.json to the URL of any Hub site. This will give you a firsthand look at how DCAT3 support enhances data sharing and discoverability.
For example, https://arcgis-inspire-esri.opendata.arcgis.com/api/feed/dcat-ap/3.0.0.json
Learn how to federate data and manage your catalog feeds in the ArcGIS Hub documentation.
What’s next?
Esri is committed to continuing its support for evolving data standards. With DCAT-US 3 on the roadmap, users can expect further enhancements to data interoperability and sharing capabilities.
By supporting DCAT3, ArcGIS Hub reinforces its position as a powerful platform for data sharing and collaboration. Whether you’re a data provider looking to maximize the impact of your data or a user seeking to discover new datasets, DCAT3 support in ArcGIS Hub is a significant step forward.
More ArcGIS Hub resources
- Find out what’s new and learn best practices on the ArcGIS Blog
- Visit the ArcGIS Hub Esri Community
- Attend Hub webinars
- View presentations, demos, and how-to videos on our ArcGIS Hub playlists
- Get inspired by examples in the ArcGIS Hub gallery
- Sign up for the ArcGIS Hub e-newsletter
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