DCAT-US Schema v1.1 (Project Open Data Metadata Schema)

The DCAT-US schema is the standardized metadata specification for describing all datasets and APIs within a government agency’s comprehensive data inventory. It was formerly known as the Project Open Data Metadata Schema. The standard is based on the international W3C DCAT specification and is used by agencies to compile their dataset listings for inclusion on Data.gov. Under the OPEN Government Data Act and the Open Data Policy, federal agencies are required to publish an enterprise data inventory, provided as a JSON file, using the standard DCAT-US metadata schema and hosted on an agency’s website at agency.gov/data.json. DCAT-US is currently in use by most federal agencies as well as by many state and local governments.

Usage Notes

Data.gov provides a validator to check implementations of the standard and the dashboard tracks the agencies implementing it.

Associated Policies & Authorities

DCAT-US is the metadata standard associated with the requirements for enterprise data inventories in the OMB M-13-13 open data policy and the Foundations for Evidence Based Policymaking Act Title II, OPEN Government Data Act (Evidence Act). The Evidence Act applies to all agencies. These federal policies do not apply to state and local governments which may have their own policies. However, state and local governments are welcomed to contribute their metadata to Data.gov on a voluntary basis and to do so they must publish their metadata using the DCAT-US standard while omitting any federal-specific metadata elements as noted in the documentation.

Additional Information

Keywords

data catalog, data inventory, data schema, open data, DCAT, metadata, Project Open Data Metadata Schema