Metadata analysis and management for an urban sustainable development capability evaluation index in China

The scientific assessment of urban sustainable development capability has important guiding significance for the urban green development and smart growth. Although China is promoting urban sustainable development and developing sustainable experimental areas,it is vital to identify scientific methods and obtain data to analyze this development. In recent years,metadata has been regarded as an effective method to improve data quality. This study focused on the characteristics of an urban sustainable development analysis index system which is based on a metadata management system using software engineering by analyzing the data source,collection method,and application method etc. The aim of this study was to effectively and efficiently collect useful data from the sustainable development experimental area. According tothe metadata standard which was developed by "research and demonstration on urban sustainable development capacity assessment and information management key technologies"in 12 th Five-Year science and technology support program,we used fourteen key evaluation metadata items in this standard as benchmarks,including data release date,data release form,spatial range, time range( start time and end time), statistical frequency, data security limit classification, data description,Online resource link address and information of data statistics institution( institution name,contacts,contact number,address and e-mail address). Comparing the results of data quality evaluation before and after using a metadata tracking method through the quantitative data quality scoring method,we found that the data are more reliable,comparable and constant when using metadata. This research shows several advantages in controlling and protecting urban sustainable development analysis data quality when applying the metadata theory. Further,the development of a specific urban sustainable development analysis metadata management system could improve the comprehensive evaluation result of the data.