Towards Real Time Metadata for Network-Based Geographic Databases

Nowadays, the geographic metadata are defined by ISO standards and their particular goal is to assist the data exchange between different users and to provide the data quality information. However, these metadata are defined for static data processed by traditional applications. Such metadata do not take into consideration the qualification of dynamic data resulting from mobile and agile objects or from real-time measurements managed in "on-line" applications, such as industrial or natural phenomenon management. Moreover, the sensor networks linked to databases are increasingly used in many fields, in particular in the disaster management systems. The real-time management of spatiotemporal data resulting from these sensors requires a definition of real-time metadata, especially for quality assessment in a decision support context during a critical situation. This papers sets out the issues of real-time spatiotemporal data and metadata to help to design quality assessment of spatiotemporal data.