What is geodata metadata?

Metadata is "data about data": description of a geographic dataset, not the geometry itself. Essential fields: title, source, date, CRS, extent, quality, license, contact, and theme.

In the Netherlands providers register metadata in the Nationaal Georegister; PDOK and Kadaster are key sources. Metadata makes datasets discoverable and assessable before download or WFS connection.

Metadata is not an attribute of a single object (that belongs to the feature) or the catalog as a whole — but the records a catalog is built from. Good metadata underpins audit and data quality.