GeoPortal Blog
Jan 29 2026
Behind-the-Scenes: Scholars GeoPortal & Borealis repository developments
Expanding geospatial metadata support in Dataverse
The Ontario Council of University Libraries (OCUL) Scholars Portal team is currently working on a major project to redevelop the Scholars GeoPortal repository to meet modern standards and evolving use cases since its launch in 2012. For the GeoPortal’s backend repository system, instead of upgrading its local custom ISO 19115-based metadata editor, the team is moving forward with migrating metadata collections and data files into Borealis, leveraging the metadata editing and publishing features in the open-source Dataverse repository. The goal is to integrate these Borealis (Dataverse) deposit and metadata workflows into the new Scholars GeoPortal catalogue and web mapping tools.
In support of the migration and ongoing metadata curation in Borealis, the team has developed a new expanded geospatial metadata block for Dataverse based on the international ISO 19115 metadata standard (see open Dataverse Github issue and pull request). This expanded metadata block will enable new use cases in Dataverse and strengthen the Scholars GeoPortal’s use of Borealis for the creation and management of geospatial metadata for enhanced discovery, sharing, and reuse.
The new expanded geospatial metadata block is now available for community testing and review:
- New Geo Metadata Test Dataverse (open to anyone)
- Community review and feedback form (open until March 30, 2026)
Please contact info@borealisdata.ca if you have any questions.
Learn more about this Dataverse geospatial metadata development
Metadata standards drive data description, reuse, discovery, and catalogue integrations. For data depositors and curators, these additional metadata fields can be used for describing more complex data types such as geospatial vector and raster data collections of varying sizes, types, and formats. This new expanded metadata block incorporates the existing fields (e.g. Geographic Coverage) and adds an additional 22 usable metadata fields based on the ISO 19115 metadata standard, offering a total of 31 usable metadata fields in the new geospatial data metadata block.
New Dataverse Geospatial Metadata Block (February 2026)
Note: * = repeatable
Field ID | Description | Example | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | resourceType | The type of geospatial data resource. | "dataset" |
| 2 | referenceDate* | A date which is used to help identify the resource. | |
| 3 | referenceDateValue | Other date as expressed in yyyy-mm-dd. | "2025-10-01" |
| 4 | referenceDateType | The type of date. | "lastUpdate" |
| 5 | dataLineageStatement | General explanation of the data producer’s knowledge of the dataset lineage. | "Work and data compilation inspired by "Lost Breweries of Toronto", by Jordan St. John. Charleston, SC: History Press, 2014" |
| 6 | processStep* | Description of the processes performed on the data. | "Maps were digitized by Ristech Digitization Solutions on behalf of McGill University Libraries." |
| 7 | referenceSystemInfo* | Description of the spatial and temporal reference systems used in the resource. | |
| 8 | referenceSystemCode | Alphanumeric value identifying the source reference system. | "4267" |
| 9 | referenceSystemCodeSpace | Identifier/ namespace of the system in which the code is valid. | "https://epsg.org" |
| 10 | spatialResolution* | Factor providing a general understanding of spatial data density in the resource, or range of resolutions for resource use. | |
| 11 | spatialResolutionValue | Level of detail expressed as a scale factor, distance or angle. | "5" |
| 12 | spatialResolutionType | Type of spatial resolution. | "distance" |
| 13 | spatialResolutionUnitOfMeasure | Spatial resolution unit of measure. | "km" |
| 14 | spatialRepresentationType | Object(s) used to represent the geographic (spatial) information. | "grid" |
| 15 | vectorSpatialRepresentation | Information about vector spatial objects in the resource. | |
| 16 | geometricObjectCount | Total number of point or vector objects in the dataset. | "1890" |
| 17 | geometricObjectType | Name of point or vector objects to locate zero, one, two or three dimensional locations on the dataset. | "point" |
| 18 | gridSpatialRepresentation | Information about grid (raster) spatial objects in the resource. | |
| 19 | numberOfDimensions | The number of independent spatio-temporal axes. | "2" |
| 20 | cellGeometry | Identification of grid data as point or cell. | "area" |
| 21 | axisDimensionProperties* | Information about spatial-temporal axis properties (dimensions). | |
| 22 | dimensionNameType | Axis name. | "column" |
| 23 | dimensionSize | Number of elements along the axis. | "78201" |
| 24 | resolution | Degree of detail in the grid dataset. | "0.3" |
| 25 | resolutionUnitOfMeasure | Resolution unit of measure. | "km" |
| 26 | distribution* | Distribution Links | |
| 27 | distributionLinkLabel | A descriptive label for the distribution link. | "Provincially tracked species, 2024 (1km grid) [Ontario]" |
| 28 | distributionLink | URL to access the dataset (e.g. via a geospatial web service). | "https://geohub.lio.gov.on.ca/datasets/lio::provincially-tracked-species-1km-grid/" |
| 29 | protocol | The service or transfer protocol associated with the distribution link URL. | "https" |
Figure 1: Table showing the 22 new fields that have been added to the Dataverse geospatial metadata block, in alignment with ISO 19115 metadata standard – an internationally recognized framework for describing geographic data.
Figure 2: New Dataverse Geospatial Metadata Block in Test Environment
Ready for testing: please provide your feedback by March 30, 2026!
We want your feedback!
To support community-driven design and endorsement of the new Dataverse geospatial metadata block, please take some time to test the new block and let us know your thoughts. This open review period will run until March 30, 2026.
- Test Dataverse (open for anyone)
- Feedback Form
For local testing with another Dataverse installation, a downloadable new geospatial metadata block (TSV) is available from the latest Pull Request in the Dataverse Github repository to test.
Implementation details and next steps
The new geospatial metadata block is backwards-compatible ensuring no further migration or setup after release. (See Github repository Pull Request #11507)
We anticipate that this new geospatial metadata block will be released in Borealis (Dataverse) in mid-2026 to support the migration of the Scholars GeoPortal’s metadata and data collections.
In the coming months, we will continue to develop and share information about the complimentary Dataverse ISO 19115 XML Exporter (coming soon) and Scholars GeoPortal catalogue integrations. Other Dataverse metadata exporters can be updated and expanded to support these new geospatial fields and mappings once released in Dataverse (ex. DCAT, etc.).
If you have any questions please contact us at info@borealisdata.ca and don’t forget to provide your feedback by March 30, 2026!
Learn more
Learn more about the Scholars GeoPortal Redevelopment Project.
About Borealis
Borealis, the Canadian Dataverse Repository, is a bilingual, multidisciplinary, secure, Canadian research data repository, supported by academic libraries and research institutions across Canada. Borealis supports open discovery, management, sharing, and preservation of Canadian research data.
The Borealis repository is based on the open-source repository application Dataverse, which is developed by the Institute for Quantitative Social Science (IQSS) at Harvard University with contributors from around the world. Borealis has been a member of the Global Dataverse Community Consortium since 2021.
Expanding discovery and access to Canada’s topographic maps at Scholars GeoPortal: Using AI workflows for metadata enhancement
Canada’s National Topographic System (NTS) maps depict government-surveyed topographic features, covering the time period of approximately 1905-2012. Reflecting on library metadata workflows to support discovery, access, and reuse of the maps, this recent initiative introduces AI and machine learning with large language models (LLMs) and OCR image-to-text extraction workflows to support metadata enhancement and access in the future Scholars GeoPortal.
Digitized NTS maps and data collections are available in the current Scholars GeoPortal repository for the 1:25,000 series (Ontario), 1:63,360 series (Ontario), 1:50,000 series (Canada-wide). You can learn more with our guide to accessing historical maps on the GeoPortal and the website for OCUL’s 2014-2017 Historical Map Digitization Project which covers early-NTS maps. More historical map collections, including over 22,000 digitized maps from the McGill Library’s NTS 1:50k series, are available via Canadiana.
Learn more about the Scholars GeoPortal Redevelopment Project and AI metadata enhancement workflows at the upcoming Scholars Portal Fall Updates Webinar on November 27 at 1 p.m. ET.
Stay tuned for more updates and news about the Scholars GeoPortal Redevelopment Project and the NTS series maps, or contact us at datagis@scholarsportal.info or topomaps@scholarsportal.info with any questions.
Mar 31 2025
Welcome to the Scholars GeoPortal Blog!
Welcome to the Scholars GeoPortal Blog!
Similar to the Odesi and Borealis blogs, this space will be used to share updates and important information about the Scholars GeoPortal service, including the ongoing Scholars GeoPortal Redevelopment Project. Information shared on this blog will be distributed by email to the relevant Scholars Portal and OCUL mailing lists and will include links to these blog posts for further reference.
We’re happy to share that a new page about the Scholars GeoPortal Redevelopment Project has been set up in the GeoPortal wiki space on SPOTDocs. This new page includes an overview of the project, information about the working group, links to existing Scholars Portal resources discussing the GeoPortal Redevelopment Project - such as webinars and newsletters - and contact information for any questions.
We look forward to sharing more updates with you soon!