One of the most useful bits of information you can attach to an image is the location where a photo or video was taken. This information helps us find images, tells us something about the subject matter, and can be a key to lots of other information.
Most standard metadata is used to describe an individual file, but metadata created to describe objects’ relationsh extremely important to preserve.
There are metadata schemas that are specific to a particular application as well as tools to make your own schema to meet personal or institutional needs.
IPTC is the standard schema used by image editing and cataloging software to describe the content and ownership of the pictures.
In order to understand structured data and how much information can be communicated with metadata, it’s important to be familiar with metadata schemas.
Embedding metadata allows you to bundle it inside a file for portability, but sometimes it can get stripped, either intentionally or unintentionally.
Metadata is essential for describing digital objects, but it can be lost during transition between programs, file formats or during derivative file creation.
Metadata can be generated in ways that range from highly automated to highly manual.
The metadata for a media file can live in one of several places: embedded, in a sidecar, in a database or linked databases, in a project, or in the cloud.
Understanding what metadata information is, how it gets created, and where it lives is important to knowing how to make the best use of it.