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Overview |  |
Welcome to the EPA Environmental Data Registry Presentation. Here you can gain an
understanding of what the Environmental Data Registry is all about:
- Functionality: What is it?
- Clients: Who uses it?
- Usefulness: Why is it important?
- Content: What is in it?
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The Environmental Data Registry is an automated source of four types of information about
environmental data.
| Type | Description |
| Dictionary | Data definitions |
| Directory | List of information resources |
| Reference | Data specifications |
| "Road Map" | Location/relationship |
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Like a dictionary, the Environmental Data Registry supports the
development of a common environmental terminology. Like a language dictionary, which defines terms,
the data registry defines environmental data. Also, like a language dictionary, it may give a preferred definition and
variant definitions applicable to different contexts. |
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The Environmental Data Registry is also a directory. It identifies
information resources for environmental data and identifies organizations and individuals
responsible for EPA's major information collections. |
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The Environmental Data Registry provides reference information about environmental data. Information
on data source and data specifications such as datatype and length help system developers reuse these
data elements in their systems. |
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As a "road map," the Environmental Data Registry provides location and relationship information. This information may include
application(s) in which the data is used and database(s) in which the data is kept. It also identifies related data, where relevant. |
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The Environmental Data Registry, then, is an automated "storage container" that provides all available information about
environmental data. This information about data, called metadata, provides semantic information that can
help a user understand the data''s meaning. It can provide specifications for standard data
to be incorporated in new and reengineered systems to promote data interchange. It can also
fully describe the data in an information system. |
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In short, the Environmental Data Registry provides a singular automated system to record what is known about environmental data and to understand the data. Using the Environmental Data Registry, environmental data developers and collectors can document that data
for which they are responsible one time and one time only so that they need not repeatedly explain the data to each organization
or individual interested in the data. |
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A wide variety of people can make productive use of the Environmental Data Registry. Such users can be grouped into five basic categories:
industry, environmental researchers, EPA system developers, the Public, and EPA program managers. |
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Industry:Companies can make better decisions concerning the use of materials in manufacturing processes by reviewing what is known about materials data. They can better understand EPA's information collection requirements and locate sources of EPA data that interest them. |
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Research:The environmental data registry can help researchers identify and understand data pertinent to their research efforts. It can help them find data quality indicators that should be measured and stored with their data collections. |
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EPA System Developers:Developers can use the environmental data registry to identify and understand data pertinent to their projects.
The registry also supports efforts to standardize data within EPA and across organizations involved in environmental issues. This standardization may include
standard representations of date, business classifications, and geographic location and standard data element domain values such as codes for States of the U.S., for countries of
the world, and for units of measure (length, area, volume, mass, etc.) |
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Public:Individuals, civic groups, and local governments can use the Environmental Data Registry to find sources of environmental data that interest them. |
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Program Managers:The environmental data registry can be used by program managers to identify and understand data they need to effect better decisions in their environmental programs.
Program managers can also use the registry to improve information management and information quality and consistency in their data systems. They can reduce redundancy in collection of information. |
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Using the Environmental Data Registry is key to saving time and money; it will also improve the effectiveness of environmental data management and use. Also, with access to the
Environmental Data Registry via the World Wide Web, registry users can rapidly access frequently asked questions (FAQs) and answers about the data and the registry. |
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Collecting all information known about environmental data in the data registry relieves interested parties from the need to identify and "track down" manuals or individuals
knowledgeable about data of interest. It also relieves these knowledgeable individuals from addressing hundreds or even thousands of separate queries about the data. The data
registry also preserves information about data that could be lost when knowledgeable individuals leave the organization. |
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With standardized data such as data element code tables and value sets, developers can avoid the costs of building and maintaining their own. Such standardized data promotes
data integration and minimizes the cost of exchanging data within EPA and between EPA and its partners. Developing and maintaining standardized data in a single place facilitates its reuse
across development projects and minimizes the cost of updating standardized data in existing information systems. |
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The registry facilitates communicating environmental data across environmental programs and among government agencies, the public, and industry. |
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