What are metadata favorites? (Defense Mapping)

The Metadata tab on the Manage Features window is used to create metadata favorites. Metadata favorites store the values that will be populated in feature-level metadata fields when edits occur. When creating metadata favorites, you can create one favorite for each different set of attributes. For example, you might create one favorite for each image source you plan to use. When you perform edits, you can choose the appropriate favorite, and the attributes set in the favorite will be applied to any feature that you create or modify.

Feature-level metadata is typically consistent among the features you are editing during an edit session. For instance, when extracting features from an image source, the information about that source is the same for all features extracted from that source. The metadata favorites that apply to one database may be different from the favorites for another database. For example, the image used to extract features may be different because the databases include features from different locations. For this reason, metadata favorites are stored in your production database. This means that if you change to a different database, the metadata favorites that are available may be different even though you are pointing to the same product library.

Metadata favorites are stored in your data so they only need to be set up once to be reused throughout your data collection and maintenance process. It is important to turn to the Metadata tab when you start an edit session to ensure that the selected metadata favorite has the attributes you want to use. You can easily change between metadata favorites while you are editing if you need to. For example, if you start editing features using the aerial photo as the source, ensure that the metadata favorite for the aerial photo is selected. When you change to using the satellite image as the source, change the metadata favorite to match.