Metadata – Formats

Databases that are or will be integrated into prometheus should export their metadata into a single file and make it available to prometheus.

Format

The recommended metadata format is XML, encoded in UTF-8. This can be based on your own definition, or an exchange format (LIDO, museumdat etc.) can be used. In general, however, other structured text formats (CSV, etc.), and also some database formats (SQL, MDB, etc.) are supported. If data is available in another format, integration is usually no problem and can be arranged with us.

Coding

Both ASCII and Unicode encodings are supported.

Structure

The structure of the generated file must be explicit, consistent and not redundant. Apart from that, however, it can be freely selected. The structure can be based on common data exchange formats (LIDO, museumdat, MAB, MARC, etc.) or it can be self-generated. prometheus does not make any recommendations in this regard.
If the semantic content of the metadata cannot be read directly from the export file (e.g. Dürer, Albrecht and other names are used instead (e.g. “1245=Tizian”), an explanation of the structure (e.g. “1245 is the name of the artist, the surname is separated from the first name by comma and space”) should be attached as a separate file.