14. Metadata

pycsamt.metadata holds the format-neutral metadata objects that describe how a transfer function came to be, independently of whether it is currently stored as EDI, EMTF XML, or an in-memory TFBundle. A station’s coordinates, the instrument that recorded it, the channels and orientation that give a \(2\times2\) impedance matrix physical meaning, who processed it and with what remote reference, and how good the result actually is are all scientific facts about the measurement – not serialization details of one file format. Keeping them in one reusable package means EDI workflows, the EMTF XML reader/writer, and forward-modelling priors all share the same classes instead of each format inventing its own metadata hierarchy.

Use this section when you need to build, inspect, or round-trip any of these objects directly – constructing a SurveyMeta for a new campaign, comparing two InstrumentMeta presets, or reading what a DataQuality flag actually means. When you only need the effect these objects have on a concrete workflow, see Site Tools for station-level EDI and EMTF-XML metadata editing, or EMTF for how ProvenanceMeta, SiteLayout, and OrientationMeta map onto EMTF XML’s <Provenance>, <SiteLayout>, and <Orientation> elements. For the complete callable reference, see pycsamt.metadata.

• 14.1. Site and Survey Metadata
  • 14.1.1. Location and Identity Fields
  • 14.1.2. Two Independent Identity Resolvers
  • 14.1.3. Campaign-Level Aggregation
  • 14.1.4. Bounding-Box Geometry
  • 14.1.5. Serialization and EDI Round-Trip
  • 14.1.6. SiteMeta Inside an EMTF Document
  • 14.1.7. Choosing the Right Object
  • 14.1.8. Next Steps
• 14.2. Provenance and Bibliography
  • 14.2.1. Two Real Provenance Records
  • 14.2.2. Missing Copyright Is Not Fabricated
  • 14.2.3. Building a Citation by Hand
  • 14.2.4. Enriching and Re-Writing a Document
  • 14.2.5. A Second, Unrelated Software/Copyright Model
  • 14.2.6. Choosing the Right Object
  • 14.2.7. Next Steps
• 14.3. Channels and Orientation
  • 14.3.1. Reading a Real Site Layout
  • 14.3.2. Field Types and Manual Construction
  • 14.3.3. Two Real Layouts Compared
  • 14.3.4. Orientation Mode and Rotation History
  • 14.3.5. Choosing the Right Object
  • 14.3.6. Next Steps
• 14.4. Instrument Metadata
  • 14.4.1. Sensor Coverage
  • 14.4.2. Built-In Presets
  • 14.4.3. EDI >HEAD Round-Trip
  • 14.4.4. Serialization
  • 14.4.5. Next Steps
• 14.5. Processing and Quality
  • 14.5.1. Processing Metadata From a Real Station
  • 14.5.2. A Naive Read Would Mislead
  • 14.5.3. Sign Convention Normalization
  • 14.5.4. Coverage-Based Data Quality
  • 14.5.5. Archival Quality Versus Computed Quality
  • 14.5.6. Choosing the Right Object
  • 14.5.7. Next Steps
• 14.6. Frequency Bands
  • 14.6.1. Built-In Bands
  • 14.6.2. Which Band Covers a Frequency
  • 14.6.3. Overlap and Clipping
  • 14.6.4. Extending the Registry
  • 14.6.5. Choosing the Right Function
  • 14.6.6. Next Steps