I am trying to use embedded metadata in jpg images for storing metadata belonging to the environmental monitoring domain. Typically, this will include plant/animal species names and family names and some rating value related to the ability to use the photos for time series change monitoring and such like. I am creating a database application and that determines what kinds of data I have and how it is structured. Exif data seems to be mainly camera manufacturers storing data on camera settings. IPTC tags are much closer to what I am looking for but I would have to repurpose most of the tags. This solution has the advantage that almost all software can read the tags. There is a final solution which I have not put any time into so far would be to use XMP data. I understand that XMP is extensible metadata implemented in XML. Looking at the list of existing XMP tags seems to show that they are mainly used by photo editors. (refer:http://www.exiftool.org/TagNames/XMP.html (http://www.exiftool.org/TagNames/XMP.html)). I am surprised that there are no domain specific lists of XMP tags, for example for supporting crime scene reporting or for camera trap photos, which usually show species. If I go down this route, I would have to create user defined tags and this raises the question of whether they can be searched for with standard search utilities or photo managers.
Does anyone have any experience with using metadata domains related to environmental monitoring or know of any domains that I might be able to implement? Building on an existing implementation is better than making a new one.
I searched for "Species" in this forum found some possibly useful results. For example, this post (https://exiftool.org/forum/index.php/topic,1903.msg8318.html#msg8318).
- Phil