Discovering metadata catalogs
How to find metadata catalog installations (catalog_type: Metadata catalog). Search-engine syntax (Google, Censys, and FOFA as a Censys alternative): discovery-search-tools.md. Overview: discovery.md.
These sites publish catalog/dataset metadata (often RDF / DCAT or SDMX structural metadata), not a full open-data CMS and not a research-data file store. If the public product is CKAN, Dataverse, or GeoNetwork, use those software.id values and types instead.
FAIR Data Point (fairdatapoint)
Open-source REST API and web client for FAIR metadata as RDF (DCAT + the FAIR Data Point specification). Docs: docs.fairdatapoint.org. Index of public points: home.fairdatapoint.org.
Signals: HTML client fdp-client; JSON-LD or Turtle DCAT at the catalog root; paths such as /catalog, /dataset, /swagger-ui; hostname often fdp. or path /fairdatapoint.
Confirm: GET the catalog URL with Accept: text/turtle or application/ld+json and check for DCAT Catalog / FAIR Data Point metadata. The HTML UI alone is not enough if it is only a marketing page.
public/index.html noscript says “fdp-client doesn't work properly” (196 hosts in September 2026, including fdp.envri.eu). body="fdp-client" matched 206. Keep both.
| Tool | Query |
|---|---|
"FAIR Data Point" OR "fairdatapoint" (catalog OR DCAT) -site:github.com | |
inurl:fairdatapoint OR intitle:"FAIR Data Point" | |
| Censys | web.endpoints.http.body: "fdp-client doesn't work properly" |
| FOFA | body="fdp-client doesn't work properly" |
| Censys | web.endpoints.http.body: "fdp-client" |
| FOFA | body="fdp-client" |
| Censys | web.endpoints.http.body: "fairdatapoint" |
| FOFA | body="fairdatapoint" |
| crt.sh | fdp.% |
Start from the public index, then fill gaps with search. Skip points that require login for any catalog listing. Register the FDP root, not a single dataset IRI. Do not duplicate the index (home.fairdatapoint.org) if it is already in the registry.
Aristotle Metadata Registry (aristotlemdr)
Open-source metadata registry for models and controlled vocabularies. Site: aristotlemetadata.com (product branding varies by deployment).
Signals: Aristotle MDR; /api/v4/ or browsable registry of object classes / data elements; stewardship workflows.
Confirm: GET the public registry home and an API listing when unauthenticated access exists. Skip staff-only stewardship tools.
| Tool | Query |
|---|---|
"Aristotle" ("Metadata Registry" OR MDR) (vocabulary OR "data element") -site:github.com | |
| Censys | web.endpoints.http.body: "Aristotle" |
| FOFA | body="Aristotle" |
Fusion Metadata Registry (fusionregistry)
SDMX-native structural metadata registry (code lists, DSDs, REST). Often branded Fusion Registry / FMR.
Signals: Fusion Registry; SDMX REST (/sdmx/v2/ or /ws/public/sdmxapi/); structural metadata browser.
Confirm: GET the public registry or SDMX REST catalog. Do not confuse with a PxWeb/.Stat data portal — those stay pxweb / statsuite under indicators. A public series UI titled Fusion Data Browser stays fusiondatabrowser.
| Tool | Query |
|---|---|
"Fusion Registry" OR "Fusion Metadata Registry" SDMX -site:github.com | |
inurl:/sdmx/v2/ "Fusion" | |
| Censys | web.endpoints.http.body: "Fusion Registry" |
| FOFA | body="Fusion Registry" |
Metadata Browser (mwmb)
MetadataWorks catalog UI for datasets, standards, and terminologies. Site: metadataworks.ai.
Signals: Metadata Browser / MetadataWorks; federated metadata search.
Confirm: GET the public browser. One record per public deployment.
| Tool | Query |
|---|---|
"Metadata Browser" MetadataWorks (catalog OR terminology) | |
| Censys | web.endpoints.http.body: "MetadataWorks" |
| FOFA | body="MetadataWorks" |
DataHub (datahubproject)
LinkedIn/Acryl DataHub metadata platform. Site: datahubproject.io. Distinct from datahub.io (CKAN).
Signals: HTML title DataHub; meta description “A Metadata Platform for the Modern Data Stack”; /api/graphql; assets/index-*.css SPA. GraphQL is often 401 without a token — the public UI is enough to confirm.
Confirm: GET the catalog home. Stop on login-only tenants with no public dataset list. Do not invent this id from a generic “data hub” heading.
index.html describes “A Metadata Platform for the Modern Data Stack” (1,556 hosts in September 2026, including 89.58.44.88:9002). title="DataHub" matched 5,058 hosts, including a Chinese data-hub system (1.94.188.107). Installs that change the description still match the title, so keep both.
| Tool | Query |
|---|---|
"DataHub" "Metadata Platform for the Modern Data Stack" | |
| Censys | web.endpoints.http.body: "A Metadata Platform for the Modern Data Stack" |
| FOFA | body="A Metadata Platform for the Modern Data Stack" |
| Censys | web.endpoints.http.title: "DataHub" |
| FOFA | title="DataHub" |
CEDAR Workbench (cedar)
Stanford metadata-template workbench. App: cedar.metadatacenter.org. Docs: cedar-docs. Distinct from the metadatacenter.org marketing homepage.
Confirm: GET https://cedar.metadatacenter.org (title Project Cedar). Register the workbench, not each template or filled instance.
| Tool | Query |
|---|---|
"CEDAR Workbench" OR "Project Cedar" (metadata OR template) | |
| Censys | web.names: "cedar.metadatacenter.org" |
| FOFA | host="cedar.metadatacenter.org" |
CBD Clearing-House (cbdchm)
Secretariat application for the Convention on Biological Diversity clearing-houses. Repository: scbd/absch.cbd.int. API notes: docs.cbddev.xyz.
Signals: /app/css/template.css and /app/components/scbd-branding/. Public realms are chm.cbd.int, absch.cbd.int, and bch.cbd.int.
Confirm: GET the realm home and check for /app/css/template.css. Register each public realm once. Skip api.cbd.int, accounts.cbd.int, oasis.cbd.int (staff manage UI), *.cbddev.xyz, training hosts, and the developer docs portal. The Online Reporting Tool at ort.cbd.int is a separate Nuxt app (scbd/online-reporting-tool), not this software. National Bioland sites (github.com/scbd/bioland) are a different product.
Checked 25 September 2026. Live realm HTML no longer contains scbd/angular-flex. That FOFA query still returns nine hosts from an older index (the three realms, training-absch.cbd.int, accounts.cbd.int, oasis.cbd.int, plus accounts, bch, and oasis on cbddev.xyz). body="scbd-branding" and body="@scbd/ckeditor5" return 0 because FOFA has not indexed the current shell. Unscoped body="/app/css/template.css" is noise (hundreds of unrelated shops). Scope it with domain="cbd.int": four hosts, the three public realms plus training-absch.cbd.int (times out; training copy). domain="cbd.int" itself is about 90 hosts and is the sibling check; no other host on that domain serves this app. body="scbd/angular-flex" && domain!="cbd.int" && domain!="cbddev.xyz" is 0.
| Tool | Query |
|---|---|
"Clearing-House" (ABSCH OR BCH OR CHM) site:cbd.int | |
| Censys | web.endpoints.http.body: "scbd/angular-flex" |
| FOFA | body="/app/css/template.css" && domain="cbd.int" |
| FOFA | body="scbd/angular-flex" |
WMO OSCAR (oscar)
WMO Observing Systems Capability Analysis and Review Tool. Product home: space.oscar.wmo.int. API notes: space.oscar.wmo.int/apidoc.
Signals: OSCAR/Space sets cookie Oscar-release-diag and title “WMO OSCAR” at space.oscar.wmo.int. OSCAR/Surface (oscar.wmo.int/surface, /surface/rest/api) and GAWSIS (gawsis.meteoswiss.ch/GAWSIS/) share an Angular shell with Application.OSCAR in the HTML. The Surface <title> is empty until that app boots.
Confirm: GET the module home. One record per public module (Surface, Space). GAWSIS is the same shell and is already registered on its own. Skip OSCAR/Requirements pages on the Space host. Skip staging hosts space-test.oscar.wmo.int, oscardepl.wmo.int, gawsisdepl.meteoswiss.ch, and gawsisdevt.meteoswiss.ch. Skip the WMO Weather Radar Database, the OSCAR speech corpus, university repositories named Oscar, and OSCAR-CEL (oscar-cel.com, title “Bienvenue sur OSCAR”).
Checked 25 September 2026. body="Observing Systems Capability Analysis and Review Tool" is 17 rows: Space, space-test, GAWSIS production and staging, plus a Japanese meteorology blog and weathernco.com. It misses production Surface, because oscar.wmo.int/ is a 301 to Space and FOFA does not store /surface/. title="WMO OSCAR" is 4 rows (Space and space-test only). body="css/oscar.css" is 108 and is mostly other products named OSCAR. body="favicon_oscar.ico" also matches OSCAR-CEL.
| Tool | Query |
|---|---|
"Observing Systems Capability Analysis and Review Tool" OSCAR | |
| Censys | web.endpoints.http.body: "Oscar-release-diag" |
| FOFA | body="Oscar-release-diag" |
| Censys | web.endpoints.http.body: "Application.OSCAR" |
| FOFA | body="Application.OSCAR" |
| FOFA | body="Oscar-release-diag" || body="Application.OSCAR" |
| FOFA | host=".oscar.wmo.int" |
| crt.sh | %.oscar.wmo.int |
Related
- discovery.md
- discovery-search-tools.md
- discovery-opendata.md (DCAT portals that are not FDP)
- discovery-indicators.md (Fusion Registry vs PxWeb/.Stat)
- harvest-metadata.md
- harvest.md
- discovery-scientific.md
- software-taxonomy.md
- catalog-types.md