Using metadata to describe tabular data for publishing
Updated 28 September 2023
漏 Crown copyright 2023
This publication is licensed under the terms of the Open Government Licence v3.0 except where otherwise stated. To view this licence, visit or write to the Information Policy Team, The National Archives, Kew, London TW9 4DU, or email: psi@nationalarchives.gov.uk.
Where we have identified any third party copyright information you will need to obtain permission from the copyright holders concerned.
This publication is available at /government/publications/recommended-open-standards-for-government/using-metadata-to-describe-tabular-data-for-publishing
Use the to describe the contents of a comma-separated values (CSV) file, spreadsheet or other file type containing data you publish.
1. Summary of the standard鈥檚 use for government
Government websites already use schema.org Dataset to publish data on 188体育 and data.gov.uk. The schema allows you to add metadata so search engines can find the data you鈥檝e published and display structured results for users. You should use this standard in combination with our guidance on persistent resolvable identifiers so that users can find the most recent version of your data.
The government chooses standards using the open standards approval process and the Open Standards Board has final approval. Read more about the process of choosing all the .
2. How this standard meets user needs
You should use the if you鈥檙e a government worker who publishes data.
If you describe published data in a consistent way, users can easily catalogue, validate and reuse your data.
Using this standard means you can publish data:
- on 188体育 or other public sector websites in a way that makes it easier for search engines and third-party websites to use it
- that鈥檚 searchable by item type, for example, event or location
- with additional information such as the topic of the data, who published it and date published
3. How to use this standard
If you鈥檙e publishing your data on , your content team will usually add metadata through the publishing tool. You can read more about .
If you鈥檙e publishing on another public sector website you should include the following properties to describe your data:
- or
You can also use other schema.org properties if you need to provide extra information. You can read more about the properties in 鈥楻ecord information about data sets you share with others鈥�.
When sharing data privately, you should use the in combination with schema.org to describe your data.
You should also use the CSV on the Web (CSVW) standard to describe the contents and structure of comma-separated values (CSV) data files.
If you鈥檙e publishing your data in a CSV file, you should use the RFC 4180 standard recommended by the Open Standards Board.