GCMD has recognized the importance of customization for partner organizations and is generating subset views of the GCMD directory through portals. Portals have made it easier for organizations to maintain and document their data in one place without duplicating the effort to create another online directory.

Many organizations acknowledge the importance of metadata related to their area of interest but do not have the resources required to manage the content. One possible solution to this dilemma is to host the metadata through the GCMD and create a portal to view the virtual subset of the metadata. Portals help provide science, or application-specific focus for other agencies, science focus groups, consortia, etc. Portals may be trademarked with the logo of an organization while possessing the full functionality of the GCMD search engine and tools.

Using a portal to search a virtual subset is advantageous in that as metadata is added to the subset, it is also freely available from the GCMD general search pages for scientists in other disciplines to access and use. Usage statistics are also regularly tracked and available. Several portals are already in use (see GCMD Portals ). Currently free-text and/or a keyword interface are offered.

The GCMD encourages organizations that wish to create a portal or have questions to contact the User Support Office by e-mail at gcmduso@gcmd.gsfc.nasa.gov.