A GCMD/IDN "portal" is defined as a virtual subset of the complete content of the directory. Recognizing the importance of customization for partner organizations, the staff generates subset views of the GCMD directory through "conceptual" portals. Portals have facilitated focused views for organizations to maintain and document their data in one place (within the directory), 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 to manage the content. Portals offer a targeted science or application-specific focus for other agencies, science focus groups, consortia, etc.

Portals may be trademarked with the logo of an organization, while offering the full functionality of the GCMD search engine and tools.

Using a portal (of which content is a "virtual subset") is advantageous in that as metadata are added to the subset, they are also freely available from the GCMD's comprehensive search pages for scientists in other disciplines to access and use.

Usage statistics are regularly tracked and available to anyone. One hundred and fourteen portals are currently in use. Please see GCMD Portals .

The GCMD staff encourages organizations that wish to create a portal or have questions to contact the User Support Office by e-mail or through GCMD User Support.