CSW 2.0.2 follows HTTP protocol, supports the following implementation models:
- HTTP KVP (Key-Value Pair) method
- XML method
SuperMap iServer CSW service implements searching, discovery and registration of spatial data and service metadata using GetCapabilities, DescribeRecord、GetDomain, GetRecords, GetRecordById and Transaction operations.
| Category | Operation | HTTP method | Data encoding | Description |
| Service class | GetCapabilities | GET(POST) | KVP(XML) | Get basic information of CSW service. |
| Query class | DescribeRecord | POST(GET) | XML(KVP) | Get information object model supported by service. |
| GetDomain | POST(GET) | XML(KVP) | Get the metadata attribute or parameter's types and ranges. | |
| GetRecords | POST | XML | Query the metadata, return query results satisfying the conditions. | |
| GetRecordById | GET | KVP | Get the metadata records of specified ID. | |
| Manage class | Harvest | POST(GET) | XML(KVP) | (pulls) insert and update the qualified metadata initiatively. |
| Transaction | POST | XML | (push) insert, update or delete metadata passively. |
The supported operations of SuperMap iServer CSW service are shown as follows:
- GetCapabilities, return description information of the service features and metadata. It's a necessary operation.
- GetRecords, this operation is used to search the contents of registration object, return all results satisfying the conditions. It's a necessary operation.
- GetRecordbyId, return registration object by identifier. It's a necessary operation.
- DescribeRecord, return all supported information object model. It's a necessary operation.
- GetDomain, return the ranges of metadata parameters. It's an optional operation.
- Transaction, allow users to insert, delete and update directory contents. It's an optional operation.
- Harvest, this operation register metadata information into local category service by parsing metadata HTTP address or remote OGC service address.