.. _index:

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Welcome to pycsw
================

pycsw is an OGC CSW server implementation written in `Python`_.

pycsw implements clause 10 (HTTP protocol binding (Catalogue Services for the Web, CSW)) of the `OpenGIS Catalogue Service Implementation Specification`_, version 2.0.2.  Initial development started in 2010 (more formally announced in `2011`_).

pycsw allows for the publishing and discovery of geospatial metadata.  Existing repositories of geospatial metadata can be exposed via OGC:CSW 2.0.2.

pycsw is `Open Source`_, released under an MIT :ref:`license <license>`, and runs on all major platforms (Windows, Linux, Mac OS X).


.. _`Python`: http://www.python.org/
.. _`OpenGIS Catalogue Service Implementation Specification`: http://www.opengeospatial.org/standards/cat
.. _`2011`: http://www.kralidis.ca/blog/2011/02/04/help-wanted-baking-a-csw-server-in-python/
.. _`Open Source`: http://www.opensource.org/
