{@linkplain org.opengis.metadata.identification.Identification} information (includes data and service identification). The following is adapted from OpenGIS® Metadata (Topic 11) specification.

Identification information contains information to uniquely identify the data. Identification information includes information about the citation for the resource, an abstract, the purpose, credit, the status and points of contact. The {@linkplain org.opengis.metadata.identification.Identification identification} entity is mandatory. It may be specified (subclassed) as {@linkplain org.opengis.metadata.identification.DataIdentification data identification} when used to identify data and as {@linkplain org.opengis.metadata.identification.ServiceIdentification service identification} when used to identify a service. {@linkplain org.opengis.metadata.identification.Identification} is an aggregate of the following entities:

- {@link org.opengis.metadata.distribution.Format}, format of the data
- {@link org.opengis.metadata.identification.BrowseGraphic}, graphic overview of the data
- {@link org.opengis.metadata.identification.Usage}, specific uses of the data
- {@link org.opengis.metadata.constraint.Constraints}, constraints placed on the resource
- {@link org.opengis.metadata.identification.Keywords}, keywords describing the resource
- {@link org.opengis.metadata.maintenance.MaintenanceInformation}, how often the data is scheduled to be updated and the scope of the update

The {@linkplain org.opengis.metadata.identification.DataIdentification#getGeographicBox geographic box} and {@linkplain org.opengis.metadata.identification.DataIdentification#getGeographicDescription geographic description} elements of {@linkplain org.opengis.metadata.identification.DataIdentification data identification} are conditional; one of them shall be included if the dataset is spatially referenced. If necessary both may be used.