GeoNetwork opensource is at the core of the Dutch National Geo Registry (NGR), providing access to the authoritative GIS resources available in The Netherlands. The registry therefor by default also provides the OGC CSW 2.0.2 catalogue interface. This interface allows developers to build custom client applications that access and use these resources in their applications. One such client application has now been build by ESRI Netherlands for the ArcMap and ArcGIS Explorer products. The required download and installation instructions can be found here (in Dutch) and below in English.

I thought I provide an English translation for the installation instructions so that others can also benefit from this work.

The CSW Clients for ArcGIS allow you to directly search (meta)data from online geoportals from ArcMap or ArcGIS Explorer.

Installation:

• Unzip the download and execute the 'setup.exe' installer. Follow the instructions on screen.
• Open ArcMap and go to 'Tools' > 'Customize' and select the 'Commands'-tab.
• Select 'Geoportal' from the list and drag the icon of the CSW client on the right to one of your toolbars.
• Open the CSW Client by clicking on the new icon.
• For ArcGIS Explorer 900, the CSW Client will be available as an add-in. You can add the add-in through the main menu of ArcGIS Explorer (the bullet at the top left) > 'ArcGIS Explorer Options'.

Searching theNationaal Georegistry
After completing the instructions below, you can search the National Georegistry from within ArcMap or ArcGIS Explorer.

• Download the required profiles.
• Extract the files and copy all.xslt-files to the directory "C:\Program Files\ESRI\Geoportal\CSWClients\Data".
• Open the file 'CSWProfiles.xml' from the same directory and add the XML code from the file 'CSW_2.0.2_APISO_GeoNetwork_Profile.txt' (available in the zip file). You can also download the updated 'CSWProfiles.xml' file here.

Note: possible previous changes in this file will be lost, always first create a backup of the original file!

• Start ArcMap or ArcGIS Explorer (again) and open the CSW Client.
• Select the 'Configure' tab and click 'New'.
• Enter the Catalog Service URL: "http://www.nationaalgeoregister.nl/geonetwork/srv/eng/csw?service=CSW&request=GetCapabilities&version=2.0.2".
• Select as Profile: "GeoNetwork CSW 2.0.2 APISO".
• Enter "Nationaal Georegister" as Display Name.
• After saving the new settings (click 'Save') you can now search the Dutch National Georegistry.

Obviously you could use the same procedure for any other GeoNetwork opensource based CSW catalogue.