FGDC Date format more restrictive than FGDC standards

[aritchie-usgs]

FGDC date field produces error when valid date range (free date) is entered for "Process Date"

If a user enters a range like "2015-present" or "2015 - 2017" this error is reported:

Problem with FGDC date format
An FGDC date can only consist of numbers
YYYY or YYYYMM or YYYYMMDD or 'Unknown'

This is inconsistent with the "free date" domain specified for this field in the CSDGM and described here.

Acceptable use of "present" as a component of the "free date" domain in both CSDGM and ISO 8601 is discussed specifically in this FGDC PDF on page 4, "In CSDGM, the Time Period of Content structure carries the beginning and ending date of the data, expressed using ISO 8601 Dates in the form of YYYYMMDD or YYYY-MM-DD. The word ‘present’ may also be used in lieu of an end-date for continuously collected data. "

(note that the use of "unknown", "after", "before", and "now" is also discussed there).

My specific use case for this range (YYYY-present, or YYYYMMDD-present) in the process date field is describing process steps for an ongoing data collection when writing metadata to document a data service and data collection platform.

I think I also got this error in another date field, but don't remember where. If needed I can explore further.

I still love the metadata wizard FYI, and thank you for making it.