Example of metadata elements cascading in a DITA map
The following code sample illustrates how an information architect can apply certain
metadata to all the DITA topics in a
map:<map title="DITA maps" xml:lang="en-us">
<topicmeta>
<author>Kristen James Eberlein</author>
<copyright>
<copyryear year="2009"/>
<copyrholder>OASIS</copyrholder>
</copyright>
</topicmeta>
<topicref href="dita_maps.dita" navtitle="DITA maps">
<topicref href="definition_ditamaps.dita" navtitle="Definition of DITA maps"></topicref>
<topicref href="purpose_ditamaps.dita" navtitle="Purpose of DITA maps"></topicref>
<!-- ... -->
</topicref>
</map>
The author and copyright information cascades to each of the DITA topics referenced in the
DITA map. When the DITA map is processed to XHTML, for example, each XHTML file contains the
metadata information.