A metadata database adaptor for use with a surveillance and/or sensor system is capable of adapting metadata messages of varying formats according to needs of metadata databases. In other aspects, a metadata data model template can allow a user to define a data definition that is used to map user defined data with the metadata data model template to form XML data schema. Template mapping knowledge can then be applied for fast XML data schema to non-XML database schema generation without translation processing. In yet other aspects, an application domain template can allow a user to define a query definition that can then be processed with a mapping of the application domain template to translate Xpath, Xquery, or others to a database query.