This paper presents the integration and access of spatial data and non-spatial metadata using ArcIMS and PHP, an open source server-side scripting language. The project "Data Center for Nature and Landscape" of the Swiss Federal Research Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape WSL, Switzerland has the aim to develop a comprehensive storage and retrieval system for environmental data in a process oriented database model. This model reflects the lineage or history of data sets. Combining ArcIMS and PHP allows to access and visualize metadata such as PDF documents, images, etc. via the internet in a user-friendly and effective manner.