1. A method of managing metadata describing objects of a data abstraction model with logical fields that define abstract views of physical data in a database, comprising: traversing a logical tree structure representing the data abstraction model, the logical tree structure having a plurality of nodes, each representing a logical field or a category of logical fields of the data abstraction model; identifying metadata describing logical fields or categories represented by the plurality of nodes; storing the identified metadata in a queryable database; and allowing a user to query the database to identify objects in the data abstraction model that may be used to construct an abstract query.