diff --git a/Project.toml b/Project.toml
index ee91d7d..a130e27 100644
--- a/Project.toml
+++ b/Project.toml
@@ -7,7 +7,14 @@ version = "0.1.12"
 Accessors = "7d9f7c33-5ae7-4f3b-8dc6-eff91059b697"
 Dates = "ade2ca70-3891-5945-98fb-dc099432e06a"
 
+[weakdeps]
+DimensionalData = "0703355e-b756-11e9-17c0-8b28908087d0"
+
+[extensions]
+SpaceDataModelDimensionalDataExt = "DimensionalData"
+
 [compat]
 Accessors = "0.1"
 Dates = "1"
+DimensionalData = "0.29"
 julia = "1.10"
diff --git a/docs/src/interface.md b/docs/src/interface.md
index 132cd17..3a2974e 100644
--- a/docs/src/interface.md
+++ b/docs/src/interface.md
@@ -6,6 +6,22 @@ SpaceDataModel.jl provides a set of abstractions and generic functions that can
 
 - [DataAPI.jl](https://github.com/JuliaData/DataAPI.jl): A data-focused namespace for packages to share functions
 
+## Metadata
+
+The package exports the following functions for metadata handling:
+
+- [`getmeta`](@ref): Get metadata for an object
+- [`setmeta`](@ref): Update metadata for an object
+- [`setmeta!`](@ref): Update metadata for an object in-place
+
+These functions are generic and can be extended to support custom data types.
+
+```@docs; canonical=false
+getmeta
+setmeta
+setmeta!
+```
+
 ## Coordinate Systems
 
 The package exports three key components for coordinate system handling:
diff --git a/ext/SpaceDataModelDimensionalDataExt.jl b/ext/SpaceDataModelDimensionalDataExt.jl
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..24d0b52
--- /dev/null
+++ b/ext/SpaceDataModelDimensionalDataExt.jl
@@ -0,0 +1,7 @@
+module SpaceDataModelDimensionalDataExt
+using DimensionalData: AbstractDimArray, NoMetadata, metadata
+import SpaceDataModel: meta, _merge
+
+_merge(::NoMetadata, d, rest...) = merge(d, rest...)
+meta(A::AbstractDimArray) = metadata(A)
+end
diff --git a/src/SpaceDataModel.jl b/src/SpaceDataModel.jl
index c4cbada..431dbd5 100644
--- a/src/SpaceDataModel.jl
+++ b/src/SpaceDataModel.jl
@@ -10,6 +10,7 @@ export AbstractDataVariable
 export Project, Instrument, DataSet, LDataSet, Product
 export Event
 export AbstractCoordinateSystem, AbstractCoordinateVector, getcsys
+export getmeta, setmeta!, setmeta
 
 include("utils.jl")
 include("metadata.jl")
@@ -25,8 +26,25 @@ include("coord.jl")
 include("workload.jl")
 
 # Interface
-name(v) = @getfield v :name get(meta(v), "name", "")
-meta(v) = @getfield v (:meta, :metadata) NoMetadata()
+name(v) = @getfield v :name getmeta(v, "name", "")
+
+"""
+    getmeta(x)
+
+Get metadata for object `x`. If `x` does not have metadata, return `NoMetadata()`. 
+
+"""
+getmeta(x) = @getfield x (:meta, :metadata) NoMetadata()
+
+"""
+    getmeta(x, key, default=nothing)
+
+Get metadata value associated with object `x` for key `key`, or `default` if `key` is not present.
+"""
+getmeta(x, key, default=nothing) = get(meta(x), key, default)
+
+meta(x) = getmeta(x) # not exported (to be removed)
+
 units(v) = @get(v, "units", nothing)
 times(v) = @getfield v (:times, :time)
 
@@ -35,4 +53,43 @@ function unit(v)
     allequal(us) ? only(us) : error("Units are not equal: $us")
 end
 
+"""
+    setmeta!(x, key => value, ...; symbolkey => value2, ...)
+    setmeta!(x, dict::AbstractDict)
+
+Update metadata for object `x` in-place and return `x`. The metadata container must be mutable.
+
+The arguments could be multiple key-value pairs or a dictionary of metadata; keyword arguments are also accepted.
+
+# Examples
+```julia
+setmeta!(x, :units => "m/s", :source => "sensor")
+setmeta!(x, Dict(:units => "m/s", :quality => "good"))
+setmeta!(x; units="m/s", calibrated=true)
+```
+
+Throws an error if the metadata is not mutable. Use `setmeta` for immutable metadata.
+"""
+function setmeta! end
+
+function setmeta!(x, args...; kw...)
+    m = meta(x)
+    ismutable(m) || error("Metadata is not mutable, use `setmeta` instead")
+    set!(m, args...; kw...)
+    return x
+end
+
+"""
+    setmeta(x, key => value, ...; symbolkey => value2, ...)
+    setmeta(x, dict::AbstractDict)
+
+Update metadata for object `x` for key `key` to have value `value` and return `x`.
+"""
+function setmeta end
+
+function setmeta(x, args::Pair...; kw...)
+    return @set x.metadata=_merge(meta(x), Dict(args...), kw)
 end
+setmeta(x, dict::AbstractDict) = @set x.metadata=_merge(meta(x), dict)
+
+end
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/src/metadata.jl b/src/metadata.jl
index c240baf..88f4706 100644
--- a/src/metadata.jl
+++ b/src/metadata.jl
@@ -17,9 +17,10 @@ Base.values(::NoMetadata) = ()
 Base.iterate(::NoMetadata) = nothing
 
 # Allow merging NoMetadata with a Dict or keyword arguments
-Base.merge(::NoMetadata, d::AbstractDict) = length(d) == 0 ? NoMetadata() : copy(d)
-Base.merge(::NoMetadata, p::Base.Pairs) = length(p) == 0 ? NoMetadata() : p
-Base.merge(m::NoMetadata, d, rest...) = merge(merge(m, d), rest...)
+function Base.merge(::NoMetadata, d, rest...)
+    res = merge(d, rest...)
+    isempty(res) ? NoMetadata() : res # for cases where no kwarg is provided
+end
 
 Base.haskey(::NoMetadata, args...) = false
 Base.get(::NoMetadata, key, default=nothing) = default
diff --git a/src/utils.jl b/src/utils.jl
index 9b7293b..8e7bd46 100644
--- a/src/utils.jl
+++ b/src/utils.jl
@@ -86,3 +86,14 @@ function colors(i)
 end
 
 print_name(io::IO, var) = printstyled(io, name(var); color=colors(7))
+
+# like merge to avoid privacy issues
+_merge(a, b...) = merge(a, b...)
+
+function set!(d::AbstractDict, args::Pair...; kw...)
+    for (k, v) in args
+        d[k] = v
+    end
+    return merge!(d, kw)
+end
+set!(d::AbstractDict, dict::AbstractDict; kw...) = merge!(d, dict, kw)
diff --git a/test/DimensionalData.jl b/test/DimensionalData.jl
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..d151e8b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/DimensionalData.jl
@@ -0,0 +1,19 @@
+@testitem "DimensionalData Extension Tests" begin
+    using DimensionalData
+    # Create test data
+    A = DimArray(rand(10, 5), (X(1:10), Y(1:5)))
+    A_mutable = rebuild(A, metadata=Dict())
+
+    # Test with key-value pairs and keyword arguments
+    @test_nowarn setmeta(A, "string" => "supported", description="velocity", calibrated=true)
+    @test_throws ErrorException setmeta!(A, "string" => "supported", calibrated=true)
+    @test_nowarn setmeta!(A_mutable, "string" => "supported", calibrated=true)
+    @test A_mutable.metadata == Dict("string" => "supported", :calibrated => true)
+    
+    # Test with Dict
+    meta_dict = Dict("string" => "supported", :calibrated => false)
+    @test_nowarn setmeta(A, meta_dict)
+    @test_nowarn setmeta(A_mutable, meta_dict)
+    @test_nowarn setmeta!(A_mutable, meta_dict)
+    @test A_mutable.metadata == meta_dict
+end
diff --git a/test/Project.toml b/test/Project.toml
index 08a6e2b..67eb1ac 100644
--- a/test/Project.toml
+++ b/test/Project.toml
@@ -1,6 +1,7 @@
 [deps]
 Aqua = "4c88cf16-eb10-579e-8560-4a9242c79595"
 CheckConcreteStructs = "73c92db5-9da6-4938-911a-6443a7e94a58"
+DimensionalData = "0703355e-b756-11e9-17c0-8b28908087d0"
 JET = "c3a54625-cd67-489e-a8e7-0a5a0ff4e31b"
 LinearAlgebra = "37e2e46d-f89d-539d-b4ee-838fcccc9c8e"
 StaticArrays = "90137ffa-7385-5640-81b9-e52037218182"
diff --git a/test/product.jl b/test/product.jl
index 98bcc99..ba96332 100644
--- a/test/product.jl
+++ b/test/product.jl
@@ -23,7 +23,7 @@
 
     # Test construction with kwargs that become metadata
     p5 = Product([1, 2, 3]; units="m/s", description="velocity")
-    @test p5.metadata isa Base.Pairs
+    @test p5.metadata isa AbstractDict
     @test p5.metadata[:units] == "m/s"
     @test p5.metadata[:description] == "velocity"