Question: how to use ISO 21090 with ISO 11179

Aug 31, 2011

Question:

We are trying to understand what metadata about the type needs to be stored in a ISO 11179 metadata repository beyond simply naming or asserting that a data element is supposed to use a particular 21090 type when being exchanged.

Well, I have an implementation of ISO 21090, and an implementation of an ISO 11179 based registry - though as it’s an end-user focused registry, it didn’t try to be formally compliant. This table summarises the extra information I added to the registry for each data type:

 ST Min and Max Length, Regular expression
 ED  media type list
 INT  min and max values
 PQ  min and max values and precision, fixed unit or dimension, Whether uncertainty is allowed
 TS  timezone? Time part - n/a, opt or mandatory, min/max allowed times relative to now
 EN  type - person, string, organisation(corresponds to the inbuilt flavors)
 AD  if I had implemented the Australian Post interface, I’d add a flag for whether it had to be valid according to Australia Post
 TEL  email or tel?(I don’t insist on a formally correct tel: url, btw)

And then, of course, there’s CD.

I don’t represent CD directly in the registry. It’s … too powerful.. for my users. Instead, they pick a value set. The value set specifies the binding to a code system (as I add support for them) and whether the binding is closed or open, and whether translations are to be done where possible. CD is involved behind the scenes.