XOMGL (eXtensible Open Municipal Geodata Language) is an

XML Extensible Markup Language (XML) is a markup language and file format for storing, transmitting, and reconstructing arbitrary data. It defines a set of rules for encoding documents in a format that is both human-readable and machine-readable. T ...

-based

open standard An open standard is a standard that is openly accessible and usable by anyone. It is also a prerequisite to use open license, non-discrimination and extensibility. Typically, anybody can participate in the development. There is no single definition ...

for the exchange of large amounts of government data between a municipal agency and regular citizens and developers creating web-based mapping applications. It is part of the OMG Standard, which seeks to promote the free flow of information between government agencies and citizens by establishing a common set of technical standards for organizing and sharing public data.

Types of data

The XOMGL format is good for organizing and distributing digitally many types of government data, including crime, building permits, restaurant health reviews, pollution sources, political contributions, property values, traffic accidents, sex offenders, and historic sites.

Fields

It has just enough required fields to allow easy updates and the plotting of data on online maps. It also has enough optional data to allow categorization, filtering, date ranges, images, external links, and latitude and longitude. It provides all of this without overwhelming the end user, providing too much irrelevant data, and displays in an easy to read and manage format.

Usage examples

A government agency would make data available on its website with either static links to files in this format, or queryable versions that allow users to filter the data by last updated date, date range, category, etc. The XML and

JSON JSON (JavaScript Object Notation, pronounced ; also ) is an open standard file format and data interchange format that uses human-readable text to store and transmit data objects consisting of attribute–value pairs and arrays (or other ser ...

versions can be used to automate data importing into web-based software applications, while the CSV version allows regular people to browse, filter, sort, edit, and re-purpose the information with only spreadsheet software knowledge.

Formats vs. Standards

Note there is a distinction between data ''standards'' and data ''formats''. A data format like

KML Keyhole Markup Language (KML) is an XML notation for expressing geographic annotation and visualization within two-dimensional maps and three-dimensional Earth browsers. KML was developed for use with Google Earth, which was originally named Key ...

GeoRSS GeoRSS is a specification for encoding location as part of a Web feed. ''(Web feeds are used to describe feeds ("channels") of content, such as news articles, Audio blogs, video blogs and text blog entries. These web feeds are rendered by program ...

, CSV, and others describe how to format data to make it machine readable by specific applications. A data standard defines which fields/columns are needed to make raw data usable in these formats. Information in the XOMGL standard can be machine-output to any of the above listed data formats.

Types of data

Fields

Usage examples

Formats vs. Standards

Example XOMGL format

References

External links