Vertical XML Schemas

Vertical XML Schemas

February, 2011

See http://www.oasis-open.org/specs/index.php for all OASIS specifications.

See the Industries menu on http://www.webxsystems.com/ for information on many industry schemas.

Field	Abbreviation	Name	Multiple schemas?	URL
advertising	AdsML	Ads Markup Language	N	http://www.adsml.org/
automotive	STAR	Standards for Technology in Automotive Retail	Y?	http://www.starstandard.org/
biology	AGAVE	Architecture for Genomic Annotation, Visualization and Exchange	N	http://www.agavexml.org/
biology	DDBJ-XML	DNA Data Bank of Japan XML	N?	http://xml.nig.ac.jp/index.html
biology	MAGE-ML	Microarray Gene Expression Markup Language	N	http://www.mged.org/Workgroups/MAGE/mage.html
biology	MaXML	Mouse Annotation XML	N	http://fantom2.gsc.riken.go.jp/maxml/
biology	NeuroML	NeuroML	N	http://www.neuroml.org/
biology	RNAML	RNA Markup Language	N	http://www-lbit.iro.umontreal.ca/rnaml/
biology	SBML	Systems Biology Markup Language	N	http://sbml.org/index.psp
biology	various	DTDs for NCBI markup languages	Y	http://www.ncbi.nih.gov/dtd/
biology	XCBF	XML Common Biometric Format	N	http://www.oasis-open.org/committees/tc_home.php?wg_abbrev=xcbf
business	CAM	Content Assembly Mechanism	N	http://www.oasis-open.org/committees/tc_home.php?wg_abbrev=cam
business	ebXML	Electronic Business using XML	Y	http://www.ebxml.org/specs/index.htm
business	xCBL	XML Common Business Language	N	http://www.xcbl.org/
chemistry	Chem eStandards	Chem eStandards	N	http://www.cidx.org/ChemeStandards/overview.asp
chemistry	CML	Chemistry Markup Language	N	http://www-pmr.ch.cam.ac.uk/wiki/Cml
documentation	S1000D	International Specification for Technical Publications utilizing a Common Source Database	N	http://public.s1000d.org/Pages/Home.aspx
documentation	DITA	Darwin Information Typing Architecture	N	http://dita.xml.org/
documentation	DocBook	DocBook	N	http://www.docbook.org/
documentation	XHTML	eXtensible Hypertext Markup Language	N	http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1
education	SCORM	Sharable Content Object Reference Model	N	http://www.adlnet.gov/Technologies/scorm/SCORMSDocuments/2004 4th Edition/Documentation.aspx
education	SIF XML	Schools Interoperability Framework XML	N	http://www.sifinfo.org/specification.asp
financial	FixML	Financial Information eXchange Markup Language	N	http://www.fixprotocol.org/
financial	FpML	Financial products Markup Langauge	Y?	http://www.fpml.org/
financial	IFX	Interactive Financial eXchange	N?	http://www.ifxforum.org/home/
financial	MDDL	Market Data Definition Language	N	http://www.mddl.org
financial	OFX	Open Financial Exchange	N	http://www.ofx.net/
financial	RIXML	Research Information eXchange Markup Language	N	http://www.rixml.org
financial	swiftML	Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunications Markup Language	Y?	http://www.swift.com/
financial	XBRL	eXtensible Business Reporting Language	N	http://xbrl.org/
geneology	gdmxml	Genealogical Data Model XML	N	http://gdmxml.fugal.net/
geneology	GEDXML	GEnealogical Data COMmunications XML	N	http://xml.coverpages.org/Gedcom-XMLv60.pdf See also http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GEDCOM - Alternatives_to_GEDCOM
geneology	GenXML	Geneology XML	N	http://cosoft.org/genxml/
government	EML	Election Markup Language	N	http://www.oasis-open.org/committees/tc_home.php?wg_abbrev=election
government	Germany	German Government	Y	http://www.osci.de/
government	Hong Kong	Hong Kong Government	Y	http://www.xml.gov.hk/
government	UK GovTalk	UK Government	Y	http://www.govtalk.gov.uk/schemasstandards/schemalibrary.asp
health	AERS	Adverse Events Reporting System	N	http://www.fda.gov/Drugs/GuidanceComplianceRegulatoryInformation/Surveillance/AdverseDrugEffects/ucm115894.htm
health	CDISC	Clinical Data Interchange Standards Consortium	Y	http://www.cdisc.org/standards/index.html
health	HL7	Health Level 7	Y	http://www.hl7.org/
human resources	HR-XML	Human Resources XML	Y	http://www.hrxmlconsortium.org/hr-xml/wms/hr-xml-1-org/index.php?language=2
insurance	ACORD XML	Various ACORD standards	Y	http://www.acord.org/standards/downloads/Pages/default.aspx
legal	Global JXDM	Global Justice XML Data Model	Y	http://it.ojp.gov/default.aspx?area=nationalInitiatives&page=1013
manufacturing	papiNet	Paper Industry Network	Y	http://www.papinet.org/
manufacturing	PSLX	Planning and Scheduling Language on XML	N	http://www.pslx.org/en/
mathematics	CellML	Cell Markup Language	N	http://www.cellml.org
mathematics	MathML	Mathematics Markup Language	N	http://www.w3.org/TR/MathML2/
metadata	bibteXML	BibTeX as XML	N	http://bibtexml.sourceforge.net/
metadata	DAML+OIL	DARPA Agent Markup Language, Ontology Inference Layer	N	http://www.daml.org/
metadata	Dublin Core	Dublin Core	N	http://dublincore.org/
metadata	MARCXML	MAchine Readable Cataloging	N	http://www.loc.gov/standards/marcxml/
metadata	METS	Metadata Encoding and Transmission Standard	N	http://www.loc.gov/mets/
metadata	MODSXML	Metadata Object Description Schema	N	http://www.loc.gov/standards/mods/
metadata	OWL	Web Ontology Language	N	http://www.w3.org/TR/2004/REC-owl-features-20040210/
metadata	RDF/XML	Resource Description Framework XML	N	http://www.w3.org/TR/rdf-syntax-grammar/
metadata	TEI	Text Encoding Initiative	N	http://www.tei-c.org/
metadata	XMI	XML Metadata Interchange	N	http://www.omg.org/technology/documents/formal/xmi.htm
multimedia	SMIL	Sychronized Multimedia Integration Language	N	http://www.w3.org/TR/smil20
multimedia	SVG	Scalable Vector Graphics	N	http://www.w3.org/TR/SVG11/
natural resources	eFIDS	Forestry Industry Data Standards	N?	http://www.oasis-open.org/committees/tc_home.php?wg_abbrev=forest
natural resources	PIDX RP3901	Petroleum Institute Data eXchange	Y	http://www.pidx.org/standards/
natural resources	XMML [1]	eXploration and Mining Markup Language	Y	https://www.seegrid.csiro.au/twiki/bin/view/Xmml/WebHome
news	NewsML	News Markup Language	N	http://www.iptc.org/cms/site/single.html?channel=CH0087&document=CMS1206527546450 See also http://www.iptc.org/site/News_Exchange_Formats/
news	NITF	News Industry Text Format	N	http://www.iptc.org/cms/site/index.html?channel=CH0107
news	PRISM Aggregator	Publishing Requirements for Industry Standard Metadata, Aggregator DTD	N	http://www.idealliance.org/industry_resources/intelligent_content_informed_workflow/prism
pharmaceuticals	eCTD	Electronic Common Technical Document	N	http://estri.ich.org/eCTD/index.htm
pharmaceuticals	PIM	Product Information Management	N	http://www.emea.eu.int
pharmaceuticals	SPL	Structured Product Labeling		http://www.fda.gov/ForIndustry/DataStandards/StructuredProductLabeling/default.htm See also http://www.fda.gov/ForIndustry/DataStandards/default.htm
publishing	Atom	Atom	N	http://xml.coverpages.org/atom.html
publishing	JDF	Job Definition Specification	N	http://www.cip4.org/
publishing	PROSE/XML	PROSE/XML	N	http://www.idealliance.org/industry_resources/production_and_supply_chain/prose.xml/specification
publishing	RSS	Really Simple Syndication	N	http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss
query languages	XSLT	XSL Transformations	N	http://www.w3.org/TR/xslt
real estate	MISMO	Mortgage Industry Standards Maintenance Organization	Y	http://www.mismo.org/specs.html
real estate	RETS	Real Estate Transaction Standard	Y	http://www.rets.org/cms/
recreation	MusicXML	MusicXML	N	http://www.recordare.com/xml.html
recreation	RecipeML	Recipe Markup Language	N	http://www.formatdata.com/recipeml/
recreation	SportsML	Sports Markup Language	N	http://www.iptc.org/site/News_Exchange_Formats/SportsML-G2/
schemas	XML Schemas	XML Schemas	N	http://www.w3.org/TR/xmlschema-1/
science	CDF ML	Common Data Format XML	N	http://cdf.gsfc.nasa.gov/
security	AVDL	Application Vulnerability Description Language	N	http://www.oasis-open.org/committees/tc_home.php?wg_abbrev=avdl
security	SAML	Security Assertion Markup Language	N	http://www.oasis-open.org/committees/tc_home.php?wg_abbrev=security
security	XACML	Extensible Access Control Markup Language	N	http://www.oasis-open.org/committees/tc_home.php?wg_abbrev=xacml
software	DSML	Directory Services Markup Language	N	http://www.oasis-open.org/committees/tc_home.php?wg_abbrev=dsml
software	Microsoft Office 2003	WordprocessingML, SpreadsheetML, FormTemplate XML, DataDiagramingML	Y	http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=fe118952-3547-420a-a412-00a2662442d9&DisplayLang=en
software	Open Office XML	Open Office XML	N?	http://www.oasis-open.org/committees/tc_home.php?wg_abbrev=office
software	P3P	Platform for Privacy Preferences	N	http://www.w3.org/TR/P3P/
software	SPML	Service Provisioning Markup Lanaguage	N	http://www.oasis-open.org/committees/tc_home.php?wg_abbrev=provision
software	SyncML	Synchronization Markup Language	N	http://www.openmobilealliance.org/tech/affiliates/syncml/syncmlindex.html
software	WSDL	Web Services Description Language	N	http://www.w3.org/TR/wsdl
speech	SSML	Speech Synthesis Markup Language	N	http://www.w3.org/TR/speech-synthesis/
speech	VoiceXML	Voice eXtensible Markup Language	N	http://www.w3.org/TR/voicexml20/
taxes	Inland Revenue	UK Inland Revenue	Y	http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/index.htm Search around for various XML schemas
taxes	IRS	US Internal Revenue Service	Y	http://www.irs.gov/taxpros/providers/article/0,,id=101145,00.html
taxes	Tax XML	Federation of Tax Administrators	Y	http://www.taxadmin.org/fta/edi/xmldev.html
travel	OTA	Open Travel Alliance	Y	http://www.opentravel.org/Specifications/Default.aspx

This list is an attempt to guess at the number of publicly available vertical XML schemas that are actually being used. It is by no means complete. I spent two evenings poking around the Web with a modem (not DSL), looking for schemas that at least appeared to be active. In that time, I found around 100 schemas that fit my criteria, which was simply that a date of 2003 or 2004 was somehow associated with the schema and that the schema appeared to be from some semi-reputable organization. (The links have been updated in 2011, but I haven’t done any further research.)

My research was primarily done by looking at the XML Cover Pages , OASIS , xml.org , and Barry & Associates . The Cover Pages have 500+ schemas listed, but an awful lot of these seem to have died -- there was a flurry of intention from 1999-2001 that didn't produce much. xml.org had the same problem, although to a lesser extent, while Barry & Associates was somewhat better. OASIS was hard to get a read on; some projects looked real and some looked like nothing more than good intentions.

From there, I went to Google and typed in <industry-name> xml, such as airline xml. This actually had surprisingly good results -- most areas turned up something of substance -- but was very slow going.

The interesting question, then, is how many vertical schemas are out there that are actually being used? Certainly the number 100 is a low-end figure, for several reasons:

I'm reasonably sure that at least 75% of the schemas I found are being used, probably more.
The definition of "schema" is very fuzzy. Many of the schemas I listed are actually multiple schemas, such as HL7, OTA, and the UK government. If you count these individually, you'll easily exceed 200 schemas.
My search was far from complete. On the Cover Pages, I checked perhaps 30 schemas. On xml.org, I checked about 25%. And on Google, I checked less than 10 industry areas out of ~40 I could think of.

At this point, I'll take a wild guess and estimate that I found roughly 1/4 to 1/2 of all active, publicly available vertical schemas. The reason I'm so optimistic is that (a) so many of the Cover Page schemas were failures or pet projects that, even if still alive, aren't really being used, and (b) most industry searches aren't likely to turn up more than a few schemas. Note that this number does not include product-specific schemas or schemas used privately, of which I'm sure there are thousands.