Title: AND makes address XML definition available to OASIS
Vincent:
I
would encourage you to have a talk with Mr. Wandt. The discussion of
collaboration is very important, and the distance only makes it more convenient
:-) Whether the current direction CIQ is headed is the most correct is not the
most important consideration; UPU is obviously the organization who can speak
most authoritatively on the subject of postal addresses, and they are interested
in working with OASIS to develop an XML spec. Their participation would not only
give our work credibility, but would also help make this spec the most
correct and authoritative. This is a huge opportunity for OASIS as well as your
respective companies.
</karl>
============================================================
Karl
F. Best
OASIS - Director, Technical Operations
978.667.5115
x206
http://www.oasis-open.org
-----Original Message-----
From: Vincent Buller
[mailto:]
Sent: Thursday, December 14, 2000 5:09
AM
To:
Subject: FW: AND makes
address XML definition available to OASIS
Hello CIQ'ers,
This seems like a very interesting thread to follow -
however I do have the following remarks, and potential pitfalls I see along
the way:
- These are *real* standardization institutes, thus
not very fast. We may find their work not fitting our
timelines.
- Only the UPU is a truly worldwide organization, the
others are European or US only.
- We do not yet have clear insight in their
goals and charter - in our CIQ kickoff meeting we have established that
database development is different from development of a communications
protocol, which we focus on (by agreeing on a multi-level standard, which
trading partners can agree to use in a way to suit their needs).
- I agree with this gentleman that address structures
are non-trivial, otherwise we not not emphasize it this much in CIQ. But
recently Ram and I have compared our XML Address definitions, which had been
developed in isolation from each other, and they are very compatible in many
respects. I believe we can safely assume we are on the right track
here.
Having said this, these organizations represent a
wealth of knowledge that we would be wise not to ignore. I suggest I have a
talk with this gentleman (after all, Arnhem is only 80 kilometers from here!).
If you have any issues other than the above you would like me to take with me,
please let me know.
Cheers,
Vincent
-----Original
Message-----
From: Holger
Wandt [mailto:]
Sent: Tuesday, December 12, 2000 4:18
AM
To:
''
Cc: Martijn Kriens; Paul
Drenth
Subject: AND makes
address XML definition available to OASIS
Dear Mr
McGrath,
having read the AND
press release (1 December 2000) on their XML definition for the worldwide
presentation of adresses, I thought it a good idea to inform you about other
developments in international standardization of addresses.
I am the chairman of
the working group address databases within CEN/TC331/WG3. CEN is the European
Standardization body. The task of my group is to develop a multi-part
standard, covering the definition of of address components and address
structures, the representation of addresses, the electronic exchange, the
validation and interpretation of address data. Currently, we have completed
the first part of the standard, which provides a dictionary of all possible
components of postal addresses, togeteher with examples of and constraints on
their use. The standard (which is in the enquiry phase of CEN at the moment)
also contains a model of the specification of an address, which the working
group wishes to represent in a formal language (possibly
XML).
Furthermore, the
United States Postal Service has made a proposal to the United Postal Union
(UPU - a UN organization) to assemble a development group with a vested
interest in the development of an international name and address standard. For
this effort they seek the cooperation of CEN (the working group address
databases), the UN/Edifact group, the Graphic Communications Association
(GCA), The Direct mail Advisory Board (UPU) and the PostCode group
(UPU).
During the last
plenary meeting of CEN/TC331/WG3 we agreed that we will join in this effort.
It will be my task to coordinate further cooperation.
Since you have
recently set up the Customer Information Quality (GIQ) Technical Committee to
work on cross industry XML standards, I think we should have a closer look at
our common efforts.
Harmonization is
very important for future implementation and having had a look at the XLM
schema provided by AND, I fear that their definition is somewhat engrafted on
the PAF (postal address file) data provided by Royal Mail. Mind you, I'm not
an XML expert, but I'm familiar with the specific terms used in PAF.
My fear is that the
CIQ technical committee will develop a standard which will eventually not
match with the international address standard being developed by CEN and UPU.
Therefore I would like to get in touch with the chairman of the CIQ
technical committee. Would it be possible for you to arrange an introduction?
If it would be necessary, I would be willing to become an associate member of
OASIS.
Should you have any
further questions, feel free to contact me any time. I thank you very much for
taking my questions into consideration.
Best
regards,
Holger
Wandt
Chairman working
group Address Databases CEN/TC331/WG3
Human Inference
Enterprise B.V.
Holger
Wandt
Velperweg
8
6824 BH
Arnhem
The
Netherlands
Tel. +31 (0)26 355
06 55
Fax +31 (0)26 355
06 66
E-mail:
http://www.HumanInference.com
