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Technical Research Projects
Numerical Data Markup Language (UnitsML)
Principal Investigator: Bob Dragoset
(301) 975-3718
dragoset@nist.gov

Objectives:
To continue refining the XML schema, called UnitsML (Units Markup Language), for encoding measurement units in XML.  Towards this end, we initiated creation of an OASIS UnitsML Technical Committee.  Additionally, project members intend to continue the development and population of the UnitsML database containing information on scientific units; to assist in formulating an ontology for scientific measurement units; and to develop tools to facilitate the ease of using UnitsML with other markup languages, e.g., AnIML and MatML.

Background:
XML is the universal format for structured documents and data on the Web. XML is a set of rules, guidelines, conventions, for designing text formats for structured data (e.g. spreadsheets, configuration parameters, financial transactions, technical drawings, scientific data, etc.), in a way that produces files that are easy to generate and read (by a computer), that are unambiguous, and that avoid common pitfalls, such as lack of extensibility, lack of support for internationalization/localization, and platform-dependency.

To date, the development of markup languages to address the needs of specific communities (e.g. mathematics, chemistry, materials science, etc.) has either not addressed the issue of encoding unit information into numeric data or has addressed this issue independently for each markup language. However, developers have requested a single description of the encoding of these properties in XML. Staff at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory began preliminary work in the treatment of measurement units in XML, but have specifically requested that NIST work with them to provide expertise in the area of measurement units consistent with the SI (International System of Units) and to develop and make available a repository of detailed units and dimensionality information at NIST. (Adoption of this schema will allow for the unambiguous exchange of numerical data over the Internet.)
 
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Page created October 2006
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