{"id":1516,"date":"2021-07-26T10:36:30","date_gmt":"2021-07-26T10:36:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wetransform.eu\/?post_type=news-and-events&p=1516"},"modified":"2024-03-21T09:40:20","modified_gmt":"2024-03-21T09:40:20","slug":"inspire-codelists","status":"publish","type":"news-and-events","link":"https:\/\/wetransform.to\/de\/news-and-events\/inspire-codelists\/","title":{"rendered":"INSPIRE Codelists: What are they, how to use them, and why do we need them?"},"content":{"rendered":"

If you have been creating INSPIRE GML<\/a>, you have almost certainly encountered so-called codelists. They are an important part of INSPIRE data specifications<\/a> and contribute substantially to interoperability. They are, however, not as straightforward as a simple enumeration is. This post explains what codelists are, how you use them, and why they are important.<\/p>\n

In general, a codelist contains several terms whose definitions are universally agreed upon and understood. Codelists support data interoperability and form a shared vocabulary for a community. They can even be multilingual. <\/p>\n

Managing Codelists and Codelist Registries<\/h2>\n

INSPIRE Codelists are commonly managed and maintained in codelist registers<\/a> which provide search capabilities, so that both end users and client applications can easily access codelist values for reference. Registers provide unique and persistent identifiers for the published codelist values and ensure consistent versioning. There are many different INSPIRE registers which manage the identifiers of different resources commonly used in INSPIRE.<\/p>\n

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Codelists used in INSPIRE are maintained in the INSPIRE code list registry, the codelist registry of a member state, or an acknowledged, external third-party who maintains a domain-specific codelist. <\/p>\n

To add a new codelist, you will have to either set up your own registry or work with the administration of one of the existing registries to get your codelist published. This can be a quite an involved process, which is designed to make sure that there is no random growth of codelists.<\/p>\n

Extending Codelists<\/h2>\n

One special feature of codelists in INSPIRE is that they may be extensible. If a codelist is extensible, it will only contain a small set of common terms, but you can add your own terms. With respect to extensibility, we differentiate four different types of codelists in INSPIRE:<\/p>\n