Public Organization

The concept of adding a globally unique identifier for each instance of an address is a crucial part of the INSPIRE data spec. A number of EU countries have already implemented an ID (a UUID) in their Address Register/gazetteer, among them Denmark. OASIS xAL also includes an address identifier. It is the address Identifier that allows an address to be represented in a format other than INSPIRE whilst remaining conformant to the Core Vocabulary.

The INSPIRE method of representing addresses is very detailed, designed primarily for use in databases of addresses. Whilst data that is published in full conformance with the INSPIRE data structure can be made available using the Location Core Vocabulary the reverse is not true since the Core Vocabulary allows much greater flexibility.

Many datasets that include address data as one piece of information about something else are likely to have that data in simpler formats. These might be tailored to the specific need of the dataset, follow a national norm, or make use of a standard like vCard.

To provide maximum flexibility in the Core Vocabulary, whilst remaining interoperable with INSPIRE Address Guidelines (which EU Member States are obliged to use), the Location Core Vocabulary provides the extra property of full address and makes use of INSPIRE's addressID.

The locator name could be the name of the property or complex, of the building or part of the building, or it could be the name of a room inside a building.

The key difference between a locator and a locator name is that the latter is a proper name and is unlikely to include digits. For example, "Shumann, Berlaymont" is a meeting room within the European Commission headquarters for which locator name is more appropriate than locator.

In addition to the content of given name, family name and, in some systems, patronymic name, this can carry additional parts of a person's name such as titles, middle names or suffixes like "the third" or names which are neither a given nor a family name. The full name is the most reliable label for an individual and as such its use is strongly encouraged, irrespective of whether that name is broken down using the more granular elements.

It is anticipated that some systems will only provide or process the full name of a person. Where an individual has more than one full legal name (a relatively rare but not unknown phenomenon), the full name property can be used more than once. In this case, however, the granular name elements should not be used since the intention is that these provide a breakdown of the full name and it will not be clear of which full name this is true. Note that the vocabulary provides an alternative name property. This allows name(s) to be recorded that have no legal status but that nevertheless are the names by which an individual is generally known.

A name usually sticks with a person for a long time period. In some European countries a name may only be changed according to certain laws and life events, e.g. marriage. The name denominates a natural person even if he/she changes their address. Documents like birth certificate or diploma usually don't carry an address but always the name. Thus the name is one of the core attributes. However it is not sufficient to identify a person since there are combinations of very common names like Smith in the UK, Meier in Germany, or Li in China.

The value of the properly should be the URI of the region as defined in an authoritative list of regions. In Europe, this is likely to be the Administrative Territorial Units Named Authority List maintained by the Publications Office's Metadata Registry.

The ATU list does not include a geometry. That is, the territory is only identified by its name not its spatial coordinates. This is likely to be the case for similar lists. If geometries are available for the Public Organization's territory, they can be linked from the territorial unit using the Core Location Vocabulary's locn:geometry property.