URN Namespace
Business Overview
Namespaces are essential to XML schemas and XML file processing in interoperability. Without agreed namespaces, there is a tendency for government agencies to adopt inconsistent, and incompatible, non-unique, naming conventions. If there is ambiguity in the metadata tag names the processing of the files is inhibited and the schema is invalid.
The feedback from the consultation process in 2005 was favourable. Consequently, the State Services Commission continues preparing to implement the proposed XML namespace standard. URN Namespace will enter the New Zealand E-government Interoperability Framework (e-GIF).
Technical Overview
The NZ Government URN Namespace proposal has the following components:
- Uniform Resource Name (URN) is adopted as a standard within the e-GIF.
- ‘nzl’ is the top level of the URN to be used by government agencies.
- ‘govt’ is the second level of the URN to be used by government agencies.
- The remainder of the URN is a defined string consisting of at least four and no more than five or six parts with specified naming standards at each level. The last level represents a version number.
The NZ government URN namespace identifier "NZL" is described in RFC
4350
(http://www.rfc-archive.org/getrfc.php?rfc=4350).
Further Details
For more information about URN in e-GIF interoperability, see:
For help with terminology and abbreviations, see URN Glossary.
For information about XML, see Interoperability Framework.
