During the FME 2011 World Tour I had the opportunity to share my excitement and love of XML and GML. One of the things that I discovered on the road is that many users I met with absolutely dread having to work with XML and GML. I was only too happy to share the good news that you do not need to fear XML or GML.
[A note about GML: I won’t mention GML again in this post (for brevity) as GML is XML with predefined primitives that help represent spatial data in standard ways. So if your passion is GML, then simply read GML everywhere where I say XML. The story remains the same.]
Reasons for the Fear of XML
One of the reasons for this fear is that, until recently, working with XML required users to learn technology that is specific to working with XML. The tools are typically open source XML tools such as XQuery or XSLT, and/or XML tools from other vendors. Learning new technology is an investment in time and/or money, thus making adoption expensive.
If I had to learn XQuery or XSLT in order to work with XML, I would not be excited about XML, as I don’t have the time to learn and master these tools. What I am excited about is giving people tools to work with XML without them having to learn XML-specific tools, or be fluent in XML.
The Spatial Alternatives to XML
If XML is so scary then what are the alternatives to sharing data with XML in geospatial?
Is it better to share data using vendor or application-specific binary formats? Many of these “formats” are not data formats but application-specific formats that were designed to support a particular application. They are often undocumented and thus poor candidates for data storage.
Is it better to share data using formats like Excel, CSV, or Esri Shapefile? The biggest thing going for these formats is their simplicity. While there’s a lot to be said for keeping things simple, these formats were either not designed with spatial data in mind or (in the case of Shapefile) are showing their age. These formats also do not lend themselves to the storage of other important information such as relationships between objects/entities, and have no support for metadata.
Why XML Trumps the Alternatives
On the other hand, XML is an expressive open standards based approach to sharing all kinds of data. As the name suggests XML (EXtensible Markup Language) is not a format but rather a language for defining formats (i.e. how data is to be shared). This expressiveness enables XML to store all types of data that spans many different communities and industries. It is capable of representing both the very simple and the very complex.
I am excited about XML as it is capable of representing all types of data. Solving the XML challenge thus opens up the whole world of data.
XML isn’t Hard. Data Models are Hard.
Is XML itself hard? Or, is what’s hard trying to understand some of the data models that are created using the freedom of XML? I would argue that it is more the data models that are hard. Regardless of your view on this situation there do exist many XML data models that are very complex indeed – some needlessly so.
Einstein reminds you to construct simple XML models. (Sure wish I had as much hair as him.)
It goes without saying that simple XML datasets are easier to work with, and new tools are making it easier and easier to work with complex XML models. For those defining XML-based “formats” you should heed to words of Albert Einstein: “Everything should be made as simple as possible, but not simpler.”
Remember, the more complex that the data model is, the more effort there is that’s required to use it, and therefore the less data exchange that will be happen. Given data in a needlessly complex model and the same data in a simple model – the simple model has more value!
I am excited about the new solutions under development that will make working with XML even easier. The future of XML is bright with more and more data of all types being shared in XML.
As XML grows in importance (more about that next week) and tools are released which remove the need for users to learn XQuery, XSLT, etc – there’s no longer any reason to fear XML.
Last week, in the first part of Defeating XML & GML, I talked about the fear that many have when it comes to XML and GML. Now, I will explain why the future looks bright for XML and then invite you to take part in the XML Challenge.
[A note about GML: I won’t mention GML again in this post (for brevity) as GML is XML with predefined primitives that help represent spatial data in standard ways. So if your passion is GML, then simply read GML everywhere where I say XML. The story remains the same.]
XML is Everywhere
Earlier this week, Geoff Zeiss commented that 1996 was a pivotal year in GIS with the launch of Oracle SDO, MapQuest, AutoCAD Map and FME. 1996 was also the year that the XML specification was released.
Did you know that OpenStreetMap is really just XML with a different extension (.OSM)?
Fast forward 15 years. XML data is everywhere, spanning every industry. Think of an industry and I would be surprised if XML data is not considered the state-of-the-art way to move/share data within that industry. If it is not, then the XML adoption process is likely underway. In the geospatial arena there are many examples: OS MasterMap, KML, Germany’s NAS, NatureSDI, Swedish EPA, Metadata (OGC, ISO, and others), the Top10NL, and even the ever popular OpenStreetMap.
XML has definitely reached critical mass resulting in a whole industry of tools that continue to be developed to make it easier for organizations to work with XML datasets. These improving tools in turn give organizations more reason to adopt XML. The feedback loop will increase the wealth of data in XML and its importance will thus continue to grow.
As someone who has spent his career working on technology that’s focused on removing the barriers to data access – this is exciting.
Background to the XML Challenge
As I travel and share my passion for XML and FME, I have been asking people to send me XML documents that they wish to work with. Some have sent me datasets that contains data that they want to incorporate into their workflows. Others have sent me various metadata XML.
Here’s one example of making it easy to work with XML data. Take a look at the 3 and a half minute video to see how I did it. This simple technique works for reading many XML documents.
So far we have been successful with the XML data in all cases and I will keep you posted on those that I am looking at now.
Most importantly is that through this challenge we have been able to help people use their XML data without them having to understand XQuery, XSLT, or XML Schema.
What are your XML challenges? Do you have XML you need to produce? Do you have XML you need to ingest? Can you share it with us? Do you have XML fears? Are you excited about XML?
Take the XML Challenge
Regardless of your industry or XML datasets, I encourage you to take the XML Challenge. Send us your XML data and let us show you how easy it can be to work with XML. The more XML datasets that we are exposed to, the better we can make our FME solution! I invite you to participate in the XML Challenge. You can also watch a video of the XML presentation I gave in March 2011.
And while tackling these problems is fun, it is the anticipation of the dataset that we can’t work with that excites me. The reason is simple. It is these datasets that help us get better.
Take the XML Challenge, and send us your XML data! Or, tell me your opinion about XML and GML. What do you love or hate about XML? Is XML hard to work with?
Comment below, or email your XML problem to info@safe.com
Don Murray
Don is the co-founder and President of Safe Software. Safe Software was founded originally doing work for the BC Government on a project sharing spatial data with the forestry industry. During that project Don and other co-founder, Dale Lutz, realized the need for a data integration platform like FME. When Don’s not raving about how much he loves XML, you can find Don working with the team at Safe to take the FME product to the next level. You will also find him on the road talking with customers and partners to learn more about what new FME features they’d like to see.
