GCRI · Registry
Registry interoperability
Registries are only as useful as the links between them. A record that cannot be referenced stably, exported faithfully or read by another system becomes an island, and islands drift apart. This page sets out how stable references, persistent identifiers, metadata crosswalks, export formats and interface semantics let registries exchange records without losing meaning, and how interoperability fails through link rot, lossy mapping and undocumented change.
How the work runs.
Interoperability console
Registry interoperability · Crosswalk · Profile v3
Field mappings
| identifier | id | copy | Pass |
| evidence_label | quality.label | enum map | Pass |
| licence | rights.licence | SPDX id | Ambiguous |
| version | version | semver | Pass |
Conformance
Fig.Interoperability console: example names and illustrative values, not a record or a live system.
Registry interoperability: how the risk develops.
Stable references, exports and API semantics. The dossier below sets out how the risk develops, what is measured, where the data come from, how it is modelled and who decides.
Link rot and content drift
Location links break when sites are reorganised, and links that still resolve may point to changed content. Without persistent identifiers and archived snapshots, references silently stop meaning what their authors intended.
Lossy crosswalks
Mapping one schema to another drops fields with no equivalent and flattens distinctions, such as several contributor roles folded into one. Round trips lose information, and each exchange makes the copies less alike.
Undocumented interface change
An interface changes a field’s meaning, format or default without a version or notice. Consumers keep parsing successfully while reading the wrong thing, and the errors surface far from the change that caused them.
Identity collision across registries
The same organisation, person or work carries different identifiers in different registries, or a local identifier is reused for different things. Joins across systems then merge what is distinct or split what is one.
How registry interoperability is modelled, measured and tested.
The model, its assumptions, its data and its uncertainty, in the form a scientist or engineer would check. Structures follow published methods. The values drawn are illustrative, not findings.
Datasets and provenance
The data classes behind registry interoperability and what is recorded about each before it is used.
| Data class | Provenance recorded | Resolution stated | Licence checked |
|---|---|---|---|
| Satellite imagery, optical and radar | sensor, processing level, acquisition date | pixel size and revisit | per scene |
| Reanalysis and climate model output | model, experiment, member, version | grid and time step | per release |
| In-situ sensors and gauges | station, instrument, calibration record | point and sampling rate | per network |
| Population and asset exposure | method, vintage, input sources | cell size and unit | per release |
| Boundaries and reference geography | producer, edition, date | scale | per edition |
- Lineage
- W3C PROV record from source to figure
- Principles
- FAIR: findable, accessible, interoperable, reusable
- Gaps
- shown as missing, never filled silently
Interoperability lets records from each domain move between systems.
- WaterIn practiceHydrological metadata map to WMO and DCAT profiles.What a reader can checkCrosswalks
- BiodiversityIn practiceBiodiversity records map to Darwin Core through GBIF.What a reader can checkMapping completeness
- FoodIn practiceStatistical series map to SDMX where agencies use it.What a reader can checkExchange formats
Interoperability methods are designed for the Methods and Technical series. Crosswalks to external standards are the subject of NS-14 in the proposed Nexus Standards, with no conformity claimed.
- Crosswalk proposals.
- Interoperability test results.
What is measured, and how well.
Each indicator carries its unit, its cadence, the kind of source behind it and the evidence label a value would carry. No values are shown: a programme supplies them under its own authority.
| Indicator | Unit | Cadence | Source type | Label |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Identifier resolution success | share of resolution probes | daily | Resolver probes | OBSERVED |
| Interface availability | share of time available | continuous | Availability monitoring | OBSERVED |
| Export schema conformance | share of exported records validating | per release | Schema validation | OBSERVED |
| Crosswalk coverage | share of fields mapped to the target schema | per release | Crosswalk register | DECLARED |
| Round-trip fidelity | share of records returned intact | per release | Round-trip test | OBSERVED |
| Broken outbound references | share of references | monthly | Link checking | OBSERVED |
| Deprecation notice period | days | per interface change | Change log | DECLARED |
| Records linked to external persistent identifiers | share of records | monthly | Identifier reconciliation | OBSERVED |
Where the evidence comes from.
Named public datasets and institutional records, each with its licence class. Sources by agreement are used only under their terms and never republished.
| Source | What it gives | Licence class |
|---|---|---|
| DCAT version 3 | A vocabulary for catalogues, datasets, data services and versions in exchange | W3C document licence, free to implement |
| Schema.org | A shared vocabulary for embedding structured metadata in web pages | CC BY-SA for the vocabulary |
| OAI-PMH | A protocol for harvesting metadata from repositories | Open specification |
| Scholix link exchange | A framework and services for exchanging links between literature and data | CC0 for link metadata |
| re3data registry of research data repositories | Descriptions of repositories with their standards, identifiers and access policies | CC0 for metadata |
| FAIRsharing | A curated registry of standards, databases and policies and their relationships | CC BY-SA for content |
| OpenAIRE Graph | An open graph linking publications, data, software, projects and organisations across sources | CC BY |
| OpenAPI Specification | A standard description format for HTTP interfaces | Open specification, Apache licence |
Who decides, and what the evidence serves.
Registry prepares evidence. The decisions below are taken by the authorities named, under their own rules, and never by the platform.
| Who decides | The question | Evidence this page serves |
|---|---|---|
| Registry and repository managers | Which schemas, identifiers and interfaces to support, and on what deprecation timetable | Crosswalk coverage, round-trip losses and the consumers depending on each interface |
| Research infrastructure funders | Whether to fund integration with an existing registry or a new parallel system | Interoperability measures, standard conformance and existing link coverage |
| Data stewards | Whether imported records can be merged with local ones | Identifier matches, crosswalk losses and conflicts between sources |
| National statistics offices and public data portals | Whether registry exports can feed published catalogues | DCAT conformance, licence metadata and the stability of identifiers |
Outputs this topic produces
- Stable references for every record, resolving to a current view and its versions
- Exports in documented formats with schema files and published crosswalks
- An interface change log with version numbers and deprecation notices
- Round-trip tests against external registry schemas with every loss listed
What experts ask about interoperability.
- How should identifiers from different registries be linked without copying records?
- Which open formats preserve meaning, provenance and rights when records are exported?
- How are field meanings documented so that two systems agree on what a value means?
- How do interfaces signal that a record has changed or been withdrawn?
- How are schema changes made without breaking systems that depend on them?
Why exchange fails.
Interoperability fails at three levels. Technically, formats and protocols do not match. Semantically, the same field name means different things, so a status of active or a date of publication is silently misread. Organisationally, no one is responsible for keeping links current, so references decay. Semantic failures are the hardest to see because the data moves without error and is simply wrong at the destination.
Shared vocabularies address these. Linked-data formats such as JSON-LD carry meaning with the data, catalogue vocabularies such as DCAT describe datasets, and W3C PROV carries lineage. Methods from data engineering, interoperability and stewardship cover these standards and their trade-offs. The Registry’s planned interfaces are described on interfaces.
Designing for exchange.
- 01
Link, do not copy
Records refer to external registries by identifier, preserving aliases so an external reference still resolves.
- 02
Documented semantics
Each field’s meaning, allowed values and version are published alongside any interface.
- 03
Versioned schemas
Schema changes take a new version, and older records keep the schema they were made under.
- 04
Limits
Interoperability depends on partners maintaining their own records. Mappings between vocabularies lose nuance, and an export carries rights obligations that the receiving system must honour.
How it is studied, and what the methods cannot say.
- 01Data engineering, interoperability and stewardshipSchema-validated ingestion · Persistent identifier reconciliation · Lineage capture in pipelinesApplied here
- 02Cybersecurity and cryptographyTamper-evident record history · Signed exports and releases · Threat modelling of edit pathsApplied here
- 03Digital identity and public digital systemsIssuer authentication and authority · Contributor disambiguation by the personApplied here
Where this page’s references lead.
The bodies and documents this page is read against. Status and editions change; each link goes to the issuing body.
Questions and answers.
What makes a reference stable?
Why not just use web addresses?
What is a crosswalk?
How are interface changes announced?
Is there an interface I can use now?
Will exports include restricted records?
Can my registry link to registry records?
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