Re: [ciq-comment] Questions about xAL v 3.0

["Ram Kumar" <kumar.sydney@gmail.com>]

Hi Svein,

Thanks for the email.

On 6/20/07, svein.krosshavn@if.no <svein.krosshavn@if.no> wrote:
> Hello!
>
> I work as an IT architect in If, a Norwegian insurance company.  We have
> recently decided to use OASIS as a common domain model for our customer
> webservices.

Good

>
> 1) I have downloaded the version 3.0 of xAL, xNL, xNAL and x.PIL.  By
> looking at the examples in xAL-International.xml file I get a little
> confused.  There seem to be a mismatch between the examples and the
> definitions in the xAL documentation.  The postal town is in almost all
> of the examples put into the AdministrativeArea without any type.
> According to the documentation it should be a Locality with the type
> PostTown.  At least this is the way that I would interpret the
> documentation.  AdministrativeArea I would use for other purposes.

What you downloaded was a draft version released in June 2006 and it
was under review. A new version of the specifications (significantly
different from the version you downloaded) will be released
for public review in one or two weeks. That should clear your issues.
The new version enables users to decide what an administrative area,
sub administrative area, locality, and sub locality should be and therefore,
customise the schema through enumeration/code lists based on their
specific requirements. So, for a country a locality could be a post town,
while for another country, an administrative area could be a post town.
xAL does not mandate a list of types of locality or admin.area or sub admin.
area or sub locality. It provides some default values that are neither accurate
nor complete. Users are given the choice to customise xAL based on
their specific requirements.
>
> 2) Also I have another problem.  I want to deliver both the PostTown and
> the Municipality at the same time.  How am I supposed to do that?  Both
> are permitted values for LocalityType, but I can't have two Localities
> at the same time.

This is answered in my above response as one can customise xAL
based on what they want.

>
> I have studied the use of the xAL version 2.0 in the GoogleMap for
> Norwegian addresses.  Many of the addresses there are displayed
> incorrectly, because they use the Municipality name instead of the
> PostalTown.  I don't want create the same confusion in our systems about
> this.

Google Map did not involve us in anyway to implement xAL v2.0 and
xAL v2.0 is verbose, whereas xAL v3.0 is not. xAL v3.0 is extremely
powerful language also where one can place constraints on the schema
without modifying the schema and can also customise enumerations without
modifying the schema.

>
> Are you able to provide me with some help to these questions?  3) Also,
> are there any Norwegian or other Nordic contributors to the xAL standard
> that I can discuss with?

No, I do not have anyone in my committee from Norway. I wish I had.

Hope this helps.....feel free to contact me if you need more info.

Regards,

Ram


>
> Regards Svein Krosshavn
> Telefon: +47 67 84 04 08
> Telefaks: +47 67 84 00 10
> Mobil: +47 93 47 95 28
> Email: svein.krosshavn@if.no
>
> If
> Lysaker Torg 35, 1366 Lysaker
> Postboks 240, 1326 Lysaker
>
>