Candidate Recommendation Snapshot: Data Catalog Vocabulary (DCAT) - Version 3 (Call for Wide Review)

Data Catalog Vocabulary (DCAT) - Version 3

https://www.w3.org/TR/2024/CR-vocab-dcat-3-20240118/

feedback due by: February 15, 2024

Published by
 Dataset Exchange Working Group

Abstract

DCAT is an RDF vocabulary designed to facilitate interoperability between data catalogs published on the Web. This document defines the schema and provides examples for its use. 

DCAT enables a publisher to describe datasets and data services in a catalog using a standard model and vocabulary that facilitates the consumption and aggregation of metadata from multiple catalogs. This can increase the discoverability of datasets and data services. It also makes it possible to have a decentralized approach to publishing data catalogs and makes federated search for datasets across catalogs in multiple sites possible using the same query mechanism and structure. Aggregated DCAT metadata can serve as a manifest file as part of the digital preservation process. 

The namespace for DCAT terms is http://www.w3.org/ns/dcat# 

The suggested prefix for the DCAT namespace is dcat

Status of the Document

This section describes the status of this document at the time of its publication. A list of current W3C publications and the latest revision of this technical report can be found in the W3C technical reports index at https://www.w3.org/TR/. 

This document defines a major revision of the DCAT 2 vocabulary ([VOCAB-DCAT-2]) in response to use cases, requirements and community experience which could not be considered during the previous vocabulary development. This revision extends the DCAT standard in line with community practice while supporting diverse approaches to data description and dataset exchange. The main changes to the DCAT vocabulary have been: 
 
  * addition of spdx:checksum property and spdx:Checksum class to provide digest for DCAT distributions 
  * addition of properties for supporting versioning, e.g., dcat:version, dcat:previousVersion, dcat:hasCurrentVersion, see 11. Versioning 
  * addition of a dcat:DatasetSeries class and properties for representing Dataset Series, see 12. Dataset series  

This new version of the vocabulary updates and expands the original but preserves backward compatibility. A full list of the significant changes (with links to the relevant GitHub issues) is described in D. Change history. 

The exit criteria for CR focused on v3 new features that replicate features that were included in application profiles of v2 as a way of remedying missing and necessary elements. Implementation will be evidenced by showing use of the new properties/classes (or terms with equivalent meaning) in implementations of catalogs. 

Issues, requirements, and features that have been considered and discussed by the Data eXchange Working Group but have not been addressed due to lack of maturity or consensus are collected in GitHub. Those believed to be a priority for a future release are in the milestone DCAT Future Priority Work. 

The following terms are at-risk, and may be dropped during the CR period: 
 
  * 6.4.31 Property: first 
  * 6.4.32 Property: last  

“At-risk” is a W3C Process term-of-art, and does not necessarily imply that the feature is in danger of being dropped or delayed. It means that the WG believes the feature may have difficulty being interoperably implemented in a timely manner, and marking it as such allows the WG to drop the feature if necessary when transitioning to the Proposed Rec stage, without having to publish a new Candidate Rec without the feature first. 



DCAT history  

The original DCAT vocabulary was developed and hosted at the Digital Enterprise Research Institute (DERI), then refined by the eGov Interest Group, and finally standardized in 2014 [VOCAB-DCAT-1] by the Government Linked Data (GLD) Working Group. 

A second recommended revision of DCAT, DCAT 2 [VOCAB-DCAT-2], was developed by the Dataset Exchange Working Group in response to a new set of Use Cases and Requirements [DCAT-UCR] gathered from peoples' experience with the DCAT vocabulary from the time of the original version, and new applications that were not considered in the first version. 

This version of DCAT, DCAT 3, was developed by the Dataset Exchange Working Group, considering some of the more pressing use cases and requests among those left unaddressed in the previous standardization round. A summary of the changes from [VOCAB-DCAT-2] is provided in D. Change history. 



External terms  

DCAT incorporates terms from pre-existing vocabularies where stable terms with appropriate meanings could be found, such as foaf:homepage and dcterms:title. Informal summary definitions of the externally-defined terms are included in the DCAT vocabulary for convenience, while authoritative definitions are available in the normative references. Changes to definitions in the references, if any, supersede the summaries given in this specification. Note that conformance to DCAT (4. Conformance) concerns usage of only the terms in the DCAT vocabulary specification, so possible changes to other external definitions will not affect the conformance of DCAT implementations. 



Please send comments  The Working Group invited publishers to describe their catalogs and datasets with the revised version of DCAT described in this document and to report their implementations following the instruction to reporting DCAT revised implementations . This information and subsequent analysis is published in the implementation report. 

This document was published by the Dataset Exchange Working Group as a Candidate Recommendation Snapshot using the Recommendation track.

Publication as a Candidate Recommendation does not imply endorsement by W3C and its Members. A Candidate Recommendation Snapshot has received wide review, is intended to gather implementation experience, and has commitments from Working Group members to royalty-free licensing for implementations.

This Candidate Recommendation is not expected to advance to Proposed Recommendation any earlier than 15 February 2024.

This document was produced by a group operating under the W3C Patent Policy. W3C maintains a public list of any patent disclosures made in connection with the deliverables of the group; that page also includes instructions for disclosing a patent. An individual who has actual knowledge of a patent which the individual believes contains Essential Claim(s) must disclose the information in accordance with section 6 of the W3C Patent Policy.

This document is governed by the 03 November 2023 W3C Process Document.

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Received on Thursday, 18 January 2024 08:55:40 UTC