As part of my involvement in the work to +standardise +a REST based API for Noark 5, the Norwegian archiving standard, I +spent some time the last few months to try to register a +MIME type +and PRONOM +code for the SOSI. The background is that there is a set of +formats approved for long term storage and archiving in Norway, and +among these formats, SOSI is the only format missing a MIME type and +PRONOM code.
+ +What is SOSI, you might ask? To quote Wikipedia: SOSI is short for +Samordnet Opplegg for Stedfestet Informasjon (literally "Coordinated +Approach for Spatial Information", but more commonly expanded in +English to Systematic Organization of Spatial Information). It is a +text based file format for geo-spatial vector information used in +Norway. Information about the SOSI format can be found in English +from Wikipedia. The +specification is available in Norwegian from +the +Norwegian mapping authority. The SOSI standard, which originated +in the beginning of ninety eighties, was the inspiration and formed the +basis for the XML based +Geography +Markup Language.
+ +I have so far written +a pattern matching +rule for the file(1) unix tool to recognize SOSI files, submitted +a request to the PRONOM project to have a PRONOM ID assigned to the +format (reference TNA1555078202S60), and today send a request to IANA +to register the "text/vnd.sosi" MIME type for this format +[IANA +#1143144]. If all go well, in a few months, anyone implementing +the Noark 5 Tjenestegrensesnitt API spesification should be able to +use an official MIME type and PRONOM code for SOSI files.
+ +So far, SOSI files has been handed out from web sites using the +"application/octet-stream" MIME type, which is just a nice way of +stating "I do not know". Soon, we will know. :)
+ +As usual, if you use Bitcoin and want to show your support of my +activities, please send Bitcoin donations to my address +15oWEoG9dUPovwmUL9KWAnYRtNJEkP1u1b.
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