SDMX (Statistical Data and Metadata Exchange)

Project description
SDMX the Statistical Data and Metadata Exchange standard for data and metadata, is an initiative established in 2004 to foster standards for the exchange of statistical information. It is sponsored by the ECB, EUROSTAT, IMF, OECD, UN, World Bank, and BIS. The standard is in development, and the consortium not only offers standards, but also tools, guidelines, and implementation examples. FAO, as a UN agency, is developing SDMX capabilities in several initiatives, one of which is D4Science.
The SDMX initiative recommends practices for creating interoperable data and metadata. They are envisaged to be applicable generically across statistical subject-matter domains. The focus is on the harmonization of specific concepts and terminology that are common to a large number of statistical domains. Such harmonisation is useful for achieving even more efficient exchange of comparable data and metadata.

Collaboration

Technology
Within D4Science, UN/FAO/Fisheries has worked together with Eurostat and ICES to develop metadata standards for Fisheries related data. UN/FAO/Fisheries has also developed SDMX code lists for Eurostat to support the domains FAO Fisheries Areas and the Asfis Species list.
For the development of software components UN/FAO/Fisheries has already used SDMX software components of Eurostat. For further SDMX developments other components are considered. The SDMX REST implementation developed by UN/FAO/Fisheries is published as open source software for the consortium, and is also used by another department within FAO.
At application level, UN/FAO/Fisheries is using the SDMX Offline tools application from Metadata Technology. The FARM community has already submitted requests for technology development that would offer seamless integration of SDMX technologies. These have been investigated by D4Science representatives, and will be made available soon.