Overview
ISO 19145:2013 - "Geographic information - Registry of representations of geographic point location" - defines a standard model and XML encoding for registries that describe how geographic point locations (GPLs) are represented in data. The standard specifies the process for establishing, maintaining and publishing registers of geographic point location representations (GPLR) in compliance with ISO 19135 and provides the required XML extension to ISO/TS 19135‑2. ISO 19145 enables clear identification of a GPL format and the conversion services needed to transform one representation to another, supporting syntactic interoperability of geographic point location information.
Key topics and requirements
- Register lifecycle and conformance: Procedures for creating, maintaining and publishing a register of GPLRs; conformance is checked against the abstract test suite (Annex B).
- Register structure (UML + XML): Defines UML classes and elements (e.g., GPLR_Register, GPLR_Item, GPLR_RepresentationType, GPLR_ConversionService, GPLR_Version, GPLR_Compression, GPLR_Method, GPLR_Interface) and specifies an XML implementation (Annex A) as an extension to ISO/TS 19135‑2.
- Representation metadata: Information elements to describe formats (e.g., ISO 6709 variants, KML, GML point profiles, DCMI, etc.) and to document how a point is physically encoded in a record.
- Conversion and services: Identification and description of converters and conversion services (static/offline and dynamic/online) to transform GPLs between representations.
- Separation from CRS registries: ISO 19145 focuses on syntactic representations of point location encodings, not on coordinate reference system parameters (datum, projection, units), which are addressed by CRS registries.
- XML interoperability: Uses XML, XML Schema and related W3C technologies for machine-readable registry implementations.
Applications and who uses it
ISO 19145 is intended for:
- GIS developers and system integrators implementing data import/export and conversion pipelines.
- Data custodians and registry operators who publish authoritative descriptions of point location encodings.
- Metadata specialists who document spatial data formats and ensure interoperable exchange.
- Software vendors offering conversion services or web services that transform GPL encodings in real time (dynamic conversion) or in batch (static conversion).
Practical uses include enabling automatic detection of point encoding formats, discovering available conversion methods, integrating conversion services into GIS workflows, and improving exchange of geospatial data across applications and organizations.
Related standards
By standardizing how point‑location representations and conversion services are registered, ISO 19145 helps ensure consistent, discoverable and automatable handling of geographic point data across systems.