New MMZX format


MiraMon, first reference implementation of the new MMZ format for preservation and distribution of geographic data based on the specification ISO 19165:2018 of Preservation of Geographic Information (data and metadata).

The idea of the MMZ was conceived and implemented in 1997-98 thanks to the boost given by the Government of Catalonia (Generalitat). The MMZ has been really helpful for geographic information distribution to the Administration, universities and research centers, private companies, students, etc., and won the second place of the Möbius International Award to the best application in science and technology in Internet on the year 2000.

The new MMZX format keeps the idea and the spirit of the original MMZ, but above all it improves the former through taking a format based on an ISO specification (specifically the ISO 19165:2018 of Preservation of Geographic Information (data and metadata) to convert it not only into an open format, but also to an standardized one and with a number of additional properties, such as the support to different entry points of the "maps" (map project) for the different formats (proprietary or free) it may contain, or the inclusion of thumbnails of the map itself.

The idea, which might seem at first sight overcome by the modern geoservices (WFS, WCS, WMS / WMTS, KML, etc), takes a renewed strength for the added repesenting contribution to the preservation of data following the needs marked by the preservation standard Open Archival Information System (OAIS). Indeed, the MMZX can be used, with its great simplicity of creation and use, to save “time frozen versions" of layers or maps used for an investigation, an administrative process, legal issues, etc; and also with the sophistication of supporting different data models, metadata, symbolization, etc. which are generally not allowed simultaneously by other alternatives. The use of the specification ISO 29500-2 as a geographic information preservation format (the underlying MMZX idea) could also be introduced in the ISO 19165 standard, entitled "Geographic information - Preservation of digital data and metadata" that is still in the early stages of discussion. We will continue working for keeping it in future revisions.

Xavier Pons and Joan Masó are the authors of the article A comprehensive package open format for preservation and distribution of geospatial data and metadata, recently published in the journal Computers & Geosciences in Open Access. The paper describes the evolution of the MMZ format for compression and distribution of geographic data to the format MMZX, improved and appropriate to ensure the preservation of this type of information. The citation of the paper is: Pons X, Masó J (2016) A comprehensive open package format for preservation and distribution of geospatial data and metadata. Computers & Geosciences 97: 89-97. DOI: 10.1016/j.cageo.2016.09.001 and it can be downloaded from the following link: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.cageo.2016.09.001.

24-10-2016