BinX is a proposed new XML Schema standard: Binary XML description
language (BinX), which provides the ability to describe the physical
representation and the overall structure of arbitrary binary data
files.
After considering the issues involved in the representation of
Scientific Data sets in Grid environments we concluded that although
XML can provide a very useful mechanism for representing metadata, it
is often inappropriate for representing large scientific datasets
themselves. However, there is a need for a standard way to describe
binary datasets and to that end we have developed BinX. BinX and its
associated libraries will support platform independent binary data,
the construction of arbitrary data transformations and potentially,
the ability for the application developer to work with their data as
if it were in XML whilst retaining efficient manageable underlying
binary representations.
The construction of basic libraries to support access to BinX data is
well underway. We have also developed JAJA (Java Access to
Just-about-any Array), a simple prototype browser for binary array
files to demonstrate how the standard might be used. Finally, we
mention existing standards that could support the construction of
self-describing files that would include an XML metadata file
description, as well as the dataset itself.
Documents
Released Software
Please visit the new Binx site at the Edikt project: http://www.edikt.org/binx/
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