Government Makes the Most of XML

Federal agencies, ranging from the National Library of Medicine to the U.S. Navy, are beginning XML projects in earnest.  As Washington is being pushed to offer more services via the Internet, XML's promised capability to offer seamless online transactions becomes paramount.

"XML will be integral to eGovernment," claims Marion Royal, an expert at the General Services Administration (GSA) and co-chairman of the CIO Council's XML Working Group.(that launched the http://xml.gov portal in January).  He adds: "I don't think it will be the only thing government will [use], but I think XML will be integral to successful deployment."

"XML will become the de facto format for the interchange of information on the Internet....a common language for everyone in government," says Peter Gallagher, President of solutions provider Development InfoStructure (Arlington, VA).

For example, although the U.S. Navy has used SGML (the precursor to XML) for the past 15 years, it is now moving to XML.  "The main advantage of using XML over SGML is that normal common browsers that are used for the Web can be used to view your XML data.  XML gives you more flexibility in the types of things you can tag and types of presentations you can achieve," states Joe Garner, head of the Technical Information Systems Dept. at the Naval Surface Warfare Center.  

For full details on how federal agencies are using XML to exchange information, conduct online business, publish documents to the Web, as well as to archive records, see Federal Computer Week, January 8, 2001, Link no longer available: [http://www.fcw.com/fcw/articles/2001/0108/cov-xml-01-08-01.asp]

Some examples of XML now being used in the federal government:

• U.S. Navy - XML enabled the Navy to convert engineering documents for publication and distribution on the Web.  Other projects in the works include using an XML-based messaging system to transmit and display messages with Web-browsers, exchanging engineering change requests, and replacing EDI (electronic-data-exchange) transactions with XML documents.
• National Library of Medicine - has been one of the government's early adopters of XML, the technology behind MEDLINE (the largest database of published medical information in the world).  NLM has been using XML in the MEDLINE system for almost three years.
• GSA - is using XML to permit personal data stored on smart cards to automatically fill in common elements of XML forms, such as name and telephone numbers.
• Multiple federal agencies - are creating an XML-based website that provides a gateway to statistics from more than 100 federal agencies at http://www.fedstats.net (still under construction).