For medical institutions, there is an XML sub-specification called the Patient Record Architecture, or PRA, is a proposed method of allowing easy clinical document transactions over the Internet.

XML use for medical applications has not been standardized, but a coming standard is predictable, and it may well be the PRA. A consortium has been formed to discuss a specification with the goal of allowing the transfer of complex medical documentation over the Internet. A standard would allow hospitals, doctors, pharmacies, and others universal access to the documentation.

However, a difficult part of the process will be setting security standards for institutions sending and receiving documents, and security features could possibly be integrated into the language itself. Another option may be some form of P3P.

Setting a standard for XML data exchange may be easy for many industries, but external factors can hold back progress, as evidenced by requirements of the medical community.

However, once a standard is set and adopted, it can offer benefits to patients, such as better care with fewer mistakes, and could even save lives in emergency situations, because of quick document access over the Internet.

Moving from saving lives to researching the past, there is GedML, a specification intended for genealogy research on the Internet. Genealogy has grown very popular among retired Internet users. Currently, genealogy research on the Internet involves a lot of searching and contacting people through e-mail. People can compare their known family history with other people, and find out if they are related in some manner.

An example of a GedML snippet is shown here:

Most of this code is self-explanatory, except for the last two tags with the "ref" attribute. These are pointers to a family or person they are related to in some way that are also in that file. A computer program then reading this file could then assemble a family tree or outline of relationships.

Computer programs have also been developed to translate existing Genealogy data into GedML. It is likely that GedML will be supported in XML web browsers, at least as outlines, with plug-ins offering more advanced features, such as family tree diagrams. With these options, GedML may make online genealogy less painstaking.

Another data type that can be time-consuming to sort through is classified ads. Referring to the red table example, we have seen how XML can improve search results. The Newspaper Association of America is proposing Classified Ads Format to be used by newspapers for posting on their websites. The format would include tags to identify the basic data for each type of ad. The automobile data, for example, might include make, model, year, price, ZIP code and contact phone number. Eventually, the group wants the format to be used for printing, porting ads across publishing platforms, and making classified ads on the Internet much more accessible.

The Real Estate industry can also benefit from XML. A proposed standard is Real Estate Listing Markup Language, or just RELML. Great benefits can be imagined for a buyer looking for the ideal purchase, especially when compared with the red table example.

Definitions have been established for commercial, vacant land, working land, and residential listings, with subsets for each sector. With real estate poised to benefit highly from the Internet, RELML will save users time in sorting through listings.

Real Estate firms should also befit from an organized XML data structure, allowing listings to go directly to either the Internet, or to print without translation, similar to the Classified Ads Format.

Upcoming XML content, such as real estate, will make heavy use of graphical information. More interesting is the fact that the graphics themselves can also be XML data, which is read by a web browser, or other software, and interpreted into an image.

By doing this, loading a graphics intensive page can become much swifter, yet still be more interactive. However, photographs and other detailed imaging would not be able to be saved as XML, as the best way to describe them is still native computer format.

Precision Graphics Markup Language is the XML equal of Adobe’s PostScript format. Adobe is a leader in the software industry when it comes to computer graphic applications, and Postscript is often used for complex, graphics intensive documents. In fact, the PGML specification is being developed by Adobe, and they are developing the language so Postscript documents can be easily translated into PGML. "We think this is totally valid, as Adobe has more graphics expertise than any other company," says said Jon Ferraiolo, a senior computer scientist at Adobe.

In fact, PGML goes beyond Postscript in some areas by offering new features, such as transparency, integration with web server functions, and animation.

To draw a green rectangle, just one PGML tag is needed:

X and Y are coordinates are for the rectangles placement in the document, which can also have a defined size. Grouping is allowed for applying effects to several objects at the same time. Elements can be overlapped and color effects can be applied to make complex images using a small amount of PGML.

Vector Markup Language is very similar to PGML, but it is intended to better integrate with existing standards such as HTML and other XML applications. VML uses Cascading Style Sheets to describe how an object looks, and how it is positioned.

VML is more visibly supported by the W3C, but if Adobe chooses to integrate PGML into its widely used graphics programs, it will have a vehicle for the proliferation of PGML into a wide market.

Also relating to graphics is the Synchronized Multimedia Integration Language, or SMIL. It allows independent multimedia objects to be synchronized into a presentation. The use of SMIL can vary from a simple slide-show to a complex layout of video, graphics, web page objects, sound, and more.

One example of how SMIL could be used would be Internet broadcast news reports. Imagine that while you were viewing the broadcast, you could interact with on-screen objects to get optional information. The simplest form of this would be a link to a web page, using a graphic that is part of the presentation.

The ultimate goal of many people working with the W3C on SMIL would be to totally integrate television and Internet content. A television would also be a web browser, allowing a person to interact with the SMIL content. Also, the same exact information could be seen on both televisions and computers.

XHTML allows all types of XML data to be integrated into an HTML document. XHTML is a sub-specification of XML, and it shows how the lines between the XML types begin to blur even more.

One way to imagine XHTML is by taking a plain XML document and using an HTML DTD to define the HTML tags. Then add any other DTDs for the other integrated XML content. The advantage to XHTML is that it allows for easy creation of a simple stylized XML document without using CSS or XSL. It could even be possible to use all three style-elements to create a web page, but it would not be recommended because of complexity issues.

GML was the last markup language to be identified as an acceptable way to store raw data before XML. With the rise of e-commerce and XML, creating databases using XML seemed natural since alternatives offer a much more complex process to get information returned to users.

With XML database processing to become even simpler with the growth of XML-aware web browsers, using other forms of storing data for Internet use will likely fade away in many situations. However, XML databases tend to be relatively simple, so advances may need to be made to the language to support highly complex data.

There are even more XML implementations being developed that may stand out from the others, offer new advantages, and transparently change the Internet. Yet, the only way for innovators to succeed is to get the specification published, let others analyze it for benefits, and compare it to the alternatives. For industry insiders, it will be interesting to watch XML blossom, and observe who has the most success with the language.

The XML Language and Tomorrow

Even though the base XML specification is well defined, we have found that sub-specifications tend to blur together and be ambiguous. This was the intention of XML, to allow different data types to be brought together under a single, common language.

XML aims to make the Internet much more efficient, and has the potential to impact everyone’s life positively in many ways. Even with so much potential, an average person may never notice XML, as it works in the background to make data communication easier.

However, the speed of XML adoption depends on the software industry in creating and marketing XML-compatible programs to users and businesses. Already, this is starting to happen with the dominant web browsers offering support in 2000, and top business software also beginning to support XML in limited forms.

With the millions of HTML documents being sent every second across the Internet, the value of those might pale in comparison to XML documents of the same sort. Only time will tell if XML can change the Internet into a model of efficiency.

Eric Murphy

eric@targetpc.com

99/12/14

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