EDCS Overview
 
The EDCS supports the encoding and communication of qualitative and quantitative information associated with physical environments, both real and virtual. This is accomplished by specifying a collection of nine EDCS Dictionaries of environmental concepts. An EDCS Dictionary is a list of EDCS Dictionary Entries each of which specifies a single concept. Each EDCS Dictionary contains entries of a similar nature, however each entry is unique. Each EDCS Dictionary Entry consists of the following fields:
  • definition,
  • label,
  • code,
  • references and reference type, and
  • other EDCS Dictionary-dependent information such as value types, unit symbols, or unit equivalence classes.
The nine EDCS Dictionaries are:
  • EDCS Classification (EC) Dictionary,
  • EDCS Attribute (EA) Dictionary,
  • EDCS Attribute Value Metadata (EM) Dictionary,
  • EDCS Attribute Enumerant (EE) Dictionary,
  • EDCS Unit (EU) Dictionary,
  • EDCS Unit Scale (ES) Dictionary,
  • EDCS Unit Equivalence Class (EQ) Dictionary,
  • EDCS Organizational Schema (EO) Dictionary, and
  • EDCS Group (EG) Dictionary.
Additional entries may be added to most EDCS Dictionaries through the process of registration.
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The EDCS Application Program Interface (API) supports conversion between real values given in different units of measure.
 
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Last updated: January 2, 2002