The Analytical Information Markup Language (ANIML) is being developed by ASTM subcommittee E13.15 on Analytical Data Management as a "web-aware" mechanism for instrument-to-instrument, instrument-to-application, and application-to-application data interchange and archiving. AnIML is based in part on NIST's SpectroML markup language for uv-vis spectroscopy data and ThermoElectron's Generalized Analytical Markup Language (GAML) and borrows heavily from older interchange standards such as IUPAC's JCAMP-DX and ASTM's ANDI, from existing data dictionaries, and from other relevant markup language efforts. AnIML is comprised of two major parts. The AnIML Core, whose structure is described by an XML (Extensible Markup Language) schema, provides means to organize and represent arbitrary analytical data. AnIML Technique Layers formally define the structure of data and metadata for specific analytical techniques and take the form of XML instance documents. A Technique Schema provides the meta-representation for the Technique Layers, which are extensible to permit vendor, enterprise, and/or user extensions to the data representation. Utilizing extension data will require custom software; however, its presence in an AnIML file should not break generic software applications. A software tool(the AnIML Validator) has been created to check such instance documents for completeness, for proper syntax, and, in a limited way, for semantic content. Another software tool (the AnIML Technique Creator) allows analytical domain experts lacking XML expertise to create Technique Layer instance documents. Adherence to the AnIML standard permits the creation of generic data viewers that can function inside XML-aware programs, such as Microsoft's Internet Explorer (versions > 6.0). With such a viewer, a user should be able to look at result data from any analytical technique in AnIML format. However, manipulating such data will require an advanced viewer or custom software.
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