Registry foundations

A register, its record and the subject of that record have different identities. RegistryEntry uses a register URI and local record ID as its qualified key and an explicit subject_uri for the described thing. Registration records administrative recognition; Authorization adds permission for a stated activity. Neither is the Person, Organization, facility, product or Farm receiving it. These terms are optional reference vocabulary at draft maturity. They are not a registry submission format, a full-domain model or a normative specification.

See the government families, biology, agricultural operations, facility responsibilities and addresses, and relationship date conversion for neighboring concepts. ADR-020 records the common choices and alternatives.

Evidence and design judgment

Definitions are original PublicSchema wording informed by these sources. No source requires these class names, optionality, public URIs or serialization, and none is claimed as a complete interchange mapping.

Question	Evidence and decision
Record versus subject	DCAT 3 Recommendation, 22 August 2024, §§5.6 and 6.5 distinguishes a catalog record from its primary topic. Administrative register records are a broader design application, not exact DCAT CatalogRecord equivalents. Register, RegistryEntry, and RecordReference retain those separate identities. subject_uri is close to foaf:primaryTopic.
Register responsibility and lifecycle	INSPIRE register guidance, v1.0, 31 May 2017, §§4.2.1 to 4.2.2, printed pp. 10 to 12, distinguishes owner and manager responsibilities and persistent register and item identifiers; §§4.2.4 to 4.2.5, pp. 13 to 14, describes invalidation, retirement, supersession and retention. PublicSchema applies those precedents to administrative records. register_owner names the organization that establishes and answers for a register; it is not an exact mapping of every governance role.
Provenance and time	PROV-O Recommendation, 30 April 2013, §§3.1 to 3.3 distinguishes entities, activities, attribution and qualified influence. EvidenceAssertion, RecordLifecycleEvent, and SubjectMatchAssertion make a source's role, effective time, recording time and reconciliation explicit, and assertion_authority is close to prov:wasAttributedTo. They do not establish truth, perform a merge or implement an audit log.
Identifier and assignment	ADMS Note, 1 August 2013, §5.2.6 supplies a historical scheme and agency distinction. The W3C note was retired in 2023 and ADMS is now maintained by SEMIC. Reuse Identifier for the value and scheme; IdentifierAssignment records issuer, subject and period.
Names and contact channels	vCard Ontology Note, 22 May 2014, §§2.3 to 2.5 distinguishes names, addresses (§2.4) and communications. NameUsage and ContactPoint retain purpose, subject and dates without modifying personal name or household-address contracts. contact_channel uses the seven FHIR ContactPoint system codes.
Codes and quantities	CodedValue preserves the original scheme and code and supplies a meaning URI only when known. A code is not an entity identifier. QuantityValue preserves the amount, the unit code and the unit system. In the UCUM specification, square metre m2 uses the exponent syntax of §9 and hectare har is the prefix h applied to the atom ar, as §31 notes. The vocabulary does not certify code membership or dimensional validity.
Feature versus geometry	GeoSPARQL 1.1, OGC 22-047r1, §§8 and 10 distinguishes a spatial feature and its geometric representation. SpatialGeometry carries encoding, literal and reference system, and spatial_geometry is close to geo:hasGeometry and locn:geometry. The executable pilot supports only two-dimensional RFC 7946 §§3.1.1, 3.1.6 and 4 Point and Polygon geometry with CRS84 longitude then latitude. This is not a GeoSPARQL query or topology implementation.
Health facility, operator and service	Native FHIR R5 5.0.0 HealthcareService fields providedBy, location and endpoint, and Location managingOrganization, separate neighbouring identities. health/HealthFacility, Organization, Address and named Location remain distinct. AssetPartyRole and AssetAddressAssignment describe independently needed dated estate responsibility and address facts. Root ServiceCapacityObservation remains an SOSA/UCUM-informed cross-sector observation, with no automatic FHIR mapping. Accreditation is a conformity assertion, not facility identity.
Agricultural versus cadastral land	FAO WCA 2020 Volume 1, 2017, §§6.2 to 6.21 informs holding and parcel use. UNECE Guidelines on Real Property Units and Identifiers, 2004 distinguishes parcel identification and property administration units. AgriculturalParcel, LandSpatialUnit and LandAdministrativeUnit therefore remain distinct. This does not claim full LADM or cadastral interchange conformance.
Tenure and boundary claims	FAO VGGT, endorsed 11 May 2012 includes customary and informal tenure. LandTenureAssertion permits competing claims rather than reducing tenure to one owner. LandBoundaryAssertion separates geometry from recognition and evidence. National adjudication, priority and title validity require their own rules.

PublicSchema chooses a register URI plus an unchanged local string as its record key. Its optional register_jurisdiction is a named area, and its supersession links replace records without asserting replacement of their subjects. These are PublicSchema design choices, not an exact external register-model mapping. The vocabulary and example do not require HTTP resolution or implement register governance. DCAT provides background for the record and subject boundary; it does not define administrative recognition, permission, the Authorization hierarchy or the complete CodedValue structure.

register_uri, registered_subject and matched_subject are marked sensitive: knowing that a person appears in a particular register, or was matched to a source record, can reveal their circumstances. subject_uri is not marked sensitive because every statement about a thing uses it. On an application, decision, assessment or regulatory action about a person, it is the link to that person, and the record as a whole is as sensitive as what it says about them.

Statements about a subject

IdentifierAssignment, NameUsage, ContactPoint, AssetPartyRole, AssetAddressAssignment, RegistryEntry and RecordReference all use subject_uri for the thing they describe. The class of the statement says what kind of statement it is; the subject slot does not repeat it. registered_subject and matched_subject keep their own names because they mean something narrower: the recipient of recognition, and the subject a record is proposed to describe.

On an Authorization, registered_subject is the holder of the permission. When the permission covers an installation, asset or site, such as a plant under an environmental permit, authorized_object names it. A transfer of the permission to another holder is a separate Authorization for the new holder, which a Decision can establish; the register entry for it names the earlier entry in supersedes_record, and neither Authorization's dates are rewritten. An asset registration, such as a vehicle registration, recognizes the asset itself: the asset is the registered_subject and its keeper is an AssetPartyRole.

EvidenceAssertion and SubjectMatchAssertion use assertion_authority for the organization accountable for the statement. RecordLifecycleEvent, like the other events, uses authority for the organization responsible for the change. Organizations with other roles keep their own slots: register_owner on Register, registration_authority on Registration, and identifier_issuer on IdentifierAssignment.

RecordReference has the same shape as an Identifier whose scheme is the register, but it also carries the subject it resolves to. The published Identifier definition mentions records within a registry; use RecordReference when the register record, rather than the subject, is what the statement is about.

Record lifecycle events

RecordLifecycleEvent is an Event about a register record. affected_record names the record as a RecordReference, and record_change_kind says what happened to it:

Code	Meaning
clarification	A non-substantive correction, such as a spelling fix; what the record states is unchanged.
invalidation	The record was found to be wrong and is no longer to be relied on.
retirement	The record is kept for reference but no longer in current use.
supersession	The record was replaced by another record, named in supersedes_record on the replacement.

effective_at may precede recorded_at. A change to the organization itself, such as a merger or succession, is an OrganizationalChangeEvent, not a record lifecycle event.

Validity and later actions

valid_from and valid_to state the validity of a registration, permission, certification or other stated fact as its source granted or declared it. They are not overwritten when its standing later changes:

• A suspension, withdrawal or other interruption is a RegulatoryAction whose subject_uri is the registration or permission. Its start_date and end_date bound the period in which the measure has effect, and action_date is when it was taken.
• A RecordLifecycleEvent is only for the record itself: a minor correction, an error that invalidates it, its retirement or its replacement. It does not express a change in legal standing.

The standing on a given day follows from the stated validity together with the actions in effect that day. A profile decides which actions it considers and how appeals affect them.

Closed code lists

Where a standard fixes a short list, or PublicSchema fixes one informed by a standard, the slot uses a closed vocabulary instead of a CodedValue:

Slot	Codes	Source
evidence_role	supports, contradicts	PublicSchema list informed by CiTO citation functions; PROV-O supplies only the provenance relationship
contact_channel	phone, fax, email, pager, url, sms, other	FHIR ContactPoint system
geometry_encoding	geojson, wkt, gml, kml	GeoSPARQL 1.1 serialization literals
unit_scheme	ucum, unece_rec20	UCUM and UN/ECE Recommendation 20
match_outcome	match, possible_match, non_match	SSSOM mapping predicates and record-linkage practice
record_change_kind	clarification, invalidation, retirement, supersession	INSPIRE register guidance, ISO 19135-1

Lists that are local policy, such as asset roles, address purposes, name uses and building uses, stay CodedValue so the source scheme and its unknown or retired codes are retained. For a source without a scheme of its own, PublicSchema publishes a small scheme for four of these fields. A code keeps the scheme URI with it, as with any other CodedValue:

Slot	Published scheme	Codes	Source
asset_role_type	https://publicschema.org/vocab/asset-role-type	owner, operator, upkeep, keeper	UK V5C registered keeper; EPA Facility Registry Service affiliations
animal_responsibility_role	https://publicschema.org/vocab/animal-responsibility-role	owner, keeper, operator	Regulation (EU) 2016/429; WOAH identification and traceability
address_purpose	https://publicschema.org/vocab/address-purpose	postal, physical	FHIR Address type
name_use	https://publicschema.org/vocab/name-use	legal, trading	SEMIC Core Business legal and alternative names; FHIR official name

A former name is a name whose usage period has ended, so name_use has no former code.

A CodedValue or QuantityValue is always written inline, since a code or an amount has no identity of its own; it needs its code and scheme, or its amount, unit code and unit system. A SpatialGeometry needs its literal and encoding. As in GeoSPARQL, it may also have its own URI so that several features can share one geometry.

Geometry and Location

spatial_geometry gives a building, parcel or other feature one or more SpatialGeometry values, each with an explicit encoding, literal and coordinate reference system. The geometry slot on Location holds a GeoJSON geometry object for a named place. Both are close to locn:geometry. A SpatialGeometry with geometry_encoding geojson and no coordinate_reference_system carries the same shape as a Location.geometry value, serialized as a string in geometry_literal; moving between the two is a parse or serialization step. Geometries in other encodings or reference systems have no lossless Location.geometry form. An address position belongs on the Address location, not on the assignment that links an address to an asset.

Reference and profile contract

RecordReference is an assertion about (register_uri, record_id). The optional subject_uri and subject_type must agree with the locally supplied entry before expansion to a subject. Missing records and unavailable registers remain missing-record; a known entry without local subject data remains missing-subject. Wrong type or conflicting explicit subject identity is an error in the illustrative profile. Two registers with local ID 001 do not become one record. The example never fetches a URI, performs a remote lookup or concatenates identifiers ambiguously.

The local example profile demonstrates submission rules separately from the vocabulary. It requires register, record and subject identity and a timezone-bearing recording timestamp, checks date ordering, converts only the two supported UCUM area units without rounding, and validates the chosen geometry subset. An empty Farm can still be vocabulary-valid. Kilograms fail the area profile; unknown units are retained as source values but cannot be converted. Missing dates are not fabricated. A RecordLifecycleEvent can take effect before it is recorded. Supersession links replace records, not necessarily their subjects.

For an issued registration or license number, use an Identifier with its issuing scheme and an IdentifierAssignment whose subject_uri is the recognition or permission it identifies. Use RegistryEntry.record_id for the register's own entry key. A register may use the issued number as that key, but the vocabulary does not assume it does. The pilot includes a trade permission numbered LIC-2026-0081 stored as record row-104; the permission, its entry and the licensed cooperative retain separate identities.

Authorization inherits Registration because permission is a specific form of administrative recognition. A registration is not simply a database entry. ADR-020 records the alternative of sibling recognition and permission concepts under an administrative-act supertype, and the evidence that would justify changing this choice.

The pilot's valid_from / valid_to dates include the first and last applicable calendar days. Relationship classes use start_date / end_date, where end_date is the last day on which the relationship is effective. Converting between the pairs is a rename only after the source boundary is confirmed; relationship date conversion lists the relationships concerned and preserves registration, tenure, parcel and certification validity semantics. Neither pair is a recording timestamp.

Typed vocabulary references provide more information than arbitrary URI ranges. For general subjects, the example profile checks the locally resolved type. JSON Schema's accepted string reference alone proves neither existence nor identity. Source-local class strings and semantic type URIs are not silently interchanged, and no lossless projection or national compliance is claimed.

Worked pilots and counterexamples

The synthetic pilot records describe one clinic, dated estate-role and address assertions, a separate registration record, a cooperative and a person without a national identifier. AssetPartyRole keeps operator, upkeep and owner roles separate; its asset_actor can be a person, an organization or a group. The pilot profile narrows it to Person or Organization. A change of role or address retains the clinic URI. The detailed synthetic estate journeys are in facility responsibilities and addresses.

The holding pilot uses two parcels, one shared by two holdings, and overlapping customary-use and disputed-lease claims. It also includes a landless livestock holding. Those records do not establish ownership, eligibility or beneficiary enrollment. The agricultural terms use their explicit agri/ or land/ namespaces, while shared biological identities remain root concepts where their meanings are cross-sector. Mixed-crop components exercise seasonal production semantics; one primary crop would lose the second component and its dates. No such lossy projection is offered.

tests/test_registry_pilots.py validates the same records with actual generated JSON Schemas and context-expanded production SHACL. It exercises qualified references, unknown records, wrong targets, quantities, dates and geometry. This is local semantic and export evidence, not a tested live registry importer. Run it with uv run --locked pytest tests/test_registry_pilots.py; just check and just site-build cover the integrated source and site.

The local resolver expects full semantic type URIs. Its subject_index(records, type_uris) helper normalizes the supplied synthetic compact types using the caller's locally built catalog before resolution; the golden-fixture test exercises this path. No remote context is required.

Boundaries

Dataset containers from source registry models are exchange packaging, not independently meaningful vocabulary classes. Executable role and purpose selectors belong to an application's authorization configuration; sensitivity metadata and explanatory authorization conditions do not enforce access. A universal permission engine, or a source registry's mandatory ID, status and version fields, would cross the vocabulary boundary.

Address structure reuses Address without replacing its named Location with geometry. AssetAddressAssignment supplies an explicit address purpose and address identity for a physical asset. health/HealthFacility and edu/School specialize root ServicePoint; root RegistrationOffice remains wider than CRVS, and root WaterPoint is a disclosed exception to the sector namespace pattern. Service endpoints remain URI descriptions, capacity is dated and uses root ServiceCapacityObservation with SOSA/UCUM provenance, and accreditation requires the selected native FHIR or other domain profile. Land parties retain actual Person, Organization or InformalGroup identities; there is no need for a duplicate person record called LandParty. Agricultural beneficiary status remains a separate program decision.

AgriculturalParcel is deliberately a broader agricultural-use unit than FAO's census parcel, whose tenure-homogeneous boundary rules may be stricter. A profile needing that census unit must state and check those boundaries; no exact parcel equivalence is claimed.

A HoldingParcelLink states the arrangement under which that farm uses the parcel in parcel_tenure, and its use in parcel_land_use, because one farm may own one parcel and rent another. Where parts of a parcel have different uses or tenure, record one link per part with its used_area. land_spatial_units names the cadastral or other land administration units the parcel lies on. Neither link turns a use arrangement into a land right; a right is a LandTenureAssertion about a LandAdministrativeUnit.

A HoldingFacilityLink states that a farm uses an AgriculturalFacility, such as a barn or livestock premises, for a period. Several farms may share a facility. The link does not make the farm its owner or operator; those remain AssetPartyRole records.

A parcel keeps its identity while the same land is re-measured or its geometry corrected. A split or merge creates a new parcel that names its sources in predecessor_parcels; each source keeps its URI and closes its valid_to. The pilot splits its second parcel this way, so earlier links and claims still resolve to the land they described.

Medical reuse boundary

For medical exchange, use the selected native FHIR R5 5.0.0 resources and profiles, including Organization, Location and HealthcareService. The FHIR registry integration guide provides synthetic native resources and separate PublicSchema registry links. It documents the official artifact-based shape checks and their limits; it does not claim clinical, jurisdictional or implementation-guide conformance. FHIR's provider and premises relationships retain their precise meanings: Location.managingOrganization concerns provisioning and upkeep.

PublicSchema has no native classes for healthcare service offerings, facility management assignments or healthcare accreditation. A source fact about a health facility is a native FHIR fact, a dated AssetPartyRole, an AssetAddressAssignment, or an unmapped fact that retains its source evidence. A premises-only accreditation, historical responsibility, service effective period and capacity measure each need an explicit mapping decision. Root ServiceCapacityObservation has no automatic FHIR mapping.