Persistent Identifiers: From Local IDs to URIs
Every infrastructure element in RINF 2026 needs a globally unique, persistent URI (Uniform Resource Identifier) rather than a local document ID.
What This Means
Instead of internal identifiers like id="OP_001", you’ll provide URIs following ERA’s namespace structure:
http://data.europa.eu/949/functionalInfrastructure/operationalPoints/BE_OP_001These URIs are:
- Globally unique across all Infrastructure Managers
- Persistent over time, even as assets change
- Dereferenceable — they can be looked up to retrieve data
Why This Matters
URIs enable linked data across the European railway network. When your Belgian infrastructure references a German border point, those connections become queryable across the entire knowledge graph.
Identity Management Considerations
Most organisations have the same infrastructure elements represented in multiple source systems—asset management, operations, signalling configuration—each with different internal identifiers.
You’ll need to establish:
- Which source system provides the canonical identifier for each element type
- Rules for handling conflicts when sources disagree
- Processes for maintaining URI stability as assets are renamed, split, or decommissioned
ERA supports both hash-based URIs (for content traceability) and canonical URIs (for stability). Your approach should align with your data governance requirements.
ERA Namespace Structure
- era:
http://data.europa.eu/949/ - geo:
http://www.opengis.net/ont/geosparql# - skos:
http://www.w3.org/2004/02/skos/core# - dcterms:
http://purl.org/dc/terms/