Basic Information


Basic Information

The System of Registries (SOR) is an umbrella of interrelated tools, services, data repositories, and system components. These are primarily intended as a resource for developers, and enterprise architects, but may be used by others.

This umbrella system includes registries for the following areas:

The System of Registries is supported by a staff of data management and environmental professionals who assist users by facilitating the development of data standards and terminology, promoting identification of reusable components, and supporting the stewardship of system inventories, data dictionaries, and other important EPA metadata resources.


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History

The first registry within the System of Registries was a data registry that contained the metadata (data about data) describing standard and programmatic data elements found in EPA systems and applications. Next, a system inventory was created for centralizing the metadata about EPA systems and applications. This inventory evolved into the “official” EPA system list (READ - the Registry for EPA Applications, Models and Datasets), and is used for many purposes. Other specialized registries for lists of chemicals and facilities were added over time. A terminology registry, similar to a dictionary, was also incorporated to better service the need for supporting data transfer and transformation. Subsequently, eXtensible Markup Language (XML) schema were collected and registered in a system co-managed by EPA and its partners in the Environmental Information Exchange Network.


Over the past few years, many of these systems have been replaced with commercial metadata products and new customized front ends have been developed to meet EPA needs. A service component repository is being added to assist developers looking for web services and other reusable components. Web services are also being incorporated directly into the System of Registries, to allow the direct use of environmental metadata in multiple EPA and partner systems. This serves to greatly improve the quality of information about EPA data. It “brings meaning to data” as it is used for analysis and decision-making.


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