IVOA Identifiers Version 2.0

TL;DR

This paper defines the syntax and creation guidelines for IVOA Identifiers, ensuring global uniqueness and flexibility for resource identification within the Virtual Observatory ecosystem.

Contribution

It introduces Version 2.0 of IVOA Identifiers, updating the syntax and creation rules to improve resource identification and management.

Findings

Defines the syntax for IVOA Identifiers

Ensures global uniqueness of resource names

Provides guidelines for identifier creation

Abstract

An IVOA Identifier is a globally unique name for a resource within the Virtual Observatory. This name can be used to retrieve a unique description of the resource from an IVOA-compliant registry or to identify an entity like a dataset or a protocol without dereferencing the identifier. This document describes the syntax for IVOA Identifiers as well as how they are created. The syntax has been defined to encourage global-uniqueness naturally and to maximize the freedom of resource providers to control the character content of an identifier.