ontology settings

introduction

If you are interested in checking andor hoovering ontology data, you may find these switches useful. Note that ssc only knows about certain ontologies (see --ontology.list).

general

specific ontologies

You can specify particular ontologies to verify. Many of these ontologies have multiple versions, but provide no mechanism to distinguish between those versions. This is particularly silly when those versions are incompatible.

To specific a specific version of an ontology, use X.Y, for example:
--ontology.xsd 1.1
defaults usage of XSD to version 1.1. This versioning applies to RDFa, microdata, and microformats (using class) analysis. If .Y is omitted, .0 is presumed. X must be present. Unspecified defaults are derived from the HTML version. For a list of possible values, use ontology.list (above).

At the time of writing, the following ontology versions can be verified. Note that single version ontologies cannot have their version changed.

Notes on specific ontologies

Adobe

The various Adobe ontologies (crs, pdf, photoshop, stdim, stevt, stfnt, stjob, stref, stver, smp, xmpdm, xmpg, xmpgimg, xmpidq, xmpmm, xmprights, xmptpg) have only been partially applied. They do not seem to have been designed for microdata, although it does exist; hence the partial implementation: the goal is to enable hoovering to JSON.

BFO

BFO (Basic Format Ontology) versions should be specified as follows:

BFO 2020 uses OBO’s machine code style identifiers. Given the history of computing science, as a convenience for users, and with my experience of both devops and maintaining code, identifiers following the standard ontology naming convention are also accepted. Since this is unofficial, both standard English and American dialect spellings are processed.

croissant

The croissant (cr and rai) ontologies follow this version scheme:

DPV…

The data privacy family of ontologies follow this versioning scheme:

The data privacy ontology versions:

For data privacy ontologies versions 2.1.1, use 2.1: there were no changes to the ontologies themselves.

Exif, ExifEx

The Exif & ExifEx ontologies have the following versions:

Manufacturers’ extensions to EXIF are generally omitted.

OpenGraph

Open Graph versions correspond to snapshots of the specs from 2010, 2012, 2014, 2018 & 2022.

Prism

The various Prism ontologies (pam, pamp, pcm, pcmm, pcv, pim, pmi, prism, prism_ad, prl, prm, prs, psv, pur) have only been partially applied: some specifications are unavailable, some specifications break HTML5 syntax. Prism was not designed for microdata, hence the partial implementation: the goal is to enable hoovering to JSON.

Schema.org

Most versions of schema (schema.org) should be specified by their version number, but this doesn’t work with early versions, which should be specified a follows:

Note that current additions to schema.org that have yet to be formally released are often added using the ‘next’ version number, so, for example, in mid–November 2025, when the latest release of schema.org is 29.3, subsequent additions are available as 29.4. Be warned that, for good reason, schema.org review such additions before making a formal release, so it is quite plausible that such additions will be quikcly withdrawn.

vCard

vCard versions correspond to RDFa specs, published in 2001, 2006, 2010 & 2014. They do NOT correspond to vCard data format specifications.