
The released IC XML schema and flow operating within the Environmental Exchange permits IC providers and users to share and apply institutional control information for public heath and remedy protection.
Marking a big step forward in the “institution” for institutional controls (ICs), on June 10, 2013 the Environmental Information Exchange Network (EIEN) announced the release of an IC Data Exchange. The IC Data Exchange provides a standard means for sharing IC information between separately-owned computer systems – including sharing among different levels of government and between government and private systems.
This standardized approach will help bring sorely needed IC information into land activity and use decision-making, improving IC compliance and, therefore, cleanup remedies. The IC Data Exchange includes an IC XML data schema, which sets standard rules for “packaging” IC data and, in turn, allows “query and response” data flows where requestors receive standardly-packaged IC data from data owners via “REST” or relatively more complex “SOAP” methods. The IC Data Exchange, as it becomes implemented, could significantly improve long-term IC management.