DCAT-AP

Consolidated ChangeLog

This Changelog provides an overview of the changes incorporated in DCAT-AP 3.0.0. A complete list of the issues closed with this release is accessible on GitHub.

Editorial changes

Adaptations to the different sections

Data model adaptations

The list below indicates all changes and differences compared to DCAT-AP 2.1.1. The impact of the alignment with W3C DCAT 3 is provided below.

Detailed issue feedback

The following additional data model adaptations were performed during the most recent public review which took place in the first quarter of 2024:

Alignment with W3C DCAT 3

Dataset Series

Dataset Series are the main change for DCAT 2 to DCAT 3.

DCAT-AP 3.0.0 has adopted Dataset Series in a lightweight alignment: namely very few restrictions have been included. Nevertheless the Working Group discussed extensively the potential to add additional constraints and usage conditions. Given the wide variation of possible usages, the Working Group decided to go forward with a lightweight alignment as first step. The reflections are summarised as general usage guidelines (section 14.2) for Dataset Series so that implementers and other users have a common basis to start from.

As a consequence of the discussion, this resulted in a major editorial revision compared to the June 2023 Candidate release of DCAT-AP 3.0.0.
The supporting class Dataset Member of Dataset Series has been removed, because no additional constraints are being set on datasets which are a member of a Dataset Series collection. Consequently also the properties that were associated with this supporting class are removed and not included in DCAT-AP. Users that want to use them can still do in line with the approach on extending DCAT-AP.

Various aspects of this alignment have been discussed in the issues 155, 239, 240, 249, 289, 296, 278, 277, 276, 275. The Working Group did an attempt to categorise different cases of Dataset Series and tried to give them a unique name (identified with dct:type). That work did not resulted in a clear path forward, ready to be included in DCAT-AP.

Other Alignment Topics

SHACL

The following additional SHACL changes were performed during the most recent public review which took place in the first quarter of 2024:

Other issue handling

Specification agnostic issues or questions for information/assistance

Bug fixes

These are issues that point out editorial improvements.

The following additional bug fixes were performed during the most recent public review which took place in the first quarter of 2024: