The Triple-S
standard defines a means by which both survey data and
variables may be transferred between different survey programs
running on different software and hardware platforms.
It represents a real attempt to resolve what should be a
simple, but is often a complex process.
The initial version of the Triple-S standard (version 1.0) was
devised by Keith Hughes, Stephen Jenkins and Geoff Wright, and
published in 1994. The impetus was a paper by Peter Wills. During
1996 the same group of people met to enhance and extend the
standard, based on comments from implementers and users. An interim
result of these meetings was presented as a paper to the ASC
(Association for Survey Computing) International Conference in 1996.
The preliminary specification for version 1.1 of the Triple-S
standard was agreed in December 1996 and published in March 1998.
A proposal for an XML translation of the standard
was put forward in 1998 and Triple-S XML3
was presented to the ASC Millennium Conference in
1999. The Triple-S XML version 1.1 standard was
published in February 2000. Subsequently, new
members Ed Ross and Laurance Gerrard joined the
group. The Triple-S XML 1.2 standard was published
in July 2002.
The standard has been implemented by numerous survey
software packages.
