Overview
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This developer site provides best practices for the creation of a Civics Data
Format (CDF) feed. It contains a Unified Modeling Language (UML) model of
election and officeholder data and an XML format derived from the UML model. It
also contains background information about how political geography is structured
and used as it relates to elections and election results. The data model is
comprehensive and at the same time very flexible, able to accommodate
pre-election, election, and post-election scenarios.
The following are the significant features of this specification:
- Defines major data elements, their attributes, and their associations in a
UML data model.
- Lets you use the data model to generate supported data formats such as XML.
- Lets you report aggregated or detailed election data and results, as well as
officeholder data.
- Supports multiple types of identifiers and cross-references.
This site is intended for partner organizations who provide Google with data to
support our search features for officeholder and election results. Partners need
to follow the guidelines given here along with the
Civics CDF Validator
and the NIST 1500-100 specification on which the CDF is based.
The following documents provide useful background information:
Except as otherwise noted, the content of this page is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License, and code samples are licensed under the Apache 2.0 License. For details, see the Google Developers Site Policies. Java is a registered trademark of Oracle and/or its affiliates.
Last updated 2024-08-21 UTC.
[[["Easy to understand","easyToUnderstand","thumb-up"],["Solved my problem","solvedMyProblem","thumb-up"],["Other","otherUp","thumb-up"]],[["Missing the information I need","missingTheInformationINeed","thumb-down"],["Too complicated / too many steps","tooComplicatedTooManySteps","thumb-down"],["Out of date","outOfDate","thumb-down"],["Samples / code issue","samplesCodeIssue","thumb-down"],["Other","otherDown","thumb-down"]],["Last updated 2024-08-21 UTC."],[[["\u003cp\u003eThis site provides best practices and guidelines for creating a Civics Data Format (CDF) feed for Google's election and officeholder search features.\u003c/p\u003e\n"],["\u003cp\u003eThe CDF utilizes a Unified Modeling Language (UML) model to define election and officeholder data elements and their relationships, which can be used to generate formats like XML.\u003c/p\u003e\n"],["\u003cp\u003eThe comprehensive data model accommodates pre-election, election, and post-election data, supporting various identifier types and cross-references for detailed or aggregated reporting.\u003c/p\u003e\n"],["\u003cp\u003ePartner organizations providing data to Google should adhere to these guidelines, utilize the Civics CDF Validator, and follow the NIST 1500-100 specification.\u003c/p\u003e\n"],["\u003cp\u003eResources include a UML data model, XML format, data schema documentation, and a full XML Schema Definition file with Google-specific modifications.\u003c/p\u003e\n"]]],[],null,["# Overview\n\nThis developer site provides best practices for the creation of a Civics Data\nFormat (CDF) feed. It contains a Unified Modeling Language (UML) model of\nelection and officeholder data and an XML format derived from the UML model. It\nalso contains background information about how political geography is structured\nand used as it relates to elections and election results. The data model is\ncomprehensive and at the same time very flexible, able to accommodate\npre-election, election, and post-election scenarios.\n\nThe following are the significant features of this specification:\n\n- Defines major data elements, their attributes, and their associations in a [UML data model](/civics-data/guides/uml-model).\n- Lets you use the data model to generate supported data formats such as XML.\n- Lets you report aggregated or detailed election data and results, as well as officeholder data.\n- Supports multiple types of identifiers and cross-references.\n\nThis site is intended for partner organizations who provide Google with data to\nsupport our search features for officeholder and election results. Partners need\nto follow the guidelines given here along with the\n[Civics CDF Validator](https://github.com/google/civics_cdf_validator)\nand the NIST 1500-100 specification on which the CDF is based.\n\nThe following documents provide useful background information:\n\n- [Google's Civics Common Data Format Reference documentation](/civics-data/reference/data-schema). Be aware that some election-specific elements of the linked schema aren't used for officeholder data.\n- [Full XML Schema Definition file](https://github.com/google/civics_cdf_validator/blob/master/civics_cdf_spec.xsd). This file contains Google-specific modifications. Use this version instead of the generic NIST CDF schema."]]