Interoperability · NATO data gathering & sharing
Built to NATO standards.
Proven line by line.
A system that reads and writes data nobody else can read is a system that has proven nothing. VALIS gathers and shares in the data standards NATO systems use — and proves that conformance the same way it proves everything else: a repeatable command that tests real code and prints PASS or FAIL.
Conformance is the part of this experiment that can be checked by someone who doesn’t trust the author. A format either round-trips correctly or it doesn’t, and the test vectors are not a matter of opinion.
Every claim on this page maps to a source file and a test file. There is nothing to take on faith — the evidence ships with the code and regenerates on demand.
“Conformant” (proven in software), “interoperability-tested” (against a real partner system) and “accredited” (by an authority) are three different claims. This page makes only the first.
The honest scale
What “compliant” honestly means
In a NATO context the word carries weight, so VALIS never blurs three very different claims. Every standard below is labelled at exactly one level — and this page only asserts the first.
VALIS reads and writes the format correctly, proven by test vectors, in software
alone. This is what npm run standards demonstrates today.
Conformance plus a demonstrated exchange with a specific partner system or a recognised suite. VALIS has not done this.
A national or NATO authority has formally certified the implementation for fielded use. A programme activity — never self-declared, and not claimed here.
The conformance walkthrough
One picture, every standard, end to end
This is the conformance walkthrough that ships with VALIS. A single track picture flows through the system — each step conformant to a named standard, each pointing at the exact code that does the work.
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NVG 1.5–2.0.2 · gather
A track picture arrives as a NATO Vector Graphics document. VALIS parses points, tracks and trails into its canonical model.
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APP-6 / MIL-STD-2525 · understand
Each symbol code is resolved to an edition-neutral symbol — affiliation, domain, hostility — so a 2525B track and an APP-6D track sit on the same map, consistently.
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MGRS / UTM (WGS-84) · locate
Every position is expressed as a Military Grid Reference, round-tripping to sub-metre accuracy against WGS-84.
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STANAG 4774 · label
The derived summary is given a NATO confidentiality label — classification, releasability, caveats — in conformant XML that travels with the data.
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Releasability egress gate · withhold
Before anything is shared, clearance and nationality are checked against the label. A SECRET summary bound REL GBR/USA is blocked to a RESTRICTED recipient and to a non-listed nation — enforced, not merely marked.
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NVG + KML · share
The releasable picture is re-emitted as conformant NVG for the next system and KML for COTS tools — markings intact.
The evidence
Standard by standard
Each row is backed by a test suite in the codebase. The totals below are produced by the conformance runner, not typed by hand.
| Standard | Role in VALIS | Claim | Assertions |
|---|---|---|---|
| MGRS / UTM (WGS-84) | Coordinate gather & display | Conformant | 11 / 11 |
| APP-6 A/B/D & MIL-STD-2525 A/B/D | Symbology normalise & emit | Conformant | 19 / 19 |
| NVG 1.5 / 2.0 / 2.0.2 | Overlay gather & share | Conformant (read + write) | 19 / 19 |
| OGC KML | Shape gather & share | Conformant | — |
| GeoJSON (RFC 7946) | Vector interchange | Conformant | 13 / 13 (with KML) |
| STANAG 4774 (ADatP-4774) | Labelling & release control | Conformant (+ egress gate) | 10 / 10 |
| STANAG 4778 (ADatP-4778) | Binding label to data (tamper-evident) | Conformant (+ tamper & PKI) | 10 / 10 |
| OGC GeoPackage (.gpkg) | Offline feature/tile container | Conformant | 13 / 13 |
| Encrypted-field registry guard | Registry ⇄ code consistency | Consistency check | 13 / 13 |
Total, reproduced by npm run standards | 108 / 108 | ||
Rows previously marked “conformant + interoperable” now read “conformant”. Nothing here has been tested against a specific partner system, and labelling it otherwise would have been exactly the blurring this page warns about.
Honest roadmap
Not done, and not claimed
VALIS keeps every standard at the edge, as an adapter to a standards-neutral core. That is what would let heavier or controlled standards be added without disturbing what already works. They are listed at their honest status — which is “not implemented”.
- OGC WMS / WMTS map layers
- Cursor-on-Target exchange
- OGC GeoPackage tiles profile
- STANAG 4609 motion-imagery KLV metadata
- STANAG 4545 NSIF/NITF imagery
- STANAG 4559 NSILI library interface
- STANAG 4658 electronic order of battle
- App-11 messaging · JREAP-C track ingest
These are deliberately outside the scope of a research demonstrator and no work has been done towards them.
Nothing here is claimed that the code cannot show.
The conformance suite, the test vectors and the source that satisfies them are the whole of the claim. Run the command, read the failures if there are any, and judge the method on what it actually produced.