A language defines the rules for written and oral communication, which makes use of that language. Books, magazines, flyers, newpapers and letters, all these are representations of communication. On the GEF language page the syntaxis of the GEF language is described. This page describes the currently known forms of communications in GEF. Since GEF has a lot to do with standardisation, all written info in GEF is standardised and should be registrered. An analogy: a printed book has been registered and can be easily retrieved by its ISBN, so all written GEF files should be registered as well. Intentionally there aren't two different books with the same ISBN. 

A dictionary and the synstaxis form the rules of a language. Yet as different books as Homers Illias or "Modern day gardening in the Namibian dessert" can be composed, using the same language. They are merely different expressions. The same is valid for GEF files, they can be dealing with pore pressure measurements, Cone Penetration Tests or even measurements using image processing techniques.

A specific type of measurement which uses GEF for the storage of data, is called a standard. Where the analogy with books and language does not stand up for GEF standards, is that a GEF standard is a form -a kind of template- for a specific type of measurement. Many measurements can be stored in as many different files, using the same specific GEF standard.

There are two advantages of registring a GEF standard:

• other users with similar measurements can use the same specific standard for their data.
• confusion is prevented, no one else can use the same name for a standard dealing with a different type of measurement.

Public 

Public standards are public, i.e. there is no fee or obligation connected to the use of the standard. Nevertheless a standard remains the intellectual property of the organisation or person that has conceived the standard. Standards are subject to improvements. After an improvement or extension the release, version or update must be changed. This will ensure that standards remain unique and distinct, like an ISBN. It prevents confusion about the contents of a file.