Data dissemination is not the business of a few anymore. Even though the JSON-stat format can be the perfect companion for the open data initiatives of National Statistical Offices, it is suitable for all kinds of data disseminators because it has been designed with simplicity in mind.
Until the introduction of JSON-stat, the main statistical standards for data and metadata exchange were XML-based: they were usually complicated and verbose.
JSON-stat is a simple lightweight JSON dissemination format best suited for data visualization, mobile apps or open data initiatives.
Using JSON-stat is easy: there are tools available to developers and end users.
JSON-stat also proposes an HTML microdata schema to enrich HTML tables and put the JSON-stat vocabulary in the browser.
The JSON-stat format is a simple lightweight JSON format for data dissemination. It is based in a cube model that arises from the evidence that the most common form of data dissemination is the tabular form.
If you have to process JSON-stat responses, you are not on your own. There are solutions available in several programming languages: JavaScript, Java, R, Python, Julia, PHP. And many end user tools to browse, filter, validate and convert JSON-stat.
HTML microdata allows machine-readable data to be embedded in HTML documents in the form of nested groups of name-value pairs. JSON-stat proposes a vocabulary in microdata format to enrich HTML tables.