The Layered Markup and Annotation Language

Representing multiple hierarchies within a single document has always been a problem for XML. To try to address the problems of representing multiple hierarchies and of annotating existing tree structures with type information (as in the PSVI), we have developed a layered data model based on the Core Range Algebra presented at Extreme 2002 by Gavin Nichol. This data model views documents as strings over which span a number of named ranges, each of which can themselves have associated metaranges with their own internal structure. To aid our experimentation with this data model, we developed a markup notation to reflect it, the Layered Markup and Annotation Language (LMNL), and have constructed several prototype applications to facilitate the extraction of single views, as XML structures, from LMNL documents. This paper outlines LMNL and discusses how its development has made us reflect on the nature of XML, schema and query languages.