Persistent identity · Semantic resolution

One identity. Across systems. Over time.

Give land, facilities, organizations, knowledge, evidence, and outcomes a persistent identity that systems can recognize and understand.

The same land. The same facility. The same organization. The same real-world object. RSM ID is a universal identity and semantic resolution framework for the physical, biological, economic, and digital worlds.

Explore RSM IDHow the identifier works

Illustrative examplersm:Place

Field 42

https://id.rsm.org/place/01KFIELD

Recognized by
Property records · Farm management · Insurer · Environmental model · Grain buyer
Authority
Boundary: land records. Operations: the farm.
Representations
text/html application/ld+json
One persistent identity for one parcel of land, recognized by several systems. Resolve this sample

The problem

Everything has an identity. Systems should recognize it.

A parcel of land appears in property records, agricultural systems, environmental models, insurance platforms, and financial applications. Each system may assign a different identifier to the same parcel. A food processing facility may appear in regulatory databases, supply-chain platforms, certification systems, and operational software.

RSM ID provides a persistent identity through which these systems can recognize and reference the same underlying object without replacing their existing identifiers or databases.

  • Property recordsAPN 041-220-17
  • Farm managementparcel F-42
  • Environmental modelmonitoring site 112
  • Crop insurancelocation L-88213
  • Grain buyerorigin code WCF-42
All refer to one parcelhttps://id.rsm.org/place/01KFIELDLocal identifiers stay. Each is mapped, with provenance, to one persistent identity.
Five systems, five identifiers, one parcel. Illustrative identifiers.

From identity to understanding

Knowing which object — and what it is

A persistent identifier tells a system which object is being referenced. Semantic resolution helps the system understand that object.

For a parcel of land, a compatible RSM system could discover that it is an agricultural parcel, where its boundaries are represented, which organization manages it, what capabilities are associated with it, which observations describe its condition, and where authoritative information is maintained.

Different systems may know different things about the parcel. RSM ID provides the common reference that allows those descriptions to be connected, with their sources and authority preserved.

  1. IdentityWhich object?One particular thing, distinguished from every other — even ones that look alike.This parcel, and no other: place/01KFIELD
  2. SemanticsWhat kind of object?What the object is, and what that type means, in a vocabulary systems share.A Place — specifically an agricultural parcel
  3. ContextWhat is known about it?Its state, history, and relationships, as recorded by the systems that know them.Stewarded by a farm; soil observed in spring
  4. AuthorityWho is responsible?Which source is authoritative for which information, and who may make which claims.Boundary: land records. Operations: the farm.
  5. ResolutionWhere is the information?How an authorized system discovers the representations relevant to it.A page for people, structured data for systems
A RID anchors five distinct responsibilities without requiring all data to be stored in one place. The example parcel is fictional.

One identity. Many perspectives.

One object, many systems

A farm is not a different farm because an agricultural application, bank, satellite platform, or food processor describes it differently.

Each system sees the farm through its own purpose, data, and permissions. RSM provides a shared semantic foundation through which those perspectives can be understood without treating any single application’s representation as the whole truth.

Select a system to see its perspective on the same parcel.

Land registry · County land records

Local identifier
APN 041-220-17
Shared canonical identity
https://id.rsm.org/place/01KFIELD
What this system knows
The legal boundary, title history, and registered interests in the parcel.
Authority it keeps
Sole authority over the official legal description. Nothing is copied out of its register.
What the shared identity adds
Other systems can point to the registered parcel precisely instead of re-describing it.

Illustrative example. The parcel, systems, and identifiers are fictional.

One object. One canonical identity. Many authoritative and contextual representations.

Built for the real world

What RSM ID can identify

Land, farms, facilities, organizations, people, equipment, products, biological systems, documents, observations, capabilities, commitments, formations, events, and outcomes.

These objects do not exist in isolation. They form relationships, participate in processes, change over time, and contribute to outcomes. RSM ID makes it possible to reference them consistently. RSM makes it possible to describe their meaning and relationships.

Land and living systems

Land parcels, farms, watersheds, soils, and ecosystems.

rsm:Place · rsm:LivingSystem

People, organizations, and agents

People, organizations, institutions, communities, and software agents.

rsm:Person · rsm:Organization · rsm:Community · rsm:DigitalAgent

Facilities and infrastructure

Processing facilities, laboratories, machinery, and infrastructure.

rsm:Facility

Products and materials

Crops, grain lots, ingredients, products, and shipments.

rsm:Material

Knowledge and instruments

Research documents, datasets, models, permits, and agreements.

Concepts themselves are identified by governed vocabulary terms, which RSM keeps distinct from object identities.

rsm:Instrument

Capabilities and constraints

What a subject can do, its capacity, its relationships, and the conditions that limit it.

Capability · Capacity · Relationship · Constraint

Observations and evidence

Measurements, claims, supporting evidence, and assertions — each with its source.

Observation · Claim · Evidence · Assertion

Commitments and outcomes

Commitments, formations, activities, events, and the outcomes they produce.

Commitment · rsm:Formation · Activity · Outcome

How identity resolution works

From an identifier to the information behind it

A RID does not hold the data. It identifies the object, and resolution leads an authorized system to the sources responsible for information about it — in forms suited to people and to machines.

  1. ObjectSomething real: land, a facility, an organization, a document, an observation.Field 42
  2. Canonical RIDA persistent identifier for that particular object.place/01KFIELD
  3. RSM ID resolverMaps the identity to where authoritative information is maintained.resolves the RID
  4. Authoritative sourceThe system responsible for the information. It stays where it is.land-records office
    • Human representationA page a person can read.text/html
    • Machine representationStructured data a system can interpret using RSM semantics.application/ld+json
Identity resolution: an object has a canonical RID; a resolver uses it to locate the authoritative source, which provides representations for people and for machines. Example values are illustrative.

Shared identity. Independent authority.

RSM ID does not require the world’s information to move into one repository.

Each system retains its responsibilities and authority while participating in a common identity and semantic framework.

  • Government agencies can retain official land records.
  • Facility operators can maintain their operational records.
  • Researchers can preserve their observations.
  • Organizations can control their commercially sensitive information.

The foundation for connected intelligence

Reliable references for systems that reason across boundaries

AI systems increasingly operate across databases, organizations, scientific disciplines, and physical infrastructure. For those systems to collaborate reliably, they must know whether they are discussing the same object, understand what is known about it, and distinguish verified information from inference.

RSM ID provides the identity foundation for that interoperability.

  • Farm business stewards Farmrsm:relationship/stewards
  • Farm business operates On-farm millrsm:relationship/operates
  • On-farm mill located-at Farmrsm:relationship/located-at
  • Parcel (Field 42) part-of Farmrsm:relationship/part-of
  • Grain milling capable subject On-farm millCapability references its capable Subject
  • Soil observation subject Parcel (Field 42)Observation references the Subject it describes
  • Soil carbon outcome affected subject Parcel (Field 42)Outcome identifies its affected Subjects
  • Soil carbon outcome supporting observation Soil observationOutcome identifies supporting Observations
A small RSM network. Each object has its own identity, and each relationship refers to identities rather than to rows in one system’s database, so a relationship recorded by one system still points to the right object when another system reads it. Relationship names follow the RSM Subject Model and Canonical Model; all identifiers are illustrative.

Who RSM ID is for

Shared identity for independent institutions

Research institutions

Connect observations, datasets, and findings to the land, organisms, and facilities they describe.

Software and AI developers

Build on persistent identity, governed semantics, and explicit authority instead of fragile string matching.

Specifications and developer resources

Grounded in published specifications

RSM provides canonical semantics; RSM ID provides identity and resolution infrastructure. The Regenerative Systems Model is documented in a set of public specifications, most of them drafts.

A dedicated RSM ID specification for identifier syntax and resolution has not yet been published. Until it is, this site describes identity using the concepts the RSM specifications already define.

Developer overview

A common identity for everything we need to understand, connect, and act upon.

Try the resolverRead about RSM ID