OpenExits Specification

An open standard for BASE exit data: one agreed, machine-validated way to describe an object and its exits — location, heights, access, landings and hazards — so the knowledge outlives any single app or database.

• Spec + JSON Schema: CC0 1.0 (public domain) — free to implement anywhere, including proprietary products. See spec/ and schema/.
• Tooling (tools/, the reference validator): MIT.
• The data lives elsewhere: the OpenExits Commons (ODbL 1.0 + DbCL 1.0).

Layout

spec/        the normative specification, rationale, vocabularies, versioning policy
schema/      JSON Schema (draft 2020-12): root document + conformance profiles
fixtures/    synthetic example documents — valid/ and invalid/ (each invalid file
             declares the rule it violates in "_expectFail")
tools/       openexits-validator: pip-installable reference validator + CLI

Validate a document

pip install -e tools/
openexits-validate path/to/object.json        # or a directory

Exit code is non-zero on any rule failure; every finding carries a stable rule id (OE-R01…). The same package is imported by the OpenExits panel and by the Commons CI, so "valid" means the same thing everywhere.

Clean hands

Every fixture and example in this repository is synthetic — invented names at invented coordinates. This project ships zero third-party exit data.

Status

Draft 2.0 — pre-release. Nothing is announced yet; field names may still change until the first tagged release.

Draft-period change (v2.0.2, 2026-09): the record type is an object (the cliff, the bridge, the antenna, the building), no longer a "site", and objectType moved from each exit feature to the object. The project is BASE-only by design; the non-normative freeflight annex was removed.