JavaScript Object Notation (JSON)
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Description
JSON is a text-based data format which was defined around 2002. Based on the structure of objects in JavaScript, it is designed to be light, and both human- and machine-readable.
Example of a JSON document:
{
"Flight": {
"Departure": {
"AirportCode": "GVA",
"Date": "2019-06-29"
},
"Arrival": {
"AirportCode": "YUL"
}
}
}
Functionalities and performance
JSON is native to JavaScript, and can also be used in most programming languages.
JSON files' structure can be described with JSON Schema.
Compared to XML, JSON is not necessarily faster to process (it depends on the programming language used) or lighter, especially with compressed messages. A more thorough comparison can be found here for instance.
Applicability to NDC & ONE Order
Because of the limitations of JSON Schema, JSON NDC messages cannot be standardized the way XML messages are with XSDs. However, there is a bidirectional conversion proposed here, which is used to provide IATA's JSON NDC sandbox.
The rationale behind this solution is describe in this study (section 1).