type: "Specification"
title: "Data Catalog Vocabulary (DCAT) Version 3"
description: "W3C vocabulary for catalogues, datasets, data services, endpoint URLs, endpoint descriptions, publishers, licences and distributions."
resource: "https://www.w3.org/TR/vocab-dcat-3/"
tags: [dcat, standard, catalogue, data-service, dataset]
generated: { by: human:crpage, at: 2026-07-09T09:44:00Z }
status: stable
sources: [{ id: primary, resource: "https://www.w3.org/TR/vocab-dcat-3/" }]

Data Catalog Vocabulary (DCAT) Version 3

DCAT is the W3C vocabulary used to describe data catalogues. For API-related OKF bundles, the core alignment is dcat:DataService for API products and data-access services, dcat:Dataset for data products, dcat:endpointURL for service entry points, dcat:endpointDescription for human or machine-readable endpoint descriptions, and dcterms:license / dcterms:publisher for legal and organisational metadata.

The UK Government APIs OKF uses DCAT terms as export targets, not as the native authoring format. The pack is DCAT-alignable until a generator emits RDF and validates it against DCAT/DCAT-AP profile rules.