Existing distributed computing platforms all offer their own solutions to the problem, but the objects in these cases are responsive ``live'' software processes, not ``dead'' geographic features hidden inside proprietary software systems and not accessible to dynamic enquiries. These ``live'' objects include Microsoft COM objects, CORBA nameservices, Inter-Language Unification (ILU) ``String Binding Handles'' (SBHs) and on-going work to develop Internet Service Location protocols [9,10]. Some of these object identifiers include type fingerprints and version information as well as providing uniqueness and persistence.
The object identifiers from the bibliographic and World Wide Web
communities [8,11,12,13]
are more what we require for geographic features though
these too are evolving towards a ``live'' web-object way of operating.