The DMIS spec. does state that a feature should only be defined once, but you will find that the LK-DMIS application lets you define it more than once anyway.

This restriction has been relaxed by the DNSC to accomodate the "Update Nominals" problem which is caused when a feature is required to be reported in more than one co-ordinate system.

Regarding non-standard DMIS, it would be pointless to put the command behind a comment because it still needs to be executed. Vendors are supposed to (and some do) list ALL supported commands in the characterization file, maybe it should have a section for vendor-specific commands.

As to your comments on the committee, they do listen and are working very hard on improving and refining the standard. What is required is for more companies to get involved in the committee meetings and for more CMM users, vendors and individuals to submit SIR's that will move the standard forward.

For more information, visit the CAM-I web site at http://www.cam-i.org/STANDARDS