Problem

GS1's digital link (DL) is presented as the successor to the linear encoding of various identifiers like GTIN. Digital links are typically encoded in QR-codes printed on products or their packaging.

An example of a digital link is https://gs1.appareldemo.com/01/09506000164908/10/ABC123

The path contains the following AI (Application Idenfitiers)

• 01 – GTIN 09506000164908
• 10 – Lot number ABC123

The digital link solves some long standing issues with GTIN, in particular they allow to encode the Consumer Product Variants (CPV) field, which allows to distinguish products which share a GTIN, because they don't need to be distinguished in retail. Often they need to be distinguished in online commerce.

Technically, DLs could be represented in multiple ways:

• Inside the [identifier](https://schema.org/identifier) field. Pros: no change needed. Cons, identifier is the grab-bag for identifiers, so this makes validation and reporting complicated.
• Inside the url field. Pros: no change needed. Cons, url is pretty vague, agains this makes validation and reporting vague.
• Inside a dedicated attribute like hasDigitalLink. Pros: role and parsing rules are clear . Cons, new attribute needed.

Level and AI culling

One problem that will require some documentation is the fact that different AIs are only applicable at certain levels.

• A DL that contains a serial number (AI 21) should only be present on instances of IndividualProduct
• A DL that contains a lot number (AI 10) could make sense at the product level (if the seller only sells products from that lot), but more probably it should be a the IndividualProduct level.
• A DL that contains a global model number (AI 8013) or an NSN but no GTIN could be attached to a Product or a ProductModel.