CGM (Computer Graphics Metafile)
CGM is the ISO/IEC 8632 standard for vector-based 2D graphics — line drawings, technical illustrations, S1000D maintenance diagrams. CIMdata defines it as “a standard that defines the format of electronic vector-based graphical data.” CGM is used heavily for technical illustrations in the aerospace/defense (S1000D) and weather-data communities; WebCGM is the W3C profile that adapts CGM for the web.
Scope
- Vector graphics primitives — polylines, circles, arcs, polygons, text.
- Hierarchical naming for hyperlinked technical illustrations.
- Three encoding profiles — Character (text), Binary, Clear Text — defined in ISO/IEC 8632 parts 3, 3, and 4.
- WebCGM adds metadata, hyperlinking, and display profiles for browser viewing.
Where it appears in PLM
CGM is the preferred illustration format inside large technical-publication systems (S1000D for aerospace/defense) and in some long-archived engineering drawing libraries. Most modern engineering drawings now ship as PDF or 3D PDF; CGM persists in regulated technical-publications pipelines.
Relationships (see sidebar)
- Normative for CAD 2D Drafting illustration export workflows in S1000D and equivalent technical-publication ecosystems.
Steward
ISO/IEC JTC 1/SC 24 (Computer graphics, image processing, environmental data representation).
Comments