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Nima debates asset identification issues
28 July 2026
What do Theseus’s ship and Trigger’s broom tell us about asset identification? Nima’s think tank, GIIG, has published a discussion paper about asset identification and wants the industry’s feedback.
Authored by nima senior vice-chair Paul Wilkinson, the paper ultimately concludes that no single approach can provide a unique asset identifier that can be applied to all types of assets (large and small, static and mobile, and covering different aspects of their lifecycles), across multiple organisations and geographies, over short and long periods of time. The most practicable approach is to work with multiple identifiers and to connect and cross-reference the respective systems.
The paper identifies a dozen scenarios in which the seemingly simple process of assigning a single unique identifier can be problematic, particularly if it is intended as a persistent ID for the asset’s whole life. Among the scenarios are:
- planned, yet to be created assets – asset identification will be necessary before assets physically exist, so that their full life history incorporates information from early planning and design decision-making;
- extensive assets or systems – some assets are so extensive (for example, landscapes, airports, highway systems, etc) that they require multiple geospatial references or a ‘bounding box’ approach, and will need to be subdivided into identifiable zones or sections;
- large numbers of identical assets – it may be impractical or overkill to individually and uniquely identify hundreds of common low-value items (identical chairs in a school, for example). Batch numbering may be used for numerous identical low-value items;
- transferred assets – some assets may also be subject to multiple changes of ownership or stewardship during their lifecycles (any golden thread will need to be resilient to such changes).
Functionally persistent but completely replaced assets
Wilkinson also cites functionally persistent but completely replaced assets, using the examples of Theseus’s ship and Trigger’s broom:
- In the British sitcom Only Fools and Horses, road sweeper Trigger receives a medal from the local council for saving money. He claims he has used the same broom for 20 years, only to reveal later that it has had 17 new heads and 14 new handles in that time.
- The Greek historian Plutarch asked whether a legendary wooden ship of Theseus – incrementally repaired by replacing its old planks with new ones over many years – was still the same ship. Moreover, if someone collected all the discarded planks and assembled a second ship, which would be the “real” ship?
Added to the asset identification challenge is the application of up to a dozen standards.
Nima and the GIIG want information management practitioners to read the full paper and offer their own feedback on related challenges and opportunities either via LinkedIn or, if they are nima members, via the discussion forum in the members’ section of the nima website.
The GIIG will monitor feedback and keep the discussion paper under review for possible future updates.
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