The Global Design Database page lets you easily search multiple design-related data sources and receive instant feedback, letting you explore the design landscape in a new and powerful way. The page itself is divided into 5 areas:

  1. The Search By area lets you specify specific terms you want to search for, divided into separate tabs for easy access. Each field supports the same set of operators and wildcards, and provides automatic suggestions for terms that may match what you are typing. For more specific information about the specific search capabilities of each tab, see the help for each individual tab: Design, Names, Numbers, Dates and Country.
  2. The Filter By area displays the number of records matching your current criteria, and lets you narrow your search to only particular areas of interest. You can filter by Source, Designation, Locarno Class or Registration Date .
  3. The Menu area lets you view and manipulate your saved searches, record sets and other specialized functions.
  4. The Current Search area displays your current search terms and filters, and lets you manipulate each item individually, deleting it, or dragging onto each other to combine terms into a new search.
  5. The Search Results area displays the records matching the criteria shown in the Current Search area. Here you can easily browse through your result set, change your sort order or change your display parameters. Clicking on an individual result will switch to Record View mode, where you can see more specific details regarding each record.

You'll notice that each time you enter a new search term or filter, both the list in the Search Results area and the numbers shown in the Filter By area are immediately updated to reflect your change, allowing you to quickly narrow your search to particular areas of interest, or spot trends and correlations you might have missed.

Each area of the page contains a small help icon to link you directly to details specifically about that area, with in-depth explanations of the contents and functionality provided. If you run into any problems, or have questions not addressed in this help file or the FAQ, don't hesitate to contact us with your question.

Search By

This is main search area, which lets you specify any specific terms you wish to search for. Each field supports a standard set of operators (OR, AND, NOT, proximity, fuzzy), and as you enter terms into a particular field, you will be provided with suggestions as to potential matching terms in our database. After you enter any queries into the fields in each tab, click the search button to add those terms into the Current Search area and see the matching records in Results area.

The different types of searchable fields are divided into separate tabs for convenience, and specific information and hints are available in the help for each individual tab: Design, Names, Numbers, Dates and Country.

Operators / Search Syntax

In the Global Design Database system, each query is divided into terms and operators. Terms can either be single words (e.g. syringe) or a multiple words surrounded by quotes (e.g. "hypodermic needle"). Terms can then be modified or combined together to perform a more complex query using one of the following types of operators:

  • Boolean operators -- <term> AND, OR, NOT <term> -- are simple logical operations to combine terms. Use AND between to terms to find records containing both terms, OR between to terms to find record containing either term, and NOT between to terms to find records containing the first term, but not the second. If you don't include an operator between two terms at all, OR will be assumed. Note that if you want a multi-word phrase instead of two separate terms, surround your words with quotes ("s).
  • Grouping operators -- (<term> OR <term>) AND <term> -- allow you to control the logical order in which operators are applied. Any group surrounded by parentheses will be treated separately, and combined with other terms as a unit. e.g. (dog OR cat) AND collar will search for records that contain both 'collar' and either 'dog' or 'cat', whereas dog OR (cat AND collar) will search for records containing either dog or both cat and collar.
  • Wildcards -- <term>*, <term>? -- allow you to match single or multiple characters within words. The '?' wildcard will match any single letter in your term, and the '*' wildcard will match either 0 or multiple letters in your term. e.g. te?t will match both 'test' and 'text', and text* will match 'text', 'texts', 'texting', etc. Note that you can use the wildcards in the middle or beginning of your term as well. e.g. *text or te*t.
  • Proximity operator -- "<term> <term>"~<distance> -- allows you to search for two or more words within a specific number of words of one another. If you search for "fruit juice"~10 you'll find all records where the word 'fruit' occurs within 10 words of the word 'juice'. Note that without the ~10 at the end of the term, the exact phrase 'fruit juice' will be the only valid match.
  • Fuzzy match -- <term>~ -- allows you to find records where a term is spelled similarly to the term you enter. For example, alco~ will find 'also', 'alcoh', 'asco' and many others. You can have more specific control over how similar matches must be by your term by specifying a number between 0 (different) to 1 (similar). e.g. text~0.1 will have many more matches than text~0.9.
  • Range searches -- [<term> TO <term>] -- let you find terms matching a range of values. Enter a range by using the 'TO' operator, and surrounding your terms with square brackets '[]'. e.g. [1012222 TO 1012235] in the registration number field will match any records with registration numbers between those two values, including 1012222 and 1012235. If you wish your range to not include the boundary values, use braces '{}' instead of square brackets.
    Note that entering date ranges is most easily done using the calendar provided and selecting the Date range option.

Filter By

The Filter By area displays information about the records that match your current search, and allows you to narrow your search to only particular categories without entering additional search terms. Each tab divides the matching records into categories, and lists the number of records in your search matching each category. You can use this purely for information, or select one or more categories, then click the 'filter' button at the lower right of each tab to add/modify the filters applied to your results.

The different types of filters are divided into separate tabs for convenience, and specific information and hints are available in the help for each individual tab: Source, Designation, Locarno Class Registration Date or

Source Filter

The Source Filter tab lists the original data source for the records matching your search. The currently available sources are:

See the Database Contents section for more details on the exact contents of each source database.

Designation Filter

The Designation Filter tab contains the countries designated in each record. You can use the drop-down menu to select either a comprehensive list of all the designations (sorted by number of matching records), or a graphical representation showing the distribution of countries around the world or in a particular area (darker colors mean more records). You can hover your cursor over the country either in the list or the map and see full details.

Note that for national collections, each will list itself as a designation.

Locarno Filter

Filter by the locarno class assigned to the record. For further information on the definition of Locarno classes, please see the Locarno classification section of our website.

Registration Filter

Filter by the registration date of the record, where available. Note that for pending applications, no registration date may have yet been assigned, so adding any registration date filter will immediately exclude these records.

Contracting Parties Filter

Filter by the contracting partied of the record, where available. You can use the drop-down menu to select either a comprehensive list of all the designations (sorted by number of matching records), or a graphical representation showing the distribution of countries around the world or in a particular area (darker colors mean more records). You can hover your cursor over the country either in the list or the map and see full details.

Current Search

The current search area serves two purposes: It displays all of the terms and filters you have currently entered; and it lets you manipulate those terms to change your search quickly and easily.

All of your search terms are displayed in individual boxes on the left side of the screen. A record must match all of the terms in this area to be displayed in the results area below (they have an AND relationship). You can drag and drop individual terms onto each other to combine them (in an OR search). If you click the close icon in the top right of any term's box, just that term will be removed from your search.

All of your current filters are displayed in individual boxes on the right side of the screen. Each filter adds to the last, so a record must meet all of the filter criteria to be included in your results. You can click the close icon in the top right of any filter's box to remove it, and modify it by using the associated filter tab in the Filter By area above. It's not possible to drag and drop filters

All changes you make by manipulating terms or filters in the Current Search area will be immediately reflected in the Results area below.

Results

The results area displays the records that match your current search. It's divided into two main sections, the pager bar that lets you navigate through your result set, and the record list that displays details of each record.

Pager

!!! Warning: To preserve the performance of the site, the pager is limited to only show the first 1000 records of a search. Attempts to go further resets the search. !!!

The pager bar shows a quick summary of your result set, and lets you navigate between pages of results. It's divided into several areas:

  • First, your position in your result set is shown, e.g. 1 to 10 / 637944. This means you are currently viewing records 1-10 out of a total of 637,944.
  • Next you can choose the format in which you wish to display your results. The List view (the default) shows many details of each record, one record per row. The Grid view shows just the design field of each record in a very condensed format, and you can see further details of each record only by hovering your cursor over a record of interest.
  • Next, the number of records you are viewing per page can be changed from the default (10) to 30 or 50, depending on your wishes.
  • The next area lets you navigate between pages of records. The text box lets you enter a specific page of results you are interested in, or you can use the navigation buttons around the box to move to the next/previous or first/last pages of results.

If you are viewing records in the List format, the pager bar will also include an options button to let you show/hide and reorder the columns in the record list.

If you are viewing records in the Grid format, a Sort Order menu will appear just below the top bar to allow you to order your records as desired.

Record List

The record list shows the specific records that match your current search, one per row. You can click on any of the header that contains small arrow icon to sort your results by that column. Also, you can resize each column by dragging the edge of the column header. Hover your cursor over the image to display an enlarged version of that image for easier viewing. Each row contains a small checkbox on the left hand side, which you can use to mark particular records for later use as a saved record set. Clicking anywhere in a particular row will bring further details of that that record in Record view mode.

Record View

The Record View mode displays all of the details available for each record in your result list. You can navigate to the next/previous records in your result set using the buttons on the top of the page, or return to your search results using the 'back' button. The source of each record is displayed in the top bar, and you can find further information on each source by clicking on the logo.

Note: Please do not use your browser 'back' button, as this will navigate away from the Global Design Database system.

FAQ

Can I download your entire data set for my own uses?
No. Our agreements with the national offices participating in the Global Design Database project preclude us from redistributing data. For this reason, our terms of use specifically disallow any kind of bulk or automatic downloading of data from our system. Please follow the terms of use link on the bottom of each page for full details.