The CIDOC Conceptual Reference Model (CRM) is regarded as an interoperability solution for integrating heterogeneous metadata in the cultural heritage domain. The major problem developers are confronted with when applying this model in real-world applications is that the CRM constitutes a formal ontology model on a semantic level but lacks technical specifications and guidelines on how to integrate that model with other, data source-specific models. This leads to divergent mappings between proprietary metadata models and the CRM ontology model. The aim of this paper is to provide Model Implementation Guidelines, including a CIDOC CRM mapping methodology, which are based on our practical experience and can serve as a recommendation for future CIDOC CRM adopters. Besides explicitly pointing out the problems the current stan- dard entails, we propose a methodology for reducing the divergence of CRM mappings, which should bring CRM-based systems one step further towards metadata interoperability.

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