If I was dead set on using pdf as an interchange format, I'd make the standard that the pdf content was a drawing of the data and then also embed a better repre

If I was dead set on using pdf as an interchange format, I'd make the standard that the pdf content was a drawing of the data and then also embed a better representation of the data. So a well formed file can be previewed with any pdf reader, but no problems with data quality when you go to use it for something. Of course the drawing could then be out of step with the data, but so what.