News

Welcome to OGC News. You can use the filter below to show only Calls For Participation in or Sponsorship of OGC Initiatives, Requests for Public Comment, General Press Releases, or Blog Posts. Or use the search box to find news on a specific topic.

You may also want to subscribe to the OGC Newsletter: a short digest of news and events sent every two weeks.

All news (1453 match criteria)

April 12, 2006

Open GIS Consortium Becomes Open Geospatial Consortium, Inc.

Wayland, MA, USA, September 1, 2004 – Today the Open GIS Consortium (OGC) announced it has changed its name to the Open Geospatial Consortium, Inc.It also highlights the importance of OGC Web services standards as part of information technology best practices for integrating geospatial processing into service oriented architectures and enterprise workflows.The market focus on GIS and GIS experts has shifted in recent years to one championing geospatial processing and content availability to decision makers.Instead, they can focus on their areas of expertise and capitalize on the increased – but more and more invisible – access to geospatial processing.Much like the Internets search engines and travel services, geospatial services and content are now available online for direct use.

April 12, 2006

Global Spatial Data Infrastructure Conference to be held in Cairo

The role of spatial data and spatial data infrastructures in an information society is a major theme.The GSDI Association (Global Spatial Data Infrastructure) http://www.gsdi.org/ will hold this conference in conjunction with the Federation of International Surveyors (FIG) .GSDI Association programs encourage cooperative development of compatible local, national, regional and global Spatial Data Infrastructure (SDI).With emphasis on developing nations, GSDI programs address awareness and exchanges on infrastructure issues, standards-based data access/discovery, applications development, capacity building, and SDI development research.The GSDI Association invites government, industry and academic organizations, as well as individuals, to take part in GSDI programs.

April 12, 2006

Spatial Software Buyers Look for Technology Products Supporting Standards

For those looking to add spatial software to the mix, one key factor is whether or not the product supports standards from the Open GIS Consortium, Inc. (OGC).Visitors can examine which products implement which specifications and can use the site to distinguish between those products that implement the specification and those that are certified compliant.Certified compliant products are put through rigorous testing procedures before garnering that title.Compliance testing and certification is available to members and non-members online via the Compliance & Interoperability Test & Evaluation (CITE) Portal, part of OGCs Compliance Testing Program (see www.opengeospatial.org/resource/testing ).Effective compliance testing assures us and our partners that we can easily exchange data – enabling us to focus on the critical business issues at hand.

April 12, 2006

OGC Announces Call for Sponsors for Spatial Web Services Initiative

The Open GIS Consortium (OGC) has issued a call for sponsors for an OGC Web Services (OWS 3) interoperability initiative, a test bed activity to advance OGCs open framework for interoperability in the geospatial industry.In OGCs Interoperability Initiatives, international teams of technology providers work together to solve specific geoprocessing interoperability problems posed by the Initiatives sponsoring organizations.OGC Interoperability Initiatives include test beds, pilot projects, interoperability experiments and interoperability support services – all designed to encourage rapid development, testing, validation and adoption of OpenGIS standards.OpenGIS® Specifications support interoperable solutions that geo-enable the Web, wireless and location-based services, and mainstream IT.The specifications empower technology developers to make complex spatial information and services accessible and useful with all kinds of applications.

April 12, 2006

New OGC Digital Rights Management and University Working Groups

At the OGCs 50th Technical Committee meeting this month in Southampton, UK, two new Technical Committee working groups were formed: the Geospatial Digital Rights Management Working Group (GeoDRM WG) and the University Working Group (University WG).GeoDRM Working Group As geographic content becomes widely available over ubiquitous networks, it becomes easier to distribute, share, copy and alter that data.GeoDRM chair Graham Vowles of the UK Ordnance Survey said of this new working group, The GeoDRM Working Group will make it possible to build a viable business based on Web accessible geospatial data and services.University Working Group Academic institutions from 26 nations constitute approximately one third of the OGCs 260 members.The chair of the University Working Group, Ingo Simonis of the University of Muenster, in Germany, said, This is an exciting time for the OGCs academic members.

April 12, 2006

Geospatial Software Vendors Declare OGC Plugfest a Success

The first OGC Plugfest was held June 16 at the OGCs 50th Technical Committee Meeting meetings in Southampton, UK.A plugfest is an event at which vendors gather in a cooperative effort to test and improve interoperability between their product implementations of standards specifications.Vendors participating in the first OGC Plugfest declared it a great success.Plugfest participants had this to say about the event: Martin Daly, Cadcorp Ltd.: Cadcorp was delighted to be involved in the first ever OGC plugfest and looks forward to taking part in many more in the future.John Vincent, Intergraph: Sitting side-by-side with other plugfest participants enabled quick identification and resolution of the few issues found.

April 12, 2006

OGC Celebrates Decade of Cooperation in the Geospatial Industry

Earlier this month, the Open GISConsortium (OGC) held its 50th Technical Committee Meeting, hosted by theOrdnance Survey (OS) in Southampton, UK.This milestone event marks adecade of cooperation among industry, universities and the public andprivate sector organizations that use geospatial technology.The OpenGIS UK Industry Day, an all-dayevent on Monday 14 June, sponsored by the OGC, the OS and the Associationfor Geographic Information (AGI), was attended by 120 invited members ofthe UK government and business executive community.An Enterprise Architects WhiteboardShowdown provided a practicum in creating open geospatial architecturesbased on OpenGIS Specifications.OGCs OpenGIS® Specifications supportinteroperable solutions that geo-enable the Web, wireless and location-based services, and mainstream IT.

April 12, 2006

Martin Daly Receives OGCs Gardels Award

At the June meeting of the Open GIS Consortium, Inc. (OGC) in Southampton, UK, Martin Daly received the annual Kenneth G. Gardels Award.The Gardels Award is awarded each year to an individual who has made outstanding contributions to advancing the OGC vision of geographic information fully integrated into the worlds information systems.He wrote the compliance tests for the Grid Coverages and Coordinate Transformation Services specifications.The award is given annually in memory of Kenneth Gardels, one of the founding directors of OGC and OGCs former director of academic programs.Mr. Gardels coined the term Open GIS, and devoted his life to the humane and democratic uses of geographic information systems.

April 12, 2006

Partnership Announces Workshop on Web Enabled Modeling and Simulation

The Web Simulation Partnership – the Object Management Group (OMG), Open GIS Consortium (OGC), Simulation Interoperability Standards Organization (SISO), and Web3D Consortium – together announced that they are hosting the First Workshop on Web Enabled Modeling and Simulation.The four organizations agreed last year to collaborate on open, non-proprietary standards for Modeling and Simulation (M&S) and related technologies.The First Workshop on Web Enabled Modeling and Simulation will take place on October 12-15, 2004 in the Washington, DC area.The Web Simulation Partnership invites workshop presentations on all aspects of M&S in the World Wide Web context.The Simulation Interoperability Standards Organization (SISO) focuses on facilitating simulation interoperability and component reuse across the DoD, other government, and non-government applications.