The Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) is requesting public comment on the Justification for the Global Entity Reference System (GERS) Framework and Model as an OGC Community Standard. The justification describes the rationale for defining and using a Global Entity Reference System and its suitability for adoption as an OGC Community Standard. The GERS Model and Framework definition is being submitted and supported by the Overture Maps Foundation.

The Global Entity Reference System (GERS) defines an approach for assigning persistent, unique, open, and interoperable identifiers to real-world geospatial entities to support consistent reference and integration across datasets from multiple providers and jurisdictions. However, GERS does not restrict the use of other identifiers such as those already established in deployed geospatial datasets.

Organizations often spend substantial time and resources on data preparation and integration rather than on value-adding analysis. In geospatial workflows, the challenge is even more acute: Different data producers describe the same real-world entities in different ways and use different reference systems and ontologies. These differences make it costly and time-consuming to combine datasets from multiple sources into an integrated workflow or for use in machine-learning applications.

In many cases, the cost of integrating data exceeds the cost of initial data capture and any related licensing. This is the data conflation tax – a hidden cost that affects everyone working with data obtained from multiple sources.

GERS addresses this challenge by providing persistent, unique identifiers for geospatial entities – from buildings and roads to places and addresses. With GERS, what once took weeks of complex geospatial conflation can now be accomplished in minutes with simple column joins.

The proposed GERS Community Standard will address key components of the Global Entity Reference System framework but will not include processing tools or software. The draft Community Standard will be based on the January 2026 release of the Overture Maps Foundation GERS documentation and schema.

All components of the Global Entity Reference System are defined using JSON Schema and will be fully documented in the proposed OGC GERS Community Standard.

To Comment:

The Justification for Global Entity Reference System (GERS) Framework and Model is available for review and comment for a period of 21 days. Comments are due by March 03, 2026.

Comments can be submitted in the OGC GitHub repository for a period ending on the “Close request date” listed above. Comments received will be consolidated and reviewed by OGC members for potential incorporation into the document.

About OGC

The Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) is a membership organization dedicated to using the power of geography and technology to solve problems faced by people and the planet. OGC unlocks value and opportunity for its members through Standards, Innovation, and Collaboration. Our membership represents a diverse and active global community drawn from government, industry, academia, international development agencies, research & scientific organizations, civil society, and advocates.

Visit ogc.org for more information about our work.