GASGI joins OGC as a Principal Member to leverage the OGC’s collective geospatial expertise in building a healthy & competitive Geospatial Sector within KSA.The Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) is pleased to welcome the Saudi Arabia General Authority for Survey and Geospatial Information (GASGI) as a new OGC Principal Member.“I commend their commitment to change, innovation, capacity building, and engagement with the international community as they build their Spatial Data Infrastructure based on internationally proven geospatial standards and best practices.About GASGIGeneral Authority for Survey and Geospatial Information (GASGI) Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, as of Royal Resolution (90) dated 5/2/1442H while developing data products, solutions offerings, services to drive and enable growth in the geospatial market.GASGI is also responsible for geospatial standards and developing capacity for the geospatial sector.

Article Contributed by Adam Martin, ESRI Open standards aren’t just about efficiency. They allow organizations across the globe to share information effectively and securely, and...

The OGC UML-to-GML Application Schema Pilot 2020 (UGAS-2020) will improve and enhance the present capabilities of the open source tool ShapeChange in order to meet current and emerging technology requirements.The Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) has released a Call For Participation in the OGC UML-to-GML Application Schema Pilot 2020 (UGAS-2020) and is offering funding for interested participants.The goal of this Pilot is to advance the “state of the art” in UML-to-GML Application Schema (UGAS) transformations and related technologies.Under OGC’s Innovation Program, sponsors and OGC members come together to address geospatial IT challenges in an agile and cooperative manner.OGC members together form a global forum of experts and communities that use location to connect people with technology and improve decision-making at all levels.

The OGC UML-to-GML Application Schema Pilot 2020 (UGAS-2020) will improve and enhance the present capabilities of the open source tool ShapeChange in order to meet current and emerging technology requirements. 

Two longest-serving OGC board members have announced their retirement; new appointment brings expertise in AI, machine learning, and other relevant technologiesThe Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) announces the retirement of two of its longest-serving board members, Dr. Mike Jackson and Jack Pellicci, as well as the appointment of Kristin Tolle, to its Board of Directors.“The success and future direction of the OGC is heavily influenced by its membership and the insight and strategic guidance provided by the OGC Board of Directors,” said OGC President and CEO, Mark Reichardt.Longtime OGC Directors Jack Pellicci and Mike Jackson have been instrumental in this process.Brigadier General Jack Pellicci (RET) first joined the OGC Board in 1994, just months after the OGC was founded.He briefly ‘retired’ from the OGC Board in 2006, returning to it in April of 2007.

The Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC®) seeks public comment on the candidate GeoPackage Extension for Tiled Gridded Coverage Data standard.‘GeoPackage Extension for Tiled Gridded Coverage Data’ was initially documented in the GeoPackage 1.2 draft standard as Annex F.11 Tiled Gridded Elevation Data.In 2016, the GeoPackage Elevation Extension was tested and refined as part of the OGC GeoPackage Elevation Extension Interoperability Experiment.As part of the work, the scope of the extension was expanded from just elevation data to any regular gridded coverage data.The extension now defines how to store any gridded coverage in a GeoPackage data store.

The Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC®) seeks public comment on its candidate GeoPackage 1.2 standard.Over the course of 2016, the GeoPackage Standards Working Group (SWG) made a number of changes to the GeoPackage Encoding Standard Version 1.1 (OGC 12-128r12).These changes have been aggregated into version 1.2 of the GeoPackage Encoding Standard (12-128r13).For a full list of changes, read the Release Notes at: https://portal.ogc.org/files/72233The candidate GeoPackage 1.2 standard is available for public review and comment at https://portal.ogc.org/files/72483.OGC standards support interoperable solutions that geo-enable the Web, wireless and location based services, and mainstream IT.

The Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC®) is inviting members and the public to attend the OGC Testbed 12 demonstration and exposition of the technology developed during its latest Interoperability Program initiative on 29 November 2016 at the USGS in Reston, Virginia.The event will showcase the results starting with an hour-long demonstration of some of the technologies developed during Testbed 12.For more information on the Testbed 12 Demonstration and Exposition, including registration details, please visit: https://portal.ogc.org/public_ogc/register/t12demo.phpAbout the OGC Interoperability ProgramThe OGC Interoperability Program provides global, hands-on, collaborative prototyping for rapid development and delivery of proven candidate specifications to the OGC Standards Program, where these candidates can then be considered for further action.In Interoperability Program initiatives, participants team together to solve specific geo-processing interoperability problems posed by the initiative’s Sponsors.More information on the The OGC Interoperability Program, including its policies and procedures, can be found at http://www.opengeospatial.org/ogc/policies/ippp.

Attend the OGC North American Forum Open Standards Technology Exposition!13 August 2012The North American Forum (NAF) of the Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) is organizing the first OGC North American Open Standards Technology Exposition.The vendors will show how OGC standards are being used throughout U.S. Department of Defense, Intelligence Community and Civil Agencies.OGC standards empower technology developers to make geospatial information and services accessible and useful with any application that needs to be geospatialy enabled.The OGC North American Forum was established in 2012 to address OGC standards requirements, OGC program coordination, outreach and education needs of government, academic, research and industry organizations in Canada, the US and Mexico.

The U.S. Department of Defense National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA) has issued a document, Enabling A Common Vision ( https://portal.ogc.org/files/?artifact_id=19983 ), which outlines the overall National System for Geospatial-Intelligence (NSG) standards baseline.Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) Specifications figure prominently in this U.S. Federal and national baseline.Shortly after September 11, 2001, the National Center for Geospatial Intelligence Standards (NCGIS) was formed by the NGA to develop and coordinate geospatial standards with other Department of Defense (DoD) agencies, other intelligence agencies, standards organizations, civil agencies, private industry, and foreign partners.In Enabling A Common Vision, the NSG has endorsed a set of key specifications known collectively as the OGC Spatial Data Infrastructure (SDI) 1.0 baseline.These OGC standards include the OpenGIS® Specifications for Web Feature Service (WFS), Geography Markup Language (GML), Web Map Service (WMS), Styled Layer Descriptor (SLD), Catalogue Services (CS-Web), and Filter Encoding Specification (FE).The specifications empower technology developers to make complex spatial information and services accessible and useful with all kinds of applications.

The Open Geospatial Consortium, Inc. (OGC) and the Web3D Consortium signed a memorandum of understanding to work together to cooperatively advance standards to support web-based 3D visualization, modeling and simulation.Mark Reichardt, President of the OGC explained, The OGC membership, working with ISO TC/211 and other standards groups, has helped to make standards-based interoperable geospatial services a reality on the Web.Visit the OGC website at http://www.opengeospatial.org The Web3D Consortium is a non-profit, international standards organization that originally spearheaded the development of the VRML 1.0 and 2.0 specifications.Today, the Web3D Consortium is utilizing its broad-based industry support to continue developing the X3D specification, for communicating 3D on the Web, between applications and across distributed networks and web services.Through well-coordinated efforts with the ISO and W3C, and now the OGC, the Web3D Consortium is maintaining and extending its standardization activities.Visit the Web3D Consortium at http://www.web3d.org

Feb 25, 2005, Wayland, Mass - The Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) and the United States Geospatial Intelligence Foundation (USGIF) hosted a compelling demonstration of the power of geospatial interoperability for attendees at the inaugural European Defense Geospatial Intelligence Conference (DGI) held in late January in London.Conference organizers Worldwide Business Research (WBR) note that it is not always the case that you will understand how partner nations are working.OGC members take that challenge very seriously and continue to develop, implement and test standards that enable such interoperability.Data and services were provided by more than two dozen participants linked together by OGC and other geospatial standards.While many of the products are available off the shelf others were updated to support the standards specifically for this event.

Dr. Corell is chair of the interagency committee that developed and now coordinates the U.S.Dr. Corell graduated from Case Institute of Technology (BSME, 1956; Ph.D., 1964) and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (M.S.M.E., 1959).Martin Faga is Senior Vice President and General Manager, Center for Integrated Intelligence Systems at The MITRE Corporation in McLean, Virginia.The Center serves Department of Defense and Intelligence Community Sponsors in the integration of intelligence systems from sensor through presentation to the ultimate user.About OGC OGC coordinates development of the OpenGIS Specification and also organizes related business development and institutional adoption of open systems approaches to the collection, management, distribution, and processing of digital geographic information.

The Web Mapping Testbed Military Pilot Project (WMT MPP) will bring the combined technological skills and problem solving power of over 200 OGC member companies and organizations to the complex interoperability challenges facing next-generation military geospatial infrastructure development.The objectives of the WMT MPP are to: - Incrementally evolve a multinational technology base and vendor pool.- Develop and demonstrate prototype interoperable infrastructures based on OGC Specifications and configuration-controlled commercial components.- Promote interoperable geospatial infrastructure development in classified and unclassified network environments.David Schell, President of OGC explained, The Web Mapping Testbed Military Pilot Project is an excellent opportunity for defense and intelligence organizations to strengthen communications, affect the interoperable technology development process, and reduce the cost of realizing standards-conformant geospatial infrastructures.

The Board of the OGC has started to develop a transparent, objective, merit-based process for the next Chief Executive Officer of the Open Geospatial Consortium.

Attendees spent the week discussing the latest geospatial innovations in areas such as Climate, Space, Open Science, Defense & Intelligence, Connected Systems, and more.

OGC’s Member Meeting is the center of all things for location information. Happening for almost three decades, the meetings focus on everything from evolving core standards...

Congratulations to Charles “Chuck” Heazel awarded the 2020 Gardels Award for their continued contributions to the creation and advancement of OGC StandardsAt the December Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) Member Meeting, held virtually, Charles “Chuck” Heazel was presented the OGC’s prestigious Kenneth D. Gardels Award.The Gardels Award is presented each year to an individual who has made an outstanding contribution to advancing OGCs vision of fully integrating geospatial information into the worlds information systems.Chuck’s technical expertise, understanding of the specific needs of many domains, and concern with ensuring that interoperability can be fully realized, exemplify the values associated with the Gardels Award.Award nominations are made by members – the prior Gardels Award winners – and approved by the Board of Directors.OGC’s member-driven consensus process creates royalty free, publicly available geospatial standards.

The utility data models that are being developed through the OGC Innovation Program include water, sewer, gas, electric, telecommunications, district heating, and transit.This effort is critical to launching the OGC’s Underground Infrastructure Pilot Project.The pilot will create, test, and validate a reusable, standards-based underground information architecture that will enable cities to rapidly advance their smart underground projects.If you want an innovative solution to your organisation’s underground data problem, OGC urges you to contact Scott Serich, Director of the Underground Pilot: sserich [at] opengeospatial.org.OGC standards empower technology developers to make geospatial information and services accessible and useful with any application that needs to be geospatially enabled.

The Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC®) is calling for sponsors of a pilot project that will implement and demonstrate the sharing of information concerning underground infrastructure.The Pilot will implement sponsor requirements based on the findings of OGC’s Underground Infrastructure Concept Study, of which the summary Engineering Report is now available.Worse yet, underground assets rarely exist in isolation, so the failure of one organisation’s asset may cause the cascading failure of other organisation’s assets.“The OGC Underground Pilot project is the next step in making underground mapping a reality.”OGC’s Underground Pilot Project will create, test, and validate a reusable, standards-based underground information architecture that will enable cities around the world to rapidly advance their smart underground projects.OGC’s Underground Infrastructure Mapping & Modeling Concept Development Study Engineering Report now availableThe Underground Pilot Project will be based on the results of OGC’s recent Underground Infrastructure Mapping & Modeling Concept Development Study (Underground CDS).

The Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC®) announces a Call for Participation (CFP) in the OGC GeoPackage (GPKG) Related Tables Extension Interoperability Experiment (GPKG-RTE IE).Compusult has proposed a Related Tables extension to the OGC GeoPackage Encoding Standard (12-128r14).The GeoPackage Standards Working Group (SWG) proposes to validate this extension by running an Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) Interoperability Experiment (IE).An OGC Interoperability Experiment is a rapid, low overhead, formally structured activity in which members achieve specific technical objectives that further the OGC Standards Baseline.OGC standards support interoperable solutions that ‘geo-enable’ the Web, wireless and location based services, and mainstream IT.

The Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC®) is pleased to announce that DigitalGlobe has raised its membership level from Technical Committee level to Principal level.“The work the OGC does in creating open source standards for geospatial information is key to what we do at DigitalGlobe,” said Walter Scott, Founder and Chief Technology Officer at DigitalGlobe.About DigitalGlobeDigitalGlobe is a leading provider of commercial high-resolution earth observation and advanced geospatial solutions that help decision makers better understand our changing planet in order to save lives, resources and time.About the OGCThe OGC is an international consortium of more than 475 companies, government agencies, research organizations, and universities participating in a consensus process to develop publicly available geospatial standards.OGC standards empower technology developers to make geospatial information and services accessible and useful with any application that needs to be geospatially enabled.

At the June meeting of the Open Geospatial Consortium, Inc. (OGC®) in Cambridge, Massachusetts, David Danko received the OGCs 11th annual Kenneth D. Gardels Award (http://www.opengeospatial.org/ogc/awards).The Gardels Award is awarded to individuals who have made significant contributions in advancing the OGC vision of complete integration of geospatial information and services into the worlds information systems.Danko helped draft the OGC abstract specification for metadata and has long chaired the Metadata Working Group.In all committees and working groups, Danko has consistently set a high standard for serious, mature and professional input.The Gardels Award is given annually in memory of Kenneth Gardels, a founding director of OGC and OGCs former director of academic programs.

The Geography Markup Language (GML) encoding standard is used as a key example.Joe Francica, Editor-in-Chief of Directions Media, and Chris Biow, Chief Technologist of Mark Logic Corporation, are also on the panel.The webinar will be moderated by Mike Agron, Executive Advisor of Directions Media.Directions Media is hosting the event, which is sponsored by Mark Logic Corporation.OGC Standards empower technology developers to make geospatial information and services accessible and useful with any application that needs to be geospatially enabled.

Wayland, MA, June 26, 2007 - On March 13, the National Institute of Building Sciences (NIBS) Facility Information Council released the first version of the National Building Information Modeling StandardTM (NBIMS) [http://www.facilityinformationcouncil.org/bim/story_031307.php] for a two month industry review period.IFCs are an International Alliance for Interoperability (IAI) International standard and a common component of Building Information Models.The demonstration used a variety of Web-based geospatial information systems to show evacuation management, find a building suitable to contain an emergency decontamination and hospital unit, and track victims.Building information models (BIM) were available for the area.The OWS-4 demonstration relied on CityGML - an emerging OGC standard - for sharing urban models.

This, the third OGC Emerging Technology Summit (ETS III), will be held April 14-15, 2005 at the Washington Hilton Hotel in Washington, DC.Registration information, including information about group discounts, is available at http://www.gita.org/events/ets/iii/ .In OGCs Sensor Web Enablement (SWE) effort, the ORNL SensorNET team is working with other OGC members to build a Web-based global framework for discovering, accessing and tasking the rapidly growing number of fixed and mobile network-connected sensors.Advancing the Sensor Web will highlight the work that has been done and the work that remains to be done.OpenGIS® Specifications support interoperable solutions that geo-enable the Web, wireless and location-based services, and mainstream IT.

MPP-1, which began April 5 and will run through September 2001, has been organized to test and exercise newly developed OGC specifications in a near-operational user environment.At the end of a Pilot, major customers will see real world proof of interoperability between software products from different vendors enabled by interfaces implementing OpenGIS Specifications.Findings contribute to the refinement of the OpenGIS® Specifications that define the products interoperability interfaces.For example, MPP-1 will help enhance OpenGIS Specifications to accommodate three-dimensional photo-realistic terrain views over the Internet.Many military Coordinating Organizations currently use commercial products that vendors are now opening up with interfaces that implement OpenGIS Specifications.

jharrison [at] opengeospatial.orgMarch 9, 2001: The Open GIS Consortium, Inc (OGC) announced today its intent to release a Request for Technology (RFT) for a major Web Services Initiative.This set of six planned activities will extend OpenGIS standards, enabling freer access to web services that process geographic information.The Web Services Initiative will build on the results of previous OGC testbeds and pilot projects and the work of the OGC Technical Committee and other standards organizations.Major focus areas of the Web Services Initiative are: - Web Mapping Testbed, Phase 3 will consolidate the progress made in previous testbeds with work accomplished in OGC Web Services Initiative threads.This activity will also investigate future web services for visualization, feature and coverage data access, and other services.

As OGC’s COO, Christy will use her experience with federal agencies, partnership-building, event management, and member success to help grow and shape the Consortium.

On June 12-14, 2023, OGC held its 2023 Tiling Interfaces Code Sprint at OGC Strategic Member NGA’s Moonshot Labs in St. Louis, Missouri. The code sprint focused on a select set of Application Programming Interface (API), database, and encoding standards related to map tiles.

The Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) has announced the election of Patty Mims, Javier de la Torre, and Prashant Shukle to its Board of Directors.“The addition to our Board of these talented and respected geospatial community leaders will add great value.Prashant also sits on the Board of Directors of PLACE, a non-profit data trust specialising in hyperlocal mapping data in the public interest.In 2018, Prashant was awarded the OGC Lifetime Achievement Award for his contributions to the global geospatial standards community.OGC members together form a global forum of experts and communities that use location to connect people with technology and improve decision-making at all levels.

The new appointees’ diverse sets of experiences will inform the strategy of the Consortium and help instill innovation.

OGC is considering implementing a certification program to confirm individual’s competency in OGC standardsThe Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) is considering developing a Professional Certification program.The OGC invites you to complete an online survey to help improve our understanding of the potential market for such a professional certification program.One of the benefits of the OGC Professional Certification program would be to give employers greater confidence in the competency of individuals in using and implementing OGC standards.For OGC members that offer consultancy services, OGC professional certification would provide certification that distinguishes them from other consultants that provide OGC expertize.Further, training towards OGC Professional Certification could be an additional service that OGC members offer.

The Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC®) is pleased to announce that Leidos has raised its membership level from Technical to Principal Level.Leidos will also participate in final approval decisions for all OGC standards and nominations to the Board of Directors.Recently, Leidos chose to elevate its membership to the Principal level, which expands the company’s contributions to the OGC mission.OGC standards support interoperable solutions that ‘geo-enable’ the Web, wireless and location based services, and mainstream IT.OGC standards empower technology developers to make geospatial information and services accessible and useful with any application that needs to be geospatially enabled.

The Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC®) is pleased to announce the publication of results from the Arctic Spatial Data Pilot (Arctic SDP).The Arctic SDP, an 18 month project, was initiated to demonstrate the diversity, richness, and value of providing geospatial data using international standards in support of seamless spatial data exchange with application to a range of Arctic topics.The Pilot supports the strategic goals of the Arctic Spatial Data Infrastructure (Arctic SDI), a cooperative voluntary, multilateral activity between the 8 Arctic Countries National Mapping Agencies (including USGS and NRCan).OGC standards support interoperable solutions that ‘geo-enable’ the Web, wireless and location based services, and mainstream IT.OGC standards empower technology developers to make geospatial information and services accessible and useful with any application that needs to be geospatially enabled.

The Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC®) seeks comments on the draft charter of a proposed Unmanned Systems Domain Working Group (UXS DWG).The UXS DWG is chartered to identify standards requirements and use cases for all aspects of unmanned systems operations focused on mission planning, geospatial data collection, and analysis.See the OGC’s Domain Working Group page and Standards Working Group page to learn about other standards activities that are ongoing in the OGC.OGC standards support interoperable solutions that geo-enable the Web, wireless and location based services, and mainstream IT.OGC standards empower technology developers to make geospatial information and services accessible and useful with any application that needs to be geospatially enabled.

At the March 2-4 Kickoff Event, Testbed 12 Sponsors and OGC Staff will present the interoperability requirements and objectives for the six Testbed 12 threads listed above.These Participants will deliver completed OGC Engineering Reports for public review and deliberation in the OGC Standards Program.The reports will become Discussion Papers, candidate OGC standards, revisions to existing OGC standards, or best practices for using OGC standards and related standards from other standards development organizations.Details surrounding the Testbed 12 technology threads and the entire Testbed 12 Architecture can be found in Annex B of the RFQ and in the RFQ’s clarifications document.OGC standards support interoperable solutions that geo-enable the Web, wireless and location-based services and mainstream IT.

The Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC®) has issued a Request for Quotations/Call for Participation (RFQ/CFP) in the OGC Testbed 12 Interoperability Testbed.Testbed 12 sponsors have documented interoperability requirements and objectives for this testbed initiative.Participants’ solutions will implement existing OGC standards as well as new prototype interface and encoding specifications introduced or developed in Testbed 12.Prototype specifications may ultimately become OGC standards, revisions to existing OGC standards, or best practices for using OGC standards.OGC standards support interoperable solutions that geo-enable the Web, wireless and location-based services and mainstream IT.

On October 14th, the Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC®) will demonstrate the results of the eleventh OGC Interoperability Testbed.The OGC North American Forum (NAF), a group of 53 OGC members in North America, addresses OGC standards requirements, OGC program coordination, outreach and education needs of government, academic, research and industry organizations in Canada, US and Mexico.Some of the prototypes may ultimately become OGC standards, revisions to existing OGC standards, or best practices for using OGC standards.Some of the Testbed 11 sponsors have already begun assembling interoperability requirements for Testbed 12, which will begin in the fall.Learn more about the 15 year old OGC Interoperability Program in which OGC testbeds, pilot projects and interoperability experiments are organized, planned and managed.

On 4 June, 2015 the Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC®) will demonstrate the results of the eleventh OGC Interoperability Testbed.Nine Testbed 11 sponsors documented interoperability requirements and objectives for this activity.Some of the prototypes may ultimately become OGC standards, revisions to existing OGC standards, or best practices for using OGC standards.Some of the Testbed 11 sponsors have already begun assembling interoperability requirements for Testbed 12, which will begin in the fall.See http://www.opengeospatial.org/ogc/programs/ip for more information about the 15 year old OGC Interoperability Program in which OGC testbeds, pilot projects and interoperability experiments are organized, planned and managed.

The Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC®) has issued a Request for Quotation/Call for Participation (RFP/CFP)in the OGC Testbed 11 Interoperability Testbed.Testbed 11 sponsors have documented interoperability requirements and objectives for this testbed activity.Participants’ solutions will implement existing OGC standards as well as new prototype interface and encoding specifications introduced or developed in Testbed 11.Prototype specifications may ultimately become OGC standards, revisions to existing OGC standards, or best practices for using OGC standards.See http://www.opengeospatial.org/ogc/programs/ip for more information about the 15 year old OGC Interoperability Program in which OGC testbeds, pilot projects and interoperability experiments are organized, planned and managed.

31 January 2013 - The Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) has announced a Call for Participation (CFP) in the OGC MilOps Geospatial Interoperability Experiment (MOGIE).The purpose of this experiment is to ensure interoperability of the MilOps Domain with the OGCs geospatial standards and with tools built on those standards.The OGC members that are acting as initiators of the Interoperability Experiment are:National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA)MITREGeorgia Tech Research Institute (GTRI) (http://www.gtri.gatech.edu)Expressions of interest for participation are due by 4 March 2013.Georgia Tech Research Institute (GTRI) is also one of the organizations that will be participating in the Interoperability Experiment.An OGC Interoperability Experiment is a rapid, low overhead, formally structured OGC-facilitated activity in which members achieve specific technical objectives that further the OGC Technical Baseline.

The Open Geospatial Consortium, Inc. (OGC®) invites participation in an OGC 3D Fusion Summit to be held June 23, 2009 at the Stata Center at MIT in Cambridge, Massachusetts.The OGCs 3-D Information Management Domain Working Group (3DIM WG) is becoming an important forum activity for discussing and promoting the convergence of 3-D visualization, CAD-GIS integration, and Building Information Modeling (BIM).In addition, the same standards support scene visualization and decision support systems in defense, intelligence and emergency management.For OGC 3D Fusion Summit information, agenda and registration, see http://www.opengeospatial.org/event/0906233dfusion.OGC Standards empower technology developers to make geospatial information and services accessible and useful with any application that needs to be geospatially enabled.

Wayland, Mass., March 13, 2009 - The Open Geospatial Consortium, Inc. (OGC®) announces that PCI Geomatics has upgraded its OGC membership level to Strategic membership.PCI Geomatics (as PCI Remote Sensing) was one of the eight charter members of OGC at its founding in 1994.Strategic Membership is the highest level of OGC membership.Mark Reichardt, OGC President and CEO of the OGC, comments, We are extremely fortunate to have PCI Geomatics as a Strategic Member of the Consortium.In addition to their continued commitment to advancing OGC standards, PCI will mobilize significant energy and resources to help OGC further globalize its standards and programs in nations and regions where the OGC is underrepresented.

The Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) (formerly the Open GIS Consortium), announced that it will conduct live, multi-vendor demonstrations of Web-based geoprocessing interoperability at Interoperability 2004 - Integrating process, organization, systems.This conference, organized by the Institute for Defense & Government Advancement (IDGA) will be held October 20 - 21, 2004 in Washington, DC.The demonstrations will be part of a Wednesday, October 20 workshop titled, Net Centric Interoperability for Multi-Source Integration and Application.A standards-based interoperability framework for geospatial data and Web-based geoprocessing services is of critical importance to the advancement of NCES, Horizontal Fusion initiatives, and other critical DoD and homeland security objectives.OGCs framework, the product of a decade-long, global industry effort, has been tested and broadly implemented in the geospatial technology marketplace.

Sponsored by the US Army Engineering and Development Center (ERDC), this pilot project will draw on technology developers and integrators to demonstrate the power of OGC specifications and interoperable products in support of national, multinational and coalition defense operations.Additional details on the Military Pilot Project and the Phase I Request for Quotation can be found at http://ip.opengeospatial.org/mpp .OGCs fast-track Interoperability Program, organized to work in conjunction with its consensus-based specifications process, accelerates the development of interoperable infrastructures by means of hands on prototyping.As part of OGCs Interoperability Program, the WMT MPP will benefit from OGC proven practices to deliver results in minimal time.For additional information, please contact Mr. Jeff Harrison, the Interoperability Program Director for OGC, at (703) 628-8655, or.

The Open GIS Consortium, Inc. (OGC) announced today that Sam A. Bacharach joined OGCs staff in March as Interoperability Program Manager.In this role, Mr. Bacharach is responsible for the management of testbeds, demonstrations, prototypes, pilot programs, reference implementations, and technology insertion plans that advance OpenGIS standards for geospatial processing.Before he worked for Intergraph, Mr. Bacharach was a U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Topographic Officer.Mr. Bacharach had early army experience as a Military Intelligence Officer in the early 1970s in Germany and then as a Combat Engineer in the early 1980s.Mr. Bacharach holds a Bachelor of Science, Journalism and Master of Science Geography from the University of Idaho, Moscow, ID.

The Open GIS Consortium, Inc. (OGC) announced today that Jeffrey G. Harrison joined OGCs staff in August as an Interoperability Program Specialist.Mr. Harrison is also responsible for enlisting the support and involvement of US Federal, State and Local Government sectors in OGCs Interoperability Initiatives.Prior to joining OGC, Mr. Harrison was the Program Manager for the US Army Engineer Research and Development Center (ERDC) Web Mapping Technology (WMT) Program.Prior to joining ERDC, Mr. Harrison held various project and program management positions with the U.S. Department of Defense.Mr. Harrison is a regular speaker on interoperable geoprocessing technology at technical conferences, meetings, seminars, and symposia.

Wayland, Massachusetts, USA April 8, 1997 - The Open GIS Consortium, Inc. (OGC) announced today that six organizations became members in February and March of 1997, bringing OGCs total membership to 94.OGC coordinates development of the OpenGIS Specification for common interfaces and services that support access to diverse geographic data and geoprocessing resources in networked computing environments.SGI, maker of high performance graphics workstations and servers, has many customers involved in applications such as geographic information systems (GIS), Earth imaging, and distributed interactive simulation.OPEN INTELLECTs Atlanta Metropolitan Forum for Open Spatial Information Systems supports the efforts of both OGC and the Federal Geographic Data Committee.OGC coordinates development of the OpenGIS Specification and also facilitates related business development and institutional adoption of open systems approaches to the collection, management, distribution, and processing of digital geographic information.