Coverages Domain Working Group

Overview

The scope of this Discussion Working Group (DWG) is all topics related to coverage data and processing.

Project Scope

The central purpose of the Coverages WG is to promote and oversee development of OGC Implementation Specifications for exploitation of, and accessing, coverage data, including images and other grid coverages. Secondary purposes include promoting use of these specifications, and refining the OGC Abstract Specification as may be needed to better support these specifications.

Background

The Coverages Domain Working Group (DWG) is centered on the crucial role of coverage services in image exploitation, which extends to meticulous ground position measurements and object dimension assessments in both rectified and unrectified images, as well as other coverage forms. These services, detailed in Subclause 2.2 of the OGC Abstract Specification Topic 15 “Image Exploitation Services” [OGC 00-115], offer a broad taxonomy that is also pertinent to other coverage types. Image exploitation is increasingly integral to decision support systems, serving as a conduit between raw data and actionable information. The specifications related to coverage within the DWG’s purview are indispensable for the utilization of images and various coverage types. Images and other coverages are often the primary source for a wide spectrum of existing geospatial data. Services capable of extracting features from coverages, such as digital elevations from stereoscopic images, are in demand. These coverage exploitation services are becoming direct facilitators for decision support systems, providing a critical link from data to information. While image exploitation services are commonly used within photogrammetric systems through proprietary interfaces, there is a notable absence of open standard interfaces for many essential coverage services, a gap the DWG aims to address.

Activities

The activities of the Coverages Working Group are primarily concerned with the utilization and enhancement of a suite of OGC Implementation Specifications that pertain to images and other types of coverages for exploitation purposes. These specifications, both approved and in draft form, provide a framework for handling, sharing, and processing geospatial imagery and coverages. The list includes Web Coverage Service (WCS), Web Map Service (WMS), Web Processing Service (WPS), and Geography Markup Language (GML. While some of these specifications handle non-coverage feature data, the Coverages WG’s mandate is to focus on the aspects related to images and other coverage data, ensuring that these services are optimized for various exploitation tasks within the geospatial domain.