OGC API – Records supports the ability to access, browse or search a curated collection of records known as a catalog. The Standard supports different types of catalog deployments, namely: crawlable, searchable, and local resources catalogs.
The OGC API – Records – Part 1: Core Standard defines a web interface for accessing, browsing or searching one or more collections of records. A record is the atomic unit of information in a catalog. A record therefore represents resource characteristics that can be presented for evaluation and further processing by both humans and software. Examples of resources include a data collection, an API, a service, a process, a style, an Earth observation asset, a machine learning model, a code list and so on.
A record contains descriptive information (metadata) about a resource such as:
- a title,
- a human readable description of the resource,
- the nature or genre of the resource,
- keywords associated with the resource,
- information about the publisher or provider of the resource,
- links to access the resource,
- etc.
OGC API – Records is designed as a modern, API-based alternative to the Catalogue Services Standards. The API is designed to be compatible but not conformant with the OGC Catalogue Service for the Web (CSW) Standard. This allows OGC API - Records implementations and CSW implementations to co-exist in a single processing environment.
To help developers quickly implement products that support this standard, example API definitions and schemas are available on the OGC API – Records webpage. These resources conform to OpenAPI Specification v3.0, making them easy to integrate into various Web APIs.
OGC API – Records – Part 1: Core is the outcome of the work and dedication of the OGC API – Records Standards Working Group. Development of the Standard was led by the following editors and submitters:
- Panagiotis (Peter) A. Vretanos, CubeWerx
- Tom Kralidis, Meteorological Service of Canada
- Angelos Tzotsos, Open Source Geospatial Foundation
- Charles Heazel, HeazelTech
- Linda van den Brink, Geonovum
From Panagiotis (Peter) A. Vretanos, Chief Technology Officer of CubeWerx:
“Catalogs are indispensable tools in the effective management and utilization of geographic information, particularly when built upon Open Standards. Their primary importance lies in facilitating the discovery and accessibility of relevant geospatial datasets, services and processes. Open Standards, such as the “OGC API – Records – Part 1: Core” Standard, provide standardized interfaces for publishing and searching metadata records, allowing diverse users and applications to find data, services and processes across federated or distributed systems. Ultimately, catalogs leveraging Open Standards enhance data understanding, promote data sharing and collaboration, support better data governance, and empower more informed, spatially-aware decision-making across countless applications, contributing to a more connected and efficient global geospatial infrastructure.”
From Angelos Tzotsos, President of Open Source Geospatial Foundation:
“Discovery of data plays a vital role in the geospatial domain. Open data catalogues have been the engine for interoperability and innovation. OGC API – Records – Part 1: Core standard is the next step for bringing geospatial catalogues closer to the developers and end users closer to open data. Free and Open Source Software has been an important contributor to the new era of OGC Standards, offering numerous reference implementations.”
From Tom Kralidis, Senior Geospatial Architect, Meteorological Service of Canada:
“Discovery and Search has been a long time effort in the geospatial community. The recent explosion in data volumes has further driven the need for low barrier and flexible search. OGC API – Records – Part 1: Core leverages the design patterns, models and lessons learned in the metadata and geospatial search communities, and builds on them with the OGC API principles and framework. The WMO Information System (WIS2) is a key adopter of OGC API – Records for both search as well as discovery metadata representation, in support of discovery of weather/climate/water resources for 193 members via the WIS2 Global Discovery Catalogue. Part 1 provides the baseline to core search functionality for geospatial data infrastructures, resulting in broad search interoperability for numerous communities, domains and tools across geospatial, science, and mass market.”
As with any OGC Standard, the OGC API – Records – Part 1: Core Standard is free to download and implement. Interested parties can learn more on the OGC API – Records Standard webpage.