Testbeds
Collaborate with global partners to prototype, integrate, and validate emerging geospatial technologies that shape the future of interoperability.
Our most ambitious collaborative initiatives.
Advance Innovation Through OGC Testbeds
Some challenges are too important—and too complex—for any one organization to solve alone. Testbeds bring sponsors, technology providers, researchers, and implementers together to explore what’s next, creating practical solutions to the geospatial challenges shaping the future.
What Are Testbeds?
Typically lasting a year and funded by multiple sponsors, Testbeds tackle forward-looking challenges such as AI-ready data, digital twins, semantic interoperability, and managing information across interconnected systems and data from low Earth orbit. Together, the community explores new approaches before they become everyday practice.
Who Participates?
Sponsors
Organizations including NASA, ESA, NGA, NRCan, and others use Testbeds as a structured, precompetitive way to accelerate innovation, share costs, and help shape the future of geospatial technology.
Participants
Members—from established companies to first-time contributors—work alongside peers to prototype solutions, influence emerging standards, and help define what’s next.
How It Works
Define the Challenge
Sponsors bring forward strategic challenges, which OGC translates into clear, fundable work items.
Secure Funding
OGC brings sponsors together around shared priorities, combining resources to increase what each investment can achieve.
Build the Team
Open Calls invite the community to participate. Multiple organizations collaborate on each work item, encouraging new thinking and avoiding reliance on existing solutions alone.
Share the Results
Every Testbed produces demonstrations, engineering reports, and practical recommendations that inform future implementations and feed directly back into Domain Working Groups and Standards Working Groups.
Current Testbeds
OGC Testbed-22: Advancing Geospatial Interoperability Through Collaborative Research and Development
Towards Greater Interoperability:
OGC Testbed-21 initiative
Recent Testbeds
- New Imagery Formats Optimized for Annoted Still and Moving Imagery
- Intergrity, Provenance, and Trust by Design
- Data Cubes and Data Cube APIs for Multi-dimensional Data
- Cloud Optimized Geospatial Data Formats
- Analysis Ready Data
- AI and Machine Learning
Part of Apply
Testbeds are one of the primary ways members participate in Apply. They explore emerging technologies and approaches, while Pilots demonstrate focused solutions in operational environments. Together they move innovation from concept to proven practice.