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 that change the way information is shared, to providing key updates about the OGC Innovation Program, a forum for OGC members to solve the latest and hardest geospatial challenges via a collaborative and agile process. 

The 118th Member Meeting is focused on multiple critical domains, each with their own unique challenges, innovations, and opportunities. They are health, new space technologies, climate change, and APIs development. 

Here is an overview of what is happening at the 118th Member Meeting.

Preventing the next COVID-19 at the OGC Heath Summit

It has been more than a year since the COVID-19 pandemic began, and the world continues to grapple with new realities that have health best practices injected into almost every moment of the average person’s life. As vaccines begin to roll out across the globe and we look back at the beginnings of the pandemic, can we learn how the power of location could be better harnessed to help solve, but more importantly, prevent future pandemics? Learn more at the upcoming OGC Member Meeting Health Summit. 

Keynote: Dr. Ramesh S Krishnamurthy, PhD., Senior Adviser, Division of Data, Analytics and Delivery for Impact, World Health Organization Dr. Krishnamurthy will open the OGC Health Summit with a thought provoking keynote on opportunities missed during the COVID global response; and how geospatial technologies could be better utilized going forward not only for COVID but for any future pandemics. 
Session One: Smart Cities
Smart, Safe, & Resilient Cities – Making Citizens Healthier To discuss and explore the intersection between Geospatial Technology, Smart Cities and Public Health.Moderator:
Luis E Bermudez, CEO GeoSolutions USPanelists:Eugene W Grant, Mayor, Seat Pleasant, MDJeanne Holm, Deputy Mayor, Los Angeles, CA Skip Newberry, President and CEO, Technology Association of Oregon
Session Two: Healthcare Sector FocusHealth Sector Challenges & Opportunities for Geospatial to Contribute Purpose: The panel aims to foster a conversation between the health sector and the geospatial community – so the geospatial community can begin to learn and understand health challenges and the health sector can begin to learn and understand what geospatial tech can offer.Moderator:
Ram Peruvemba, MD, FASA. Panelists:Marcus Shipley, Chief Innovation and Information Officer, Trinity Health Io Blair-Freese, Program Manager, Gates FoundationKristen Kurland, Professor, Carnegie Mellon University 

The OGC Member Meeting Developer Track aims to improve our revolutionary APIs

OGC APIs are revolutionary for developers because they make location information more accessible than ever before. They are implementer-friendly and easily understandable by developers without geospatial experience.

With this in mind, OGC aims to make our standards even more accessible by providing targeted content through a Developer Track at the 118th Member Meeting to assist with  implementing and sharing API best practices. The focus of this initial track will be on OGC APIs for Processes, Records, and Tiles.

The track will include updates across the OGC API standards, current implementations, discussion, hands-on development opportunity, and demonstrations. 

Delivering standards and interoperable solutions through New Space technologies 

New Space technologies are evolving as quickly as the many domains and industries they support. At the OGC Member Meeting, there will be multiple sessions involving New Space ranging from agriculture to climate. Sessions include:

Earth Observation Exploitation Platform Domain Working Group MeetingMarch 22, 11:15am – 12:45pm
Discrete Global Grid SystemsMarch 22, 6:15 – 7:45pm
GeoAI Domain Working Group MeetingMarch 23 9- 10:30am
3D Information Management Domain Working Group MeetingMarch 24 9-10:30am
Emergency and Disaster Management Domain Working GroupMarch 24 11:15am – 12:45pm
Defense and Intelligence Domain Working GroupMarch 25, 4-5:30pm
Blockchain Domain Working Group MeetingMarch 26 9-1030am

The OGC Agriculture Domain Working Group is forecasting what is next for interoperability among agricultural systems

In the last five years, the OGC Agriculture Domain Working Groups has organised a number of events discussing different aspects of interoperability. For the 118th OGC Member Meeting, we decided to organize a workshop prior to the Meeting week. The workshop occurred on 17th March between 2 PM and 6 PM CET.  

The workshop consisted of two parts: The first part was dedicated to the presentation of a limited number of reference architectures, which were developed over the last few years or which are now being designed (e.g., in relation to the European initiative Destination E).  The second part was a moderated Round Table that analyzed actual challenges and issues, defined the most important standardization and harmonization tasks, identified different standardization efforts, and prepared recommendations to other OGC working groups and developers of related platforms.

Looking ahead: What else the Member Meeting has to offer

As the 118th OGC Member Meeting continues throughout the week of March 22, Health, Developers, New Space, and Agriculture will not be the only focus areas. Individuals and organizations across domains such as Defense, Marine, and Air Traffic Management, Smart Cities, will also be working together to help enable Findable Accessible Interoperable and Reusable location information, both through standards development as well as research and development projects through the OGC Innovation Program. 

Tags:

Agriculture, Code Sprints, OGC APIs, Space