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All news (1448 match criteria)

OGC Advances Location Services Interoperability at GIS In Telecoms 2001

Staff and members of the Open GIS Consortium, Inc. (OGC) (Wayland, MA) contributed significantly to the recent top-level IIR GIS in Telecoms Conference held November 12-15 in Geneva, Switzerland.Seventy leading technologists and managers at telecommunications and GIS companies gathered to hear and present talks related to the spatial data needs of the telecoms market.OGCs first Open Location Services (OLS) Forum was held in conjunction with the meeting.In the conference and at the OLS Forum, Louis Hecht, OGCs VP Business Development, spoke about the importance of an open standards infrastructure for Location Based Services.Location Services is at the intersection of these three technology areas.

OGC Requests Input to Build Directory of Interoperable Products

Wayland, MA, USA, November 7, 2001 – The Open GIS Consortium, Inc. (OGC) announces the development of an authoritative index of software products that implement OpenGIS® Interface Specifications.OGC requests the assistance of technology developers worldwide to help establish a directory that will be the ultimate source of information about software products and services that use OGCs interoperability specifications.Since 1998 when the first publicly available OGC Interface Specification was announced, an additional five interface specifications have been approved and released through the OGC consensus process for use by technology developers worldwide.In addition, there are numerous OGC Discussion and Recommendation papers for a group of draft interface specifications.These include Geocoding, Geoparser, Gazetteer, Web Coverage Server, Web Terrain Server, and Style Layer Descriptor.

OGC Seeks Input on Next Web Mapping Specification

The RFC for the OpenGIS Web Feature Server Implementation Specification documents an interface specification for vector data access and transaction manipulation on geographic features.A read-only web feature server would implement the interface capabilities provided by the existing OpenGIS Web Map Server Specification: GetCapabilities, DescribeFeatureType and GetFeature operations.A transaction web feature server would implement in addition the Transaction operation, and, optionally, the LockFeature operation.Through various Interoperability Initiatives, the OGC membership is defining a comprehensive Web Services suite of OpenGIS Specifications, including the existing Web Map Server (WMS), the pending Web Feature Server (WFS), and the future Web Coverage Server, Web Terrain Server, Geocoding, and Routing.Organizations interested in learning more about the OGC Web Services Initiative should visit OGCs website at http://www.opengeospatial.org .

OGC Releases Call for Participation / Request for Quotation for Multi-Hazard Mapping Initiative

jharrison [at] opengeospatial.orgWayland, MA, USA, October 25, 2001 – The Open GIS Consortium, Inc. (OGC) announces that a Call for Participation / Request for Quotation for the Multi-Hazard Mapping Initiative (MMI) Phase I is available for download at http://ip.opengeospatial.org/mmi/ .During the pilot, spatial information from multiple agencies and sources will be accessed across the Internet using vendor products and reference implementations developed during OGCs previous Interoperability Initiatives.Inquiries related to MMI should be addressed to Mr. Jeff Harrison, Director of OGC Interoperability Programs,, or (703) 491-9543.OGC is an international industry consortium of more than 220 companies, government agencies and universities participating in a consensus process to develop publicly available geoprocessing specifications.OpenGIS® Specifications support interoperable solutions that geo-enable the Web, wireless and location-based services, and mainstream IT, and empower technology developers to make complex spatial information and services accessible and useful with all kinds of applications.

OGC Announces Kick Off of OGC Web Services Initiative

jharrison [at] opengeospatial.orgWayland, MA, USA, October 23, 2001 – The Open GIS Consortium, Inc. (OGC) (Wayland, MA) announced that Phase 1 of its OGC Web Services Initiative (OWS-1) has begun.The OWS-1 initiative mission is the definition and specification of interfaces that support interoperability among geospatially enabled web services.Once a Web service is deployed, other applications and other Web services can discover and invoke the deployed service.The current OWS-1 Thread Set is focusing on: – Common Architecture: OGC Services Model, OGC Registry Services, and Sensor Model Language.Organizations interested in learning more about the OGC Web Services Initiative should contact Mr. Jeff Harrison, Director of OGC Interoperability Programs, (703) 491-9543,.

OGC and IIR Host GIS In Telecoms 2001 Seminar

The Open GIS Consortium, Inc. (OGC) (Wayland, MA) and IIR Conferences-UK (UK) announce their joint sponsorship of GIS In Telecoms 2001, a multi-speaker seminar to be held 12-15 November 2001 at the Intercontinental Geneva hotel in Geneva, Switzerland.This IIR conference is the best place to hear from and talk with high-level technologists and managers from telecommunications operators and GIS companies who understand the unique spatial data needs of the telecoms market.GIS In Telecoms will also provide GIS software developers and data providers with a singular opportunity to learn about the specific needs of the telecoms market so they can make the right choices when adapting their product and service portfolios.Attendees will hear from Sam Bacharach, Manager of OGCs OpenLS (Open Location Services) Initiative Testbed, and Harry Niedzwiadek, the OpenLS Testbed Architect.This testbed is developing candidate open interface specifications that will provide the critical interoperability infrastructure for location services.

OGC and GITA to Join Forces on Geospatial Interoperability

Wayland, MA, USA, October 5, 2001 – The Open GIS Consortium, Inc. (OGC) and the Geospatial Information & Technology Association (GITA), Aurora, Colorado, have signed a memorandum of understanding aimed at working together to accomplish common objectives.GITA Executive Director Bob Samborski comments, GITA members are on the cutting edge of technology spanning many uses of geospatial technology.OGC President David Schell said, This partnership provides a superb opportunity for GITA and OGC to enhance our ability to meet the expanding needs of a growing community of spatial information users.OGCs process for introducing interoperability into the market depends on close communication with both the technology development and user communities.The mission of the Geospatial Information & Technology Association is to provide excellence in education and information exchange on the use and benefits of geospatial information and technology in telecommunications, infrastructure, and utility applications worldwide.

OGC and FGDC Grow Interoperability in Local Governments

The workshop aimed to connect new local government hosted map servers with National Spatial Data Infrastructure (NSDI) Clearinghouse data catalogs to enable greater use of spatial information.Attendees were recipients of FGDC Cooperative Agreement Program funding geared to help local organizations integrate NSDI Clearinghouse and Web Mapping capabilities.As part of the 2000 and 2001 CAP program, the FGDC provided assistance to twelve state and local GIS organizations to address Clearinghouse Integration with Web Mapping.Each recipient works with FGDC, OGC and integrators to enhance existing GIS data servers to support OGC interfaces and link the servers to National Geospatial Data Clearinghouse.For further information about the Web Map CAP Workshop, please contact Inquiries Mr. Jeff Harrison, Director of OGC Interoperability Programs,, or (703) 491-9543.

Twenty-nine Sponsors and Participants Tackle Interoperable Location Services in OGC Testbed

The use of open platforms in the fast growing location services sector will be a key market enabler, and will help increase the ability of companies offering location based services to compete across the various networks and platforms that characterize the global location services market.Achieving the full value for location services depends on consistent communication across different regions, technology platforms, networks, application domains, and classes of products.Each of the OpenLS Sponsors and Participants believes that a truly interoperable Open Location Services Platform is essential for long-term success in this market.OpenLS Testbed Sponsors include: Hutchison 3G, a mobile multi-media company, will be providing requirements, engineering and other technical expertise as part of the testbed.Together, the Sponsors and Participants will develop candidate interface specifications across multiple platforms in the location services universe.

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