Benefits of OGC Membership

Market growth based on interoperability benefits both technology users and providers, and OGC members are at the forefront.

Through the OGC, technology users are able to maximize the value of past and future investments in geoprocessing systems and data. They:

• Develop architectures and procurement plans for systems that enable them to share and reuse data, thus decreasing costs (avoiding redundant data collection), getting more or better information, and increasing the value of data holdings. Vastly improved inter-organizational data sharing is a key benefit.
• Position their organizations to: choose the best tool for the job, optimize work flows, and reduce technology and procurement risk (i.e., avoid being locked in to one vendor or an unsatisfactory solution).
• Enable more of their people with less training to benefit from using geospatial data in more applications: That is, they leverage their investments in software and data.
• Get to know, evaluate, and begin working with interoperable technologies in "real life" testbed and prototyping settings, at low cost, often with partner organizations.
• Influence interface design, avoiding the wait for strictly vendor-side developments that then need to be further customized to fully suit requirements.
• Gain alignment with the "center" that executives and investors regard as essential. The OGC's link with ISO TC/211 and other standards groups ensures that an organization's modernization puts them in the technology mainstream.
• Receive complimentary TC meeting registrations according to membership level

  Membership Level	Number of Complimentary Registrations per TC/PC Meeting
  Associate	1
  Technical	2
  Principal	4
  Strategic	20

In OGC, technology providers:

• Position themselves to take advantage of opportunities for commerce in interoperable products, discovering early through testbeds and pilot projects what's possible and what's needed in market sectors, and making product development decisions based on known user requirements.
• Share costs of developing interoperability technologies, hastening time-to-market and extending the profit period in their product life cycles.
• Influence the content, timing and scope of standards.
• Provide niche solutions that build on other vendors' offerings.
• Form relationships with user organizations, globally.
• Link to the international geospatial standards community. Key organizations represented in TC/211 and the Chairman of ISO TC/211 participate in OGC.
• Have a forum to discuss industry issues and solve shared problems.
• Receive discounts on Compliance branding (see fee table.)

Data suppliers and integrators, who may be both technology providers and technology users, benefit as described above, and they:

• Can make data offerings discoverable, accessible and usable on the Web.
• Easily partner with more than one GIS platform provider, through one set of interfaces, thus broadening the range of their offering.
• Learn to provide "interface management" services to their customers.

All members benefit from the opportunities the OGC provides for communicating with others in the industry. The OGC's website, meetings, listservs, and events connect geospatial technology users and providers and help geospatial information communities develop best practices for data sharing. The OGC Speakers Bureau gives members a way to increase their visibility and associate their organizations' names with the OGC. The OGC provides the world's best pool of expertise for discussions of geospatial technology policy. Overall, the OGC contributes in unique and important ways to a thriving geospatial industry, and this benefits everyone.