Wayland, MA, May 11, 2004 – The Open GIS Consortium Inc. (OGC) announced that its first Interoperability Experiment (IE) will test a GML 3.0 application schema for encoding LandXML 1.0 documents (LandGML) and will provide a tool to transform LandXML 1.0 documents into LandGML documents. In a second phase, a tool will be developed to transform LandGML documents to LandXML 1.0 documents.LandXML is an industry-driven, open XML data exchange standard that provides interoperability in more than 40 software applications serving the civil engineering, survey and transportation industries. The LandXML.org Industry Consortium, initiated by Autodesk and now comprised of 190 companies, government agencies and universities, developed the standard. The OpenGIS® Geography Markup Language (GML) is an XML encoding for geospatial data developed by OGC members. It's currently an approved specification at release 3.1.This effort is the first of a new type of activity within OGC. An Interoperability Experiment is primarily led and executed by OGC members, and is intended to achieve a technical objective that furthers OGC goals for standards and interoperability. Interoperability Experiments are focused efforts, allowing interested members to address a small part of a larger goal.The LandGML IE was initiated by US Army Corps of Engineers, ERDC, Autodesk and Galdos Systems. The project is expected to kick off in June. Detailed instructions for potential participants, who must be OGC members, are available at http://www.opengeospatial.org/initiatives/?iid=133.OGC is an international industry consortium of more than 250 companies, government agencies and universities participating in a consensus process to develop publicly available interface specifications. OpenGIS® Specifications support interoperable solutions that “geo-enable” the Web, wireless and location-based services, and mainstream IT. The specifications empower technology developers to make complex spatial information and services accessible and useful with all kinds of applications. Visit the OGC website at http://www.opengeospatial.org.– end –“