NOTE: This content has been updated. See the bottom of the page for RFI Clarification Telecon details.

Wayland, MA, July 16, 2009.The Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC®) has issued a Request for Information (RFI) ( http://www.opengeospatial.org/standards/requests/59 ) to solicit industry input into a Fusion Standards Study to be conducted in preparation for the planned OGC Web Services, Phase 7 (OWS-7) Testbed. OGC also seeks to establish alliances with other Standards Development Organizations (SDOs) having technology relevant to fusion.

In the context of this RFI, “Fusion is the act or process of combining two or more pieces of data or information regarding one or more entities in order to improve the capability for detection, identification, or characterization of that entity”.

This RFI is based on requirements and contributions from several OGC Member organizations, including the National Geospatial-intelligence Agency (NGA), BAE Systems – C3I Systems, and Lockheed Martin.

The Study will conduct a survey of standards and implementations that support geospatial fusion. It will review existing standards regarding fusion; recommend future standards or integration or harmonization of standards; and plan for evaluating standards through OGC's OWS-7 testbed to be conducted later this year.

Responses to the RFI are requested by August 12, 2009. The RFI includes instructions for how organizations can respond. Please contact George Percivall at gpercivall@opengeospatial.org with any questions.

OGC testbeds, pilot projects and interoperability experiments are part of OGC's Interoperability Program, a global, hands-on collaborative prototyping program designed to rapidly develop, test and deliver proven candidate specifications into OGC's Specification Program, where they are formalized for public release.

The OGC® is an international consortium of more than 380 companies, government agencies, research organizations, and universities participating in a consensus process to develop publicly available geospatial standards. OpenGIS® Standards support interoperable solutions that “geo-enable” the Web, wireless and location-based services, and mainstream IT. OGC Standards empower technology developers to make geospatial information and services accessible and useful with any application that needs to be geospatially enabled. Visit the OGC homepage at http://www.opengeospatial.org/.

RFI Clarification Telecon – 28 July 2009

An RFI Clarification Conference Call will be held on 28 July 2009, 11:00 am EDT. Logistics are provided below.

The Telecon will include a short overview of the RFI by OGC and then will seek discussion from the teleconference participants. As of 24 hours before the conference call, no questions or requests for clarification have been received. For those who are unable to attend the call, we will post a summary of the questions and clarifications addressed during the conference call the day following.

Logistics:

– To join the teleconference use this dial-in information: +1 512 225 3050 passcode: 55699#.

– To join the Webex session:
1. Go to https://opengeospatial.webex.com/opengeospatial/j.php?ED=114548557&UID=0&PW=c9010522393823292f6b7e7b0201
2. Enter your name and email address.
3. Enter the meeting password: FusionRFI28
4. Click “Join Now”.

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