New OGC Working Group will provide an open forum for the discussion and presentation of ongoing OGC efforts supporting global Climate Action.

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The Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) is excited to announce the formation of a new Climate Resilience Domain Working Group (DWG).

The OGC Climate Resilience DWG will provide an open forum for the discussion and presentation of interoperability requirements, use cases, pilots, and implementations of OGC Standards in the context of cross-sector climate actions.

During multiple Climate Ad Hoc Sessions during OGC Member Meetings, as well as side events of the UNFCCCs Regional Climate Weeks 2021 and at COP26, the overarching topic of discussions has been how to design FAIR Climate Services – that is, Climate Resilience Information Systems where not only the data but the entire system is tailored to FAIR principles,  of being Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, and Reusable. Moving towards FAIR Climate Resilience Information Systems is a big step towards climate action. The discussions around FAIR Climate Services in OGC have so far been fueled by contributions from ESA, NASA, WMO, ECMWF, NRCan, and many others. The UNFCCC regional climate weeks have also provided perspectives and input from Africa and Asia-Pacific, particularly the African Climate Service ACMAD and the Japanese Climate Service.

Targeted activities of the OGC Climate Resilience DWG will include defining, collecting, analyzing, and communicating data streams to build value from raw data through effective information visualization and interpretation. The scope of the Climate Resilience DWG supports any action that accelerates our collective readiness to access, fuse, and analyze data related to climate change with Earth Observation or any other type of data relevant for climate action in order to contribute to the global push for achieving climate resilience. The goal of this DWG is to support the development of a reliable foundation for science services that are used in climate change actions.

The OGC Climate Resilience DWG is aligned with the sustainable development goals (SDGs) defined by the United Nations (UN).

OGC is invested in several projects related to climate: CLINT is enhancing climate services with artificial intelligence with a focus on extreme event detection; CLIMOS is providing a bridge to the health community with prediction of vector borne diseases transmitted by sandflies;  AllData4GreenDeal will better exploit the existing European data spaces in support on the EU Green deal; and the GEOE3 geospatially enabled ecosystem for Europe is establishing cross-border data exchange mechanisms to enhance planning processes. See the full list of OGC Innovation Initiatives here.

Dissemination of OGC work and ideas related to climate resilience has also appeared at many recent conferences: EMS 2021; FOSS4G with a publication Deployment Of Ai-Enhanced Services In Climate Resilience Information Systems; Copernicus Climate Change Service C3S General Assembly; The second GCOS Climate Observation Conference; and GEO-Week in Accra Ghana.

The OGC Climate Resilience DWG is chaired by Angel Lopez (Director of the Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S)), Ryan Ahola (Natural Resources Canada), and Allan Jamieson (Ordnance Survey).

Climate Resilience Pilot ‘22 Q&A Session
OGC is Calling for Participation (CFP) in our Climate Resilience Pilot ‘22, which is an ongoing series of activities involving climate data geospatial services analytical functions, capabilities, use cases, and more. As part of the CFP process, there will be a virtual Q&A session for interested participants, held 09:00-10:00am US Eastern on November 8, 2022.

OGC Members can join the Q&A call via the OGC Portal page here. Non-members can sign up to the Climate Resilience Domain Working Group Mailing List to receive dial-in details nearer to the event.

OGC Members can join the Climate Resilience Domain Working Group using the following Portal Page. OGC DWG’s are open to the public. Non-OGC Members can join the Climate Resilience DWG by signing up to the mailing list here.

About OGC
The Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) is a collective problem-solving community of more than 550 experts representing industry, government, research and academia, collaborating to make geospatial (location) information and services FAIR – Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, and Reusable.
The global OGC Community engages in a mix of activities related to location-based technologies: developing consensus-based open standards and best-practices; collaborating on problem solving in agile innovation initiatives; participating in member meetings, events, and workshops; and more.
OGC’s unique standards development process moves at the pace of innovation, with constant input from technology forecasting, practical prototyping, real-world testing, and community engagement.
OGC bridges disparate sectors, domains, and technology trends, and encourages the cross-pollination of ideas between different communities of practice to improve decision-making at all levels. OGC is committed to creating an inclusive and sustainable future.
Visit ogc.org for more info on our work.

Tags:

Climate, Climate Change, Digital Twins, Disaster Resilience, OGC APIs, Spatial Data Infrastructure