Wayland, Mass., November 10, 2003 – The Open GIS Consortium, Inc. (OGC) moved two OpenGIS(R) Web Services specifications through the approval process during a meeting held recently in Spain. The Technical and Planning Committees adopted the Web Coverage Service Specification, which defines how to access gridded geographic data and moved the Web Terrain Service Specification, which details how to render vector and raster data as a 3D view, to Request For Comment status.The Web Coverage Service (WCS) provides access to intact, raw data such as imagery, digital elevation matrix (DEM) and other types of gridded data. Unlike the Web Map Service (WMS), which returns static maps, the Web Coverage Service provides only data access. Typically client-side applications will model, analyze and render the data. WCS was submitted by BAE SYSTEMS – Information Systems Sector (U.S.), Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) Exploration and Mining (Australia), CubeWerx Inc. (Canada), German Aerospace Center – DLR (Germany), Galdos Systems Inc. (Canada), George Mason University (U.S.), Intergraph Mapping and Geospatial Solutions (U.S.), IONIC Software (Belgium). MITRE Corporation (U.S.), National Aeronautics and Space Administration (U.S.), PCI Geomatics, Inc. (Canada), Polexis, Inc. (U.S.), Raytheon Company (U.S.), United States Army Corps of Engineers, and the United States Geological Survey. The approved specification is publicly available for download at http://www.opengeospatial.org/specs/?page=specs .The Web Terrain Service (WTS) specification defines a standard interface for requesting three-dimensional terrain scenes from a server capable of their generation. A “3D scene” is defined as a 2D projection of three-dimensional features into a viewing plane. The membership approved WTS as a Request for Comment. OGC invites any interested parties to review the document, now available at http://www.opengeospatial.org/specs/?page=requests&request=rfc18 , and suggest additions or changes. Once comments are collected and reviewed, the specification may be put up for a vote to become an Adopted OpenGIS Specification. WTS was submitted by Cadcorp (UK), IONIC Software (Belgium), lat/lon (Germany) and PCI Geomatics (Canada),The Open GIS Consortium, Inc. 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 –“