18 November 2013 – The Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC®) announced 5 newcompliance tests for existing OGC standards:

  • OGC Geography Markup Language (GML) Encoding Standard 3.2.1
  • OGC Web Feature Service (WFS) Interface Standard 2.0
  • OGC Web Coverage Service (WCS) Interface Standard 2.0
  • OGC Sensor Planning Service (SPS) Interface Standard 2.0
  • OGC Sensor Observation Service (SOS) Interface Standard 2.0

OGC standards – encoding andinterface specifications — are free to download and free to use in softwareimplementations. The OGC Compliance Program provides an online free testing facility to check for proper implementation ofthe standards, and a process for certification of products that are compliant with OGC standards. 

 OGC Compliant Logo

Once anorganization's product has successfully passed a test, the organization canacquire a license to use the “Certified OGC Compliant” mark on web pages and other marketing material. The product isalso promoted on the OGC CompliantProducts Web page.

The OGC invites organizations to start the process of getting their products certified. The Certified OGCCompliant mark increases potential buyers' confidence in a product, making theproduct easier to market and sell.

TheOGC is an international consortium of more than 475 companies, governmentagencies, research organizations, and universities participating in a consensusprocess to develop publicly available geospatial standards. OGC Standardssupport interoperable solutions that “geo-enable” the Web, wirelessand location-based services, and mainstream IT. OGC Standards empowertechnology developers to make geospatial information and services accessibleand useful with any application that needs to be geospatially enabled. Visitthe OGC website at http://www.opengeospatial.org/contact.