The Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) invites organizations to contribute funding and expertise to the OGC Testbed-22 initiative.

Testbed programs are among OGC’s most ambitious collaborative research and development efforts. They are typically year-long initiatives, funded by multiple sponsors who work together to advance leading-edge concepts.

Testbeds take on the hard, forward-looking questions. They bring together sponsors and participants to collaboratively prototype, integrate, and validate geospatial technologies. Each Testbed focuses on real-world interoperability challenges, rapidly advancing OGC Standards, and demonstrating innovative solutions.

Building on the success of previous Testbeds, OGC is now preparing Testbed-22 and is seeking sponsor input and investment to shape the initiative.

Why Sponsor Testbed-22

Sponsoring OGC Testbed-22 provides organizations with the opportunity to:

  • Directly influence R&D priorities aligned with your strategic and operational challenges
  • Accelerate interoperability across geospatial, digital engineering, and emerging domains
  • Collaborate with leading organizations from industry, government, and academia
  • Prototype solutions in a low-risk, shared-cost environment
  • Shape and advance OGC Standards and best practices

How the Testbed Works

OGC Testbeds bring together sponsors, participants, and OGC staff. Sponsors define requirements and priorities; participants respond to a Call for Participation (CFP) and carry out the work; and OGC staff facilitate requirements refinement, architecture design, and execution.

The process includes defining problem statements, translating them into work items, competitively selecting participants, and delivering prototypes, demonstrations, and engineering reports.

Proposed Themes for Testbed-22

1. GEOINT Imagery Media for Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance (GIMI)

Further development of interoperability for intelligence workflows.

  • Motion imagery
  • Path forward for Spectral NITF Implementation Profile (SNIP)

2. Environmental Data Retrieval (EDR) API Enhancement

Advancement of the EDR API for operational use cases, advancing the underlying standards and technical tooling.

  • LiDAR point cloud data extraction
  • Bathymetric or water column data extraction
  • Moving algorithms to an EDR subset

3. SpatioTemporal Asset Catalog (STAC / STAPI) Evolution

Improved discovery and access to geospatial assets.

4. Lunar Positioning, Navigation, and Timing (PNT) & Digital Twins

Interoperability for lunar and off-planet systems and digital twins.

5. GeoBIM Integration

Advancing interoperability between geospatial and BIM systems.

6. Next Generation Conformance and Testing

Evolution of conformance testing approaches.

7. Metadata Interoperability and Summit Outcomes

Development of interoperable metadata practices, advancing the underlying standards and technical tooling.

  • Extension of capabilities based on NSG Metadata Foundation (NMF) conformance testing tooling; likely to ISO 19115 and FGDC
  • Metadata convergence and DCAT
  • Marine metadata harmonization in coordination with the Joint IHO UN-GGIM Working Group on Marine Geospatial Information

Marine metadata harmonization in coordination with the Joint IHO UN-GGIM Working Group on Marine Geospatial Information. Call for Sponsor Engagement

OGC is actively engaging with prospective sponsors to refine themes, identify requirements, and help shape the scope of Testbed-22. Early engagement ensures maximum impact.

Next Steps

Interested organizations are encouraged to contact OGC to discuss areas of interest and share requirements. OGC will finalize the scope of Testbed-22 and issue a Call for Participation (CFP).

Sponsorship opportunities will remain open for 45 days from the date of publication of this announcement.

About the OGC Testbed Series

The OGC Testbed series is an annual initiative that advances geospatial interoperability through collaborative experimentation and real-world problem solving.