OGC Newsletter - March 2003

March 2003

CONTENTS
Presidents Message
Outreach and Community Adoption Program Update
OGC Prominent at GITA in San Antonio
CAP Grants Available

DEPARTMENTS:
Ask OGC, IP Report, New Members, Member Corner, OGC In The News, Events, Contact, Subscribe/Unsubscribe

Back issues of OGC News are available.


PRESIDENTS MESSAGE

The Significance of Catalogs

All of us associated with the OGC can be extremely heartened by the success of the OpenGIS® Catalog Services Interface Specification. (Catalogs are online registries of metadata that facilitate discovery of and access to web-accessible data and services.) Application implementations using the Catalog Interfaces are coming online to benefit spatial data infrastructure clearinghouses around the world. Examples include Australia (CANRI's NSW Natural Resources Data Directory), Canada (Geoconnections Discovery Portal), England (AGI's "AskGiraffe" GI Gateway), Germany (NRW lat/lon), Netherlands (RAVI's NCGI), South Africa (National Spatial Information Framework), Spain (IDEC in Catalunya) and others. In the US, the OGC is involved in building the Geospatial One-Stop portal, a portal to distributed geospatial data available from all levels of governments. This portal is being developed to support improved service provision for planning, disaster response, homeland security, and many other activities.

The Catalog Interface Specification provides a framework so that multiple catalogs can be "viewed" as one catalog. Stewards of geodata and online geoprocessing services in a nation, a discipline, a metropolitan area or an enterprise can virtually combine, or "federate," their clearinghouses if their catalogs conform to the OpenGIS Catalog Services Specification. A query to one can thus query any or all of the others. This, of course, multiplies the potential value of the data and services whose metadata are published in any of the federated catalogs.

The evolving Spatial Web forces issues. In the Spatial Web, catalogs remove barriers to the awareness and use of geodata and geoprocessing services. Thus, issues of authentication, validation, liability, freedom of information, security and intellectual property arise to be confronted by data producers, data suppliers, software vendors and others. Addressing this need in OGC's testbeds and pilots, sponsoring organizations are tasking technology providers to provide technological controls that support the sponsors' business imperatives. In the process of defining requirements for such controls, sponsoring organizations are often forced to revisit their workflows and policies. The new possibilities make people aware of new requirements. OGC is the place people go when they need to extend the open platform for multi-vendor spatial integration and interoperability to meet evolving information system requirements.

David Schell, President, OGC

OUTREACH AND COMMUNITY ADOPTION PROGRAM UPDATE

I want to take this opportunity to provide readers with an update on OGC's outreach and community adoption program (OCAP) activities. The OCAP team is charged with getting the word out about OGC specs and encouraging their uptake through a variety of means. Below I'll highlight some of our major activities that can help any organization explore and later implement a system built on OpenGIS Specifications.

Education:

OGC has a new relationship with Institute for Professional Education. Interoperability is a key theme in this GIS training. OGC members prepare and deliver training, and IPE is providing the infrastructure to plan and conduct these classes. Expect to see more partnerships of this type aimed at bringing a solid foundation to those wishing to extend their existing systems for greater interoperability. http://www.ipeseminars.org/gis.htm

We are finalizing a new revision of the OGC Cookbook for Web Mapping Service (WMS). This Cookbook is a means to share the current experiences in using the WMS interface for developing interoperable Web Mapping applications. It includes "recipes" or step-by-step instructions and recommendations on developing OpenGIS infrastructures built on WMS. In essence, the Cookbook is a user implementation guide. Expect this Cookbook to be available the OGC website in April. Additional Cookbooks on Web Feature Service and other OpenGIS specifications are planned for later this year.

The OGC Internship Program, announced in December of last year, is designed to link prospective interns interested in geospatial interoperability with organizations interested in sponsorship. Visit and register your interest or need! http://www.opengeospatial.org/univ/

Communications:

The new OGC website will go live later this year. The site will feature improved content organization and easier navigation on both the Public and Member areas of the site. We will also roll out improved knowledge management capabilities, including improved document search, and documentation management and versioning enhancements. We also hope to add demonstrations and streaming video of OpenGIS interoperability in action that highlight both OGC presentations and community implementations.

In April, OGC will be issuing an updated DVD of OGC demonstrations that includes Open Location Services and the most recent OGC Web Services initiative. Event attendees and members will receive the CD at no charge. Non-members will be asked to cover shipping and handling only, and can reserve their copy of the demonstration at https://secure.opengeospatial.org/resources/.

Strategic Partnerships:

Last year, we entered into an agreement with the Geospatial Information & Technology Association (GITA) to join forces on programs to accelerate outreach and education regarding interoperable technologies. Here are some of the 2002 / 2003 activities accomplished or now underway through this partnership:

- The first in a series of Emerging Technology Summit (ETS) conferences focusing on Location Services was held in 2002. OGC and GITA will hold ETSII on Spatial Web Services in the DC area in early June. Detailed information on this event will be available on the OGC and GITA websites in early April.

- This year OGC and GITA hosted a second successful Interoperability Demonstration as part of GITA's Annual Conference. Ten OGC member vendors were on hand to demonstrate the value of interoperability on the exhibit floor, and there were several sessions devoted to OGC topics (see the GITA conference summary below).

- OGC is facilitating and participating in GITA's Geospatial Leadership Coalition (GLC) of Associations. The group is interested in elevating the level of awareness and education of their members regarding geospatial information and technologies.

All of these projects, along with some still in the planning phase, are aimed at our members and non-members to further OGC's vision.

Mark Reichardt
Executive Director, Outreach and Community Adoption

OGC PROMINENT AT GITA IN SAN ANTONIO

Interoperability, integration, collaboration and OGC were key words at GITA's "Conference 26" in San Antonio, Texas, March 2-5, and at the GeoTec Event, March 16-19 in Vancouver, British Columbia. OGC's booth was busy at both shows, and "OGC Member" signs were in the booths of many exhibitors.

"Adding Value to Your Business" was the theme at the GITA Conference, and many of the presentations showed how the industry is using OGC's OpenGIS Specifications to accomplish just that. OGC's Carl Reed ran a well-attended seminar on Monday morning with co-presenters Ignacio Guerrero of Intergraph, Milo Robinson of the Federal Geographic Data Committee, and Chris Tucker of IONIC Enterprise. Web-based mapping, transparent access to multiple GISs, Web-based services with legacy GIS, translation to GML, and open standards for utility GIS were some of the session topics in which OGC was mentioned on Tuesday. On Wednesday, the E-Biz track was all OGC with OGC members' presentations on chaining Web services, Geospatial One-Stop, distributed Web applications, and the role of Web services for spatial data delivery. Those attending the concurrent tracks on system architecture and system integration also got lessons in OpenGIS interoperability. OGC's Jeff Harrison moderated the closing plenary panel discussion on Homeland Security. The theme, of course, was the critical need for interoperability.

At GeoTec, OGC's Cliff Kottman and Sam Bacharach led sessions. Many papers focused on OGC implementations and the conference theme of collaboration including presentations by Vanessa Lawrence (Ordnance Survey), Tim Evangelatos (GeoConnections), Ron Lake (Galdos, Inc.), Fred Limp (Univ. of Arkansas CAST), Vincent Tao (GeoICT Lab, York University) and others.

At the GITA Conference, Tad Schultz of KEMA Consulting/GeoIT won OGC's Interoperability Demonstration drawing. Tad uses standards in integrating GIS-based mobile work management systems for electric utility workers. Drawing entrants each submitted a "passport" stamped by vendor exhibitors who demonstrated their use of OpenGIS Specifications. The prize was an iPAQ Pocket PC with GPS, donated by Hewlett-Packard.

At GeoTec, Ed Tokarczyk of the Fraser River Port Authority in New Westminster, BC won the iPAQ. Ed visited the show because the Fraser River Port Authority is shopping for a GIS system to use in mapping their jurisdiction. As he says, "We have asked several vendors we met at the show to visit us and show, among other things, how their systems work with the systems of other vendors. We will be obtaining data from various sources, so it's vital that the system we eventually buy will be able to work with the systems used by the companies and agencies who will provide us with data."

CAP GRANTS AVAILABLE

The 2003 Cooperative Agreements Program is open for submission of proposals through May 30, 2003. The Federal Geographic Data Committee (FGDC) sponsors the Cooperative Agreements Program (CAP) to support the implementation of the National Spatial Data Infrastructure (NSDI). The 2003 CAP will provide seed funds to engage organizations in building the NSDI through metadata implementation, training and outreach, and clearinghouse implementation of OpenGIS Web services. In addition, the FGDC and Geoconnections Canada will jointly fund a collaborative cross-border spatial data infrastructure project. The CAP is open to all U.S. organizations and seeks new participants.

Application information and instructions can be found on-line by visiting the FGDC website, http://www.fgdc.gov.

ASK OGC

Question: What is OpenGIS and how is it different from the Open GIS Consortium?

Answer:

Let's start with the Open GIS Consortium (OGC). This is a corporation, incorporated as a tax-exempt "membership corporation." OGC manages global consensus processes that result in interoperability among diverse geoprocessing systems. The OGC mission is to promote the development and use of advanced open systems standards and techniques in the area of geoprocessing and related information technologies. Much more may be found at the "About OGC" link on the OGC home page www.opengeospatial.org.

Let's start with the Open GIS Consortium (OGC). This is a corporation, incorporated as a tax-exempt "membership corporation." OGC manages global consensus processes that result in interoperability among diverse geoprocessing systems. The OGC mission is to promote the development and use of advanced open systems standards and techniques in the area of geoprocessing and related information technologies. Much more may be found at the "About OGC" link on the OGC home page www.opengeospatial.org.

OGC has also registered each of the terms "OPENGIS," "OpenGIS.net," "OpenLS™" and "OGCNetwork™" as trademarks of OGC.

- So, it would be correct to say: "As members of OGC we are participating in the development of OpenGIS Specifications." It may be useful to notice that "the Open GIS Consortium, Inc." is a noun, while "OpenGIS" is an adjective whose use is limited by OGC.

- Products can be advertised as conformant to the OpenGIS Specifications only through a special license granted by OGC for products that successfully pass conformance testing. This license specifies ways in which a product can use the OpenGIS certification mark and be described as being "OpenGIS Conformant." The certification mark must be accompanied by a special use of the OpenGIS logo attached to a list of the particular OpenGIS Specifications with which the product is conformant. That is, it would be proper to say, for example: "This product implements the OpenGIS Simple Features Specification for SQL, version 1.0".

Cliff Kottman, Chief Scientist

IP REPORT

Conformance and Interoperability Test and Evaluation (CITE) Initiative

CITE is intended to provide the geospatial industry (consumers and vendors) a methodology and tools which will test conformance to OGC web services specifications and to determine whether products that conform are interoperable with one another. The CITE Initiative has four development areas: an OGC Conformance Test Program Study, a Conformance Engine and Scripts Team, a Reference Implementations Team, and a CITE Portal and Integration Team. The OGC Conformance Test Program Study was recently submitted in final draft form by The Open Group. The Study is available to members for review and will be presented to the TC and PC and the April meetings; comments should be provided to the Initiative Manager, jen [at] opengeospatial [dot] org. The Conformance Engine Scripts team has recently completed development of a beta version of the web-based conformance-testing engine. The Open Group is the lead developer for the engine, working closely with Galdos and TASC to integrate beta versions of test scripts for WFS, WMS and GML. The Conformance Engine and Scripts (CES) team has received peer review comments from the WMS and WFS Revision Working Groups.

The CES team is incorporating comments from the Revision Working Groups and will develop recommendations for changes necessary to ensure the specifications can be conformance tested. The Reference Implementation team lead by The Open Planning Project has recently made available open source implementations of WMS and WFS. The team will be working closely with the CES team to ensure the reference implementations are the baseline for compliancy with the specifications. The conformance testing engine, scripts and reference implementations will be available on the OGC Network at the completion of the CITE Initiative. The Portal and Integration team will design and implement the portal for access to CITE resources (test guidelines, scripts, documentation, related links) and reference implementations.

Critical Infrastructure Protection Initiative (CIPI)

CIPI-1.1 is close to completion. Participants are working on setting up the services on the two nodes, one in U.S. and one in Canada, needed for the pilot. In addition, several local communities have agreed to stand up servers using OGC interfaces, allowing access to their data. The first version of the Draft Interoperability Program Report for the Alert Notification Services is just about finished. A live demonstration of CIPI-1.1 is scheduled for Windsor, Canada March 27th.

The Geography Division of the U.S. Census Bureau is sponsoring CIPI-2 which aims at developing an online system to update governmental unit boundary information for existing incorporated places (WebBAS), and a system based on OpenGIS Specifications for serving Topologically Integrated Geographic Encoding and Referencing (TIGER®) data (WebTIGER). CIPI-2 participants, Galdos and Syncline, have tailored a prototype system using OGC Web Services (WMS, WFS, WRS, and GML) as the foundation to provide interoperable access to update, maintain and distribute Census Bureau data. Northrop Grumman IT, TASC, the Integration lead for CIPI-2, is actively engaged in a technology transfer to install the WebBAS and WebTIGER components on a server at the TASC OCCAM Lab. TIEs and testing are occurring to prepare for the internal online demo of WebBAS scheduled for March 31. A live demonstration of both WebBAS and WebTIGER is scheduled at the Census Bureau on April 15.

Geographic Objects (GO-1)

The Geographic Objects Initiative is well underway toward integrating the Java application development community with the Geospatial Web services community. Collaboration between Java developers representing both communities has resulted in the definition of an initial set of classes for common application objects as well as the workflow for bringing data from the data provider, through the application, to the user interface. In addition, Java interfaces for ISO 19107 geometry have been generated from ISO UML models using Model Driven Architecture (MDA) tools. These tools will next be applied to UML models of OGC Web Services such as the WFS and WMS. Integration of these MDA interfaces with the application object classes will result in an end-to-end framework for building geospatial applications in Java.

Geospatial One-Stop Portal Initiative (GOS-PI)

Twenty companies offered proposals in response to a December 2002 Request for Quotations (RFQ)/Call for Participation (CFP) in GOS-PI. Four companies are cost-sharing participants and several others will provide in-kind contributions. GOS-PI aims to build a standards-based portal for geospatial information discovery, access, and mapping in the US. OGC is partnering with the Geospatial One-Stop (GOS) project on this work. Led by the Department of the Interior, GOS is one of 24 US Office of Management and Budget E-Government initiatives to improve effectiveness, efficiency, and customer service throughout all layers of government. Geospatial One-Stop builds upon National Spatial Data Infrastructure objectives to enhance interoperability among geographic components of government activities. The initiative sponsors and participants have begun refining and documenting the technical architecture of the Geospatial One-Stop Portal detailed in the RFQ.

Participants will then develop, demonstrate and install a working prototype implementation based on that architecture.

Geospatial One-Stop Transportation Pilot (GOS-TP)

GOS-TP is currently in-work. GOS-TP aims to demonstrate how Federal, State, Local, and Tribal governments can make their distributed geospatial data accessible and usable as national Framework data with minimal impact on their day-to-day operations. To accomplish this goal, a UML to GML Application Schema Tool has been developed to automatically generate GML 3 Application Schemas from correctly constructed UML models. Soon to be operational, two "translation" capable WFS servers will use these GML 3 application schemas to support translation of local data models from different providers to the national Framework Schema. Sponsors include FGDC and the U.S. Department of Transportation Bureau of Transportation Statistics. Participants include Galdos, Polexis, and Interactive Instruments. Intergraph, ESRI, GDT, Hewlett-Packard, and Sun Microsystems are providing support. Communities participating include Jackson County, OR, Siskiyou County, CA, Oregon Geospatial Data Clearinghouse, Oregon DOT, and CalTrans.

OGC Web Services (OWS-2)

OWS-2 is currently in the Feasibility Study phase. Sponsors are working with the OGC IP Team to develop a Request for Technology (RFT). OGC IP anticipates releasing the RFT on March 28. The Feasibility Study addresses such topics as: Sensor Web Enablement, Decision Support, Modeling and Simulation, Image Handling, Open Location Services (OpenLS), G-Commerce, Multi-source Integrated Operations, Information Interoperability, and common architecture for these services.

Property and Land Information (PLI)

OGC is issuing a Call for Sponsors for a Planning Activity that may support future development of an OGC Property and Land Information (PLI) Initiative. This planning activity will seek interested sponsors to provide input on technology requirements and concepts to foster development of next-generation interoperable networked architectures and capabilities to enable broader sharing and application of property data and land information between collaborating organizations. http://www.opengeospatial.org/press/pressrelease/20030324_PLI.htm

NEW MEMBERS

The Open GIS Consortium welcomes our members who've joined us since February 2003:

blue 8 Technologies
http://www.blue8.uk.com/
Associate

Distributed Systems Software, Inc.
http://www.dss.bc.ca/
Associate

International University (Bulgaria)
http://www.iu-edu.org/
University

Michael Baker, Jr., Inc.
http://www.mbakercorp.com
Associate

PBS & J
http://www.pbsj.com/
Associate

Titan Corporation
http://www.titan.com
Associate

University of Belgrade, Faculty of Civil Engineering
http://gradisa.grf.bg.ac.yu/www/
University

MEMBER CORNER

Applied Geographics, Inc. has recently been delivering solutions that support OGC geospatial standards. In a project for a large federal government client, geospatial solutions have been implemented that incorporate WMS (Web Map Service) Server as well as WMS client. This server accepts requests for maps via the WMS interface and sends back a map and/or data to the browser based client. GML (Geography Markup Language) has been implemented as a return format from the WMS Server that allows the processing of the vector data into image maps and other formats.

There are ongoing state projects using MassGIS's implementation of WMS and a draft specification on geocoding, as well as the Styled Layer Descriptor and Filter specifications for querying. MassGIS's implementation of WMS has also been delivered for numerous projects for municipalities, such as Weymouth, MA. Applied Geographics, Inc. has a history of supporting and implementing geospatial standards for our customers. The value of OGC standards is being proven through the success of customer projects, and most future projects will be implementing them.

Rich Grady
President, Applied Geographics Inc.

OGC IN THE NEWS

- OGC in the Press

Enabling Distributed GIS - OpenGIS in the Real World
http://www10.giscafe.com/nbc/articles/view_article.php?section=CorpNews&articleid=67677
Simon Doyle and Martin Daly
March 19, 2003

David Schell was quoted in several articles highlighting a "friend of the court" brief filed on behalf of six standards organizations, including OGC. The brief filed by Lucash, Gesmer & Updegrove LLP raises issues about intellectual property and the impact it can have on the standards process.
http://siliconvalley.internet.com/news/article.php/2108831

ESRI Showcases Its Adherence to OpenGIS Interface Specifications at GITA 2003
http://www.esri.com/news/releases/03_1qtr/opengisgita.html
Mar 3, 2003

Interoperability Extension for ArcExplorer--Java Edition Now Available
http://www.esri.com/news/releases/03_1qtr/arcexplorer_interop.html
Mar 12, 2003

Cadcorp announces enhanced support for OpenGIS Web Servers with Cadcorp SIS Version 6
http://www.cadcorp.com/OGC%20web%20servers.htm
Feb 26, 2003

Interoperability Now a Reality
http://www.cadcorp.com/interoperability%20reality.htm
Simon Doyle
(This editorial first appeared in the OGC Column of GIM International, February 2003)
Feb 2003

- OGC Press Releases

OGC Seeks Sponsors for Property and Land Initiative
http://www.opengeospatial.org/press/?page=pressrelease&year=0&prid=138
Mar 25, 2003

OGC To Demonstrate Critical Infrastructure Protection Initiative
http://www.opengeospatial.org/press/?page=pressrelease&year=0&prid=137
Mar 05, 2003

OGC and IPE Announce Classes in Geospatial Interoperability
http://www.opengeospatial.org/press/?page=pressrelease&year=0&prid=136
Feb 27, 2003

OGC Members Bring Interoperability To Key GIS Events in March
http://www.opengeospatial.org/press/?page=pressrelease&year=0&prid=135
Feb 25, 2003

EVENTS

April 7, 2003

Orléans, France
1st European Symposium on Geographic Data interoperability

April 7-11, 2003
Orléans, France
OGC Technical and Planning Committee Meetings

For further info on events please contact Greg Buehler,
gbuehler [at] opengeospatial [dot] org.

CONTACT

Please send comments and suggestions to:

adena [at] opengeospatial [dot] org (Adena Schutzberg)
Editor, OGC News

Open GIS Consortium
35 Main Street Suite 5
Wayland MA 01778-5037
USA Phone: +1 508 655 5858
Fax: +1 508 655 2237

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Copyright 2003 by the Open Geospatial Consortium, Inc.