OGC Press Releases

Wayland, MA, USA, December 4, 2001. Staff and members of the Open GIS Consortium, Inc. (OGC) (Wayland, MA) contributed significantly to the recent top-level IIR "GIS in Telecoms" Conference held November 12-15 in Geneva, Switzerland. Seventy leading technologists and managers at telecommunications and GIS companies gathered to hear and present talks related to the spatial data needs of the telecoms market. OGC's first Open Location Services (OLS) Forum was held in conjunction with the meeting. In the conference and at the OLS Forum, Louis Hecht, OGC's VP Business Development, spoke about the importance of an open standards infrastructure for Location Based Services. Forum participants learned of the progress in OGC's OpenLS-1 Testbed, a fast-paced, multivendor effort to develop candidate open interfaces and protocols to support exchange of spatial information and spatial service requests in a heterogeneous environment of web servers and mobile Internet devices. (OGC's presentation slides are available at http://www.openls.org/docs/200111.OLSforum.ppt.) The conference workshop was an all day course on OGC's GML (Geography Markup Language), the world standard XML encoding system for spatial data and spatial processing. OpenLS-1 Testbed Sponsors include Hutchison 3G (UK), Oracle, Webraska (France), ESRI with Sun Microsystems, SignalSoft and Syncline, In-Q-Tel, and Sun Microsystems with LocatioNet. Sponsors' market assessments determined the technology requirements and constraints for the testbed. The new open interfaces and protocols will support an initial set of Core Services based on these requirements and the present state of technology in communications, Internet, and GIS. Location Services is at the intersection of these three technology areas. OpenLS-1 Testbed Participants include: Cquay (Canada), Galdos (Canada) with Hitachi (Japan), Galdos with NTT Data (Japan), BigTribe, Intergraph's IntelliWhere division with Compaq and Navigation Technologies, ESRI, IBM, University of Illinois, LocatioNet, MapInfo, Telecommunications Systems (TCI), SignalSoft, Sun Microsystems, Syncline, Navigation Technologies, MobileGIS (Ireland) with Telcontar and Tele Atlas (Netherlands), Opt[e]way (France), SICAD Geomatics (Siemens) (Germany), Vodafone (UK), Webraska, Ionic (Belgium), Laser-Scan (UK) with Yeoman Group (UK), and Tata Infotech (India). OpenLS Testbed Sponsors and Participants will use the new standards-enabled Core Services to expand the market opportunity for applications such as Personal Navigator, Traffic Service, Proximity Service, Business Finder, Location Recall, Mobile Field Service, Driving Directions, Proximity Movies Finder, Companies Finder, Corporate Asset Optimization, Concierge, Routing & Portrayal, Vector Map Portrayal and Interaction, Friend Finder, Route Display & Guidance, and Geography Voice-Graphics. OGC is an international industry consortium of over 225 companies, government agencies and universities participating in a consensus process to develop publicly available geoprocessing interface specifications. OpenGIS Specifications support interoperable solutions that "geo-enable" the Web, wireless and location-based services, and mainstream IT, and empower technology developers to make complex spatial information and services accessible and useful with all kinds of applications. Visit the OGC website at www.opengeospatial.org . IIR offers a CD-ROM containing all the GIS in Telecoms presentations. See http://www.iir-conferences.com/gis or call +44 20 7915 5156 for details. IIR is the world's largest independent conference company, with offices in more than 35 countries providing strategic, technical, product, legal and financial information to over 300,000 individuals each year. -- end --

Wayland, MA, USA, November 7, 2001 - The Open GIS Consortium, Inc. (OGC) announces the development of an authoritative index of software products that implement OpenGIS® Interface Specifications. OGC requests the assistance of technology developers worldwide to help establish a directory that will be the ultimate source of information about software products and services that use OGC's interoperability specifications. The public directory will be the "go to" website for those looking for interoperable solutions, including software vendors, system integrators, and end-users. Interest in solutions with built-in OGC interoperability is growing rapidly. The list of products implementing OpenGIS Specifications such as the Web Mapping Server and GML (Geography Markup Language) is growing, with more organizations purchasing software based in part on the plug and play capabilities provided by use of interfaces that implement OpenGIS Specifications. The current listing includes 93 products from 25 companies that implement these specifications and 19 products from 7 companies that have passed conformance testing. An expanded directory of products implementing OGC's interfaces will be a valuable resource for users seeking improved interoperability of geospatial and location based services. Since 1998 when the first publicly available OGC Interface Specification was announced, an additional five interface specifications have been approved and released through the OGC consensus process for use by technology developers worldwide. The currently available OpenGIS specifications include: Simple Features for SQL, OLS/COM and CORBA, Catalog, Coordinate Transformation, Coverages, Web Map Server, and GML 2.1. In addition, there are numerous OGC Discussion and Recommendation papers for a group of draft interface specifications. These include Geocoding, Geoparser, Gazetteer, Web Coverage Server, Web Terrain Server, and Style Layer Descriptor. Individuals or organizations interested in listing their implementation(s) in the directory are invited to submit information at Implementing Product Registration . Details of the product, which specification(s) are used, and the submitting organization's contact information will be gathered and provided in the directory. OGC Membership is not required for inclusion. The directory is a free, public service maintained by the OGC. OGC is an international industry consortium of over 220 companies, government agencies and universities participating in a consensus process to develop publicly available interface specifications. OpenGIS Interface Specifications support interoperable solutions that "geo-enable" the Web, wireless and location-based services, and mainstream IT, and empower technology developers to make complex spatial information and services accessible and useful with all kinds of applications. Visit the OGC website at www.opengeospatial.org . -- end --

Wayland, MA, USA, November 8, 2001 - The WWW Mapping Special Interest Group of the Open GIS Consortium, Inc. (OGC) today released a Request for Comments (RFC) on the OpenGIS Web Feature Server (WFS) Implementation Specification. OGC is considering adoption of this draft specification, which proposes open interfaces for communicating data manipulation operations on vector features using HTTP as the distributed computing platform. Comments are sought from industry through December 1, 2001. The RFC for the OpenGIS Web Feature Server Implementation Specification documents an interface specification for vector data access and transaction manipulation on geographic features. Feature transaction operations supported are: - Create a new feature instance - Delete a feature instance - Update a feature instance - Get or Query features based on spatial and non-spatial constraints A WFS request consists of a description of a query and/or of a set of data transaction operations that are to be applied to one or more features in a spatial data repository. A request is generated by a client and is posted to a Web Feature Server using HTTP. The WFS then reads and executes the request. It is possible to implement just a read-only (query) Web Feature Service or one that supports transactions. A read-only web feature server would implement the interface capabilities provided by the existing OpenGIS Web Map Server Specification: GetCapabilities, DescribeFeatureType and GetFeature operations. A transaction web feature server would implement in addition the Transaction operation, and, optionally, the LockFeature operation. Through various Interoperability Initiatives, the OGC membership is defining a comprehensive Web Services suite of OpenGIS Specifications, including the existing Web Map Server (WMS), the pending Web Feature Server (WFS), and the future Web Coverage Server, Web Terrain Server, Geocoding, and Routing. The following companies submitted the WFS specification to OGC as a Request for Comment: CubeWerx Inc. (Quebec, Canada), Intergraph Corp. (US), IONIC Software (Belgium), Laser-Scan Ltd. (UK), and the US Army Research and Development Center. The RFC is available at http://www.opengeospatial.org/techno/rfc13info.htm . Organizations interested in learning more about the OGC Web Services Initiative should visit OGC's website at http://www.opengeospatial.org. OGC is an international industry consortium of over 220 companies, government agencies and universities participating in a consensus process to develop publicly available interface specifications. OpenGIS Interface Specifications support interoperable solutions that "geo-enable" the Web, wireless and location-based services, and mainstream IT, and empower technology developers to make complex spatial information and services accessible and useful with all kinds of applications. Visit the OGC website at www.opengeospatial.org . -- end --

Wayland, MA, USA, October 25, 2001 - The Open GIS Consortium, Inc. (OGC) announces that a Call for Participation / Request for Quotation for the Multi-Hazard Mapping Initiative (MMI) Phase I is available for download at http://ip.opengeospatial.org/mmi/ . This pilot project, sponsored by the US Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), will establish a limited operational framework of interoperable services to illustrate the advantages of using products with OGC interfaces to access, fuse and visualize critical spatial information in support of FEMA multi-hazard mitigation, response and recovery functions. FEMA is an independent agency of the federal government, reporting to the President. Since its founding in 1979, FEMA's mission has been to reduce loss of life and property and protect the nation's critical infrastructure from all types of hazards through a comprehensive, risk-based, emergency management program of mitigation, preparedness, response and recovery. By implementing interoperable geospatial services based on OGC interfaces, FEMA will be able to operationally demonstrate the value of a "common thread of interoperability" across federal, state, and local agencies and with other organizations supporting mitigation efforts. During the pilot, spatial information from multiple agencies and sources will be accessed across the Internet using vendor products and reference implementations developed during OGC's previous Interoperability Initiatives. Responses to the CFP/RFQ are due November 21, 2001 at 1:00 PM EDT and the program is expected to begin later this year with completion by March 2001. Inquiries related to MMI should be addressed to Mr. Jeff Harrison, Director of OGC Interoperability Programs, jharrison [at] opengeospatial [dot] org , or (703) 491-9543. OGC is an international industry consortium of more than 220 companies, government agencies and universities participating in a consensus process to develop publicly available geoprocessing specifications. OpenGIS® Specifications support interoperable solutions that "geo-enable" the Web, wireless and location-based services, and mainstream IT, and empower technology developers to make complex spatial information and services accessible and useful with all kinds of applications. Visit the OGC website at www.opengeospatial.org . -- end --

Wayland, MA, USA, October 23, 2001 - The Open GIS Consortium, Inc. (OGC) (Wayland, MA) announced that Phase 1 of its OGC Web Services Initiative (OWS-1) has begun. Over 50 representatives from 26 organizations attended the successful kick-off meeting held in Tyson's Corner, Virginia in late September. Some of these organizations are sponsors of OWS-1. Sponsors establish the requirements, technical scope and agenda, and form and content of demonstrations, and they contribute resources to support the Initiative. Other attendees represented technology vendors who will work together to define, test, and document open interface specifications that enable web services in the geospatial community. The OWS-1 initiative mission is the definition and specification of interfaces that support interoperability among geospatially enabled web services. A Web service is an application that can be published, located, and dynamically invoked across the Web. Web services perform functions ranging from simple requests to complicated business processes. Once a Web service is deployed, other applications and other Web services can discover and invoke the deployed service. The sponsors of OWS-1 include the Federal Geographic Data Committee, GeoConnection / Natural Resources Canada, Lockheed Martin, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Engineer Research and Development Center, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency EMPACT Program, the U.S. Geological Survey; and the US National Imagery and Mapping Agency. The sponsors of OWS-1 include the Federal Geographic Data Committee, GeoConnection / Natural Resources Canada, Lockheed Martin, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Engineer Research and Development Center, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency EMPACT Program, the U.S. Geological Survey; and the US National Imagery and Mapping Agency. Participants include BAE Systems, Compusult Ltd., CubeWerx, Dawn Corporation, DLR (German Aerospace Center), ESRI, Galdos Systems, George Mason University, Intergraph, Ionic Software, Laser-Scan, PCI Geomatics, Polexis, SAIC, Social Change Online, University of Alabama in Huntsville (UAH) and Syncline. OWS-1 is envisioned as a multi-phase initiative. Each phase will focus on specific technology and specification "thread sets". The OWS-1 Thread Set 1 will end in February 2002 with a demonstration of the capabilities that have been developed. OGC and the OWS-1 Sponsors have begun planning for OWS Thread Set 2, which will commence in early CY 2002. The current OWS-1 Thread Set is focusing on: - Common Architecture: OGC Services Model, OGC Registry Services, and Sensor Model Language. - Web Mapping: Interoperable clients for display and interaction and the next generation of OpenGIS interfaces for Web Map Server (raster maps), Web Feature Server (vector data), Web Coverage Server (imagery) and new interfaces for OpenGIS Coverage Portrayal Services. - Sensor Web: New open interfaces, including an OpenGIS Sensor Collection Service, as well as test clients and other applications enabling diverse systems to access data from a variety of land, water, air and other environmental sensors. Much of the work in this phase capitalizes on the existing OpenGIS interface specifications. OWS-1 will be conducted as part of an integrated set of OGC Interoperability Initiatives that include the Military Pilot Project, Phase 1 (MPP-1), the Open Location Services Initiative, the Multi-hazard Mapping Initiative, Phase 1 (MMI-1) and other activities. Organizations interested in learning more about the OGC Web Services Initiative should contact Mr. Jeff Harrison, Director of OGC Interoperability Programs, (703) 491-9543, jharrison [at] opengeospatial [dot] org . OGC is an international industry consortium of more than 230 companies, government agencies and universities participating in a consensus process to develop publicly available geoprocessing 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 www.opengeospatial.org . -- end --

Wayland, MA, USA, October 8, 2001. The Open GIS Consortium, Inc. (OGC) (Wayland, MA) and IIR Conferences-UK (UK) announce their joint sponsorship of "GIS In Telecoms 2001," a multi-speaker seminar to be held 12-15 November 2001 at the Intercontinental Geneva hotel in Geneva, Switzerland. This IIR conference is the best place to hear from and talk with high-level technologists and managers from telecommunications operators and GIS companies who understand the unique spatial data needs of the telecoms market. It is the premier conference providing practical insight into advanced management strategies for spatial data that will result in a more economical, more productive, and more profitable telecoms enterprise. GIS In Telecoms will also provide GIS software developers and data providers with a singular opportunity to learn about the specific needs of the telecoms market so they can make the right choices when adapting their product and service portfolios. Louis Hecht, OGC's VP Business Development, will provide the opening remarks, explaining how geospatial technology and data are an essential part of Location Based Services. Location Based Services, a very important market for providers of GIS and other geoprocessing systems, is advancing rapidly. Attendees will hear from Sam Bacharach, Manager of OGC's OpenLS (Open Location Services) Initiative Testbed, and Harry Niedzwiadek, the OpenLS Testbed Architect. This testbed is developing candidate open interface specifications that will provide the critical interoperability infrastructure for location services. Ron Lake, President of Galdos Systems, Inc., will speak about telecoms applications of Geography Markup Language (GML). One of the speakers will be Dr. Mike Jackson, Head of GSS at Hutchinson 3G, who will discuss the implications for the carrier market and the mobile communications value chain. Dr. Jackson was recently appointed to the OGC Board of Directors. Other speakers will include representatives from Radiolinja, ESRI UK, Pocket IT, SignalSoft Corp., mobilePosition (a SignalSoft Company), and Endoxon AG. In addition to Location Based Services, GIS In Telecoms 2001 will address the GIS requirements of e-1-1-2 legislation, integration of spatial data into revenue assurance databases, use of spatial data in marketing and CRM campaigns, and the opportunities presented by OGC's new Geography Markup Language (a standard XML encoding of spatial data). For conference details, please visit http://www.iir-conferences.com/gis . OGC is an international industry consortium of over 220 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, and empower technology developers to make complex spatial information and services accessible and useful with all kinds of applications. Visit the OGC website at www.opengeospatial.org . IIR has been a leader in the provision of timely, accurate and objective business information for over 25 years. IIR is the world's largest independent conference company, with offices in more than 35 countries providing strategic, technical, product, legal and financial information to over 300,000 individuals each year. With over 1500 IIR associates working world-wide, IIR is continually researching market areas and listening to the ideas and concerns raised in discussions with market players. IIR conferences are timely, topical and at the forefront of strategic market and commercial change, featuring the very best speakers and offering unrivalled networking opportunities for professionals. -- end --

Wayland, MA, USA, October 5, 2001 - The Open GIS Consortium, Inc. (OGC) and the Geospatial Information & Technology Association (GITA), Aurora, Colorado, have signed a memorandum of understanding aimed at working together to accomplish common objectives. In particular the two organizations commit to work together to create a program of jointly supported educational and market development activities designed to benefit the members of both organizations and the geospatial community as a whole. Some of the possible activities discussed include keeping the respective boards of directors up-to-date on technology and client needs, outreach to local government and public works sectors for education about interoperability, participation at conferences and meetings held by each group, and the development of user scenarios to highlight how interoperability can aid GITA members and how GITA members can provide key input to OGC processes. GITA Executive Director Bob Samborski comments, "GITA members are on the cutting edge of technology spanning many uses of geospatial technology. Through this agreement GITA will be in a better position to help our community of utility and other infrastructure-based organizations understand and take full advantage of the benefits of interoperability." OGC President David Schell said, " This partnership provides a superb opportunity for GITA and OGC to enhance our ability to meet the expanding needs of a growing community of spatial information users. OGC's process for introducing interoperability into the market depends on close communication with both the technology development and user communities. GITA's conferences, seminars, and publications provide excellent opportunities for expanded dialog, education and outreach." OGC is an international industry consortium of over 220 companies, government agencies and universities participating in a consensus process to develop publicly available geoprocessing specifications. OpenGIS® Specifications support interoperable solutions that "geo-enable" the Web and mainstream IT, and empower technology developers to make complex spatial information and services accessible and useful with all kinds of applications. Visit the OGC website at www.opengeospatial.org . The mission of the Geospatial Information & Technology Association is to provide excellence in education and information exchange on the use and benefits of geospatial information and technology in telecommunications, infrastructure, and utility applications worldwide. Visit GITA at www.gita.org . -- end --

Wayland, MA, USA, September 17, 2001 - The Open GIS Consortium, Inc. (OGC) and The Federal Geographic Data Committee (FGDC) held a workshop in early September to teach two dozen students the basics of implementing OpenGIS® Web Map Server (WMS) based services. The workshop aimed to connect new local government hosted map servers with National Spatial Data Infrastructure (NSDI) Clearinghouse data catalogs to enable greater use of spatial information. Attendees were recipients of FGDC Cooperative Agreement Program funding geared to help local organizations integrate NSDI Clearinghouse and Web Mapping capabilities. Instructors included OGC and FDGC staff and support from OGC member companies SAIC, Compusult, and ESRI. Attendee Alison Slaats of MetroGIS, Minneapolis, MN, found the three-day event successful, commenting, "The workshop provided an excellent overview of the OpenGIS compliant WMS, including the WMS specification, WMS server examples and a demonstration of several WMS clients. The lectures given by several experts from FGDC, OGC and members of industry combined with the hands-on exercises provided me with the knowledge and confidence to go home and implement WMS." As part of the 2000 and 2001 CAP program, the FGDC provided assistance to twelve state and local GIS organizations to address Clearinghouse Integration with Web Mapping. Each recipient works with FGDC, OGC and integrators to enhance existing GIS data servers to support OGC interfaces and link the servers to National Geospatial Data Clearinghouse. The FGDC CAP Grant program, begun in 1994, has worked to provide "seed money" to communities willing to advance the National Spatial Data Infrastructure through the establishment of Clearinghouses, metadata, and data standards consistent with the NSDI goals. Recently, FGDC added OGC Web Mapping to the CAP program to stimulate the implementation of web map servers that could make available spatial data found through metadata searches in the national spatial data clearinghouse network. Approximately $1,000,000 was available for the FY 2001 CAP program in four different areas, including Clearinghouse Integration with Web Mapping. For further information about the Web Map CAP Workshop, please contact Inquiries Mr. Jeff Harrison, Director of OGC Interoperability Programs, jharrison [at] opengeospatial [dot] org , or (703) 491-9543. OGC is an international industry consortium of over 220 companies, government agencies and universities participating in a consensus process to develop publicly available geoprocessing specifications. OpenGIS Specifications support interoperable solutions that "geo-enable" the Web and mainstream IT, and empower technology developers to make complex spatial information and services accessible and useful with all kinds of applications. Visit the OGC website at www.opengeospatial.org . The FGDC is an interagency committee composed of representatives from 16 Cabinet-level and independent federal agencies. The FGDC -- in collaboration with public and private sector organizations -- coordinates the development of the NSDI. Visit the FGDC at www.fgdc.gov . -- end --

Wayland, MA, USA, September 7, 2001 - The Open GIS Consortium, Inc. (OGC) along with Sponsors Hutchison 3G UK, Sun Microsystems, Oracle with Webraska, ESRI with SignalSoft, and In-Q-Tel, as well as 22 other participant organizations will work together in the Open Location Services (OpenLS) Testbed. This testbed aims to develop an Open Location Services Platform with fundamental interfaces and services to allow a wide variety of location-based solutions to interoperate between infrastructure platforms and wireless devices. The use of open platforms in the fast growing location services sector will be a key market enabler, and will help increase the ability of companies offering location based services to compete across the various networks and platforms that characterize the global location services market. The Testbed will begin on September 13, 2001 with completion anticipated by early 2002. Harry Niedzwiadek, OpenLS Architect said, "Location Services are not a complete reality today. The market will not reach its full potential until industry connects this emerging technology area with existing open platform frameworks. We believe open platforms are key market enablers." The OpenLS Testbed uses principles of previous successful OGC testbeds where technology developers collaborate to create software interface specifications that support interoperability. The defined specifications encourage new, interoperable location-based products and services that can be developed and implemented in the broad marketplace. Location services are becoming invaluable additions to emergency response, public safety, disaster management and dozens of other business and consumer applications that require information about geographic position. Achieving the full value for location services depends on consistent communication across different regions, technology platforms, networks, application domains, and classes of products. Each of the OpenLS Sponsors and Participants believes that a truly interoperable Open Location Services Platform is essential for long-term success in this market. OpenLS Testbed Sponsors include: Hutchison 3G, a mobile multi-media company, will be providing requirements, engineering and other technical expertise as part of the testbed. Sun Microsystems, a leading provider of industrial-strength hardware, software and services that power the Internet, will be providing technology as well as engineering expertise as part of the testbed. Oracle Corporation, a leading supplier of software for information management, and the world's second largest independent software company joins partner Webraska, a worldwide provider of wireless navigation, mapping and technologies for telecom operators and car manufacturers in providing initial candidate interfaces for services as well as engineering, technology and content information for the testbed. ESRI, a leading developer of geographic information system (GIS) software products used daily by organizations and people around the world, joins business partner SignalSoft, a provider of location services to wireless operators in providing location gateway technology, application technology, engineering and content information for the testbed. In-Q-Tel, a private, not-for-profit company contracted by the CIA to identify and deliver the next generation of information technologies to support the CIA's critical Intelligence missions, and is a longtime supporter of OGC programs to accelerate delivery of interoperable geospatial services. Joining the Sponsors are 22 participating companies and organizations including, BigTribe, Compaq, Cquay, Galdos Systems, Inc., Hitachi Ltd., IBM, Intergraph (Intelliwhere), Ionic Software, Laser-Scan, LocatioNet, MapInfo, Navigation Technologies, NTT Data, MobileGIS, Opt[e]way, SICAD Geomatics, a Siemens Company, Syncline, Tata Infotech, TCS, the University of Illinois, Vodafone, and Yeoman Group. Together, the Sponsors and Participants will develop candidate interface specifications across multiple platforms in the location services universe. Organizations interested in discussing their involvement in this Testbed, or future location services initiatives, should contact Louis Hecht, Vice President Business Development at lhecht [at] opengeospatial [dot] org or +1 301 320 5760. OGC is an international industry consortium of over 220 companies, government agencies and universities participating in a consensus process to develop publicly available geoprocessing specifications. OpenGIS Specifications support interoperable solutions that "geo-enable" the Web and mainstream IT, and empower technology developers to make complex spatial information and services accessible and useful with all kinds of applications. Visit the OGC website at www.opengeospatial.org and the OpenLS website at www.openls.org . -- end --

Wayland, MA, USA, August 31, 2001 - The Open GIS Consortium, Inc. (OGC) announces that a Request for Quotation (RFQ) for the Object Domain Modeling Support (ODMS) Initiative is available at http://ip.opengeospatial.org/odms. The ODMS Initiative aims to develop domain models for utilities as a vehicle to achieve semantic interoperability within and across information communities. The model would allow users within the utilities arena and those in related disciplines such as engineering, public safety and others, to more easily share geographic data, even if they chose to name features differently. The OGC is issuing this RFQ in collaboration with the CADD/GIS Center for Facilities, Infrastructure, and Environment (CADD/GIS Center). As the Initiative Sponsor, the CADD/GIS Center is particularly interested in working with participants with significant experience and familiarity with the utilities sector including gas, electric, and water. Participants should also have some knowledge of Unified Modeling Language (UML), a general-purpose notational language for specifying and visualizing software and structures. According to Dr. Warren Bennett, CADD/GIS Center, "The OGC ODMS Initiative will help enable geospatial content sharing within and across information communities. This effort represents an opportunity for collaborative development of domain models for Utilities as a vehicle to achieve semantic interoperability." Responses to the RFQ are due September 27, 2001 and the initiative is expected to begin in late October. Inquiries related to the ODMS Initiative should be addressed to Mr. Jeff Harrison, Director of OGC Interoperability Programs, jharrison [at] opengeospatial [dot] org , or (703) 491-9543. OGC is an international industry consortium of over 220 companies, government agencies and universities participating in a consensus process to develop publicly available geoprocessing specifications. OGC Specifications support interoperable solutions that "geo-enable" the Web and mainstream IT, and empower technology developers to make complex spatial information and services accessible and useful with all kinds of applications. Visit the OGC website at www.opengeospatial.org . -- end --