---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Mon, 21 Sep 1998 13:44:38 -0400 (EDT)
From: Lance McKee <[log in to unmask]>
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: OGC announcement - Telco RFI
This message is being posted to several lists. We apologize for
cross-postings.
Lance McKee
Vice President Corporate Communications
Open GIS Consortium, Inc.
[log in to unmask]
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PRESS ANNOUNCEMENT
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
For information about this release, contact:
The Open GIS Consortium, Inc. (OGC)
Lance McKee
Vice President, Corporate Communications
35 Main Street, Suite 5
Wayland, MA 01778 USA
tel: +1-508-655-5858
fax: +1-508-655-2237
e-mail: [log in to unmask]
http://www.opengis.org
TELECOM INPUT NEEDED FOR OPEN GIS SPECIFICATIONS
Wayland, MA, USA, August 31, 1998: The Telecommunications Special Interest
Group (Telco SIG) of the Open GIS Consortium (OGC) Technical Committee
issued a Request for Information (RFI) which is critical to the future use
of geospatial information in telecommunications organizations. OGC seeks
responses from Outside Plant Engineers, Inside Plant Engineers, Planners,
Forecasters, Inspectors, Cartographers, Accountants, Locators, Database
Administrators, and people working in Purchasing, Customer Service,
Construction, Material Management, Marketing, Install and Repair,
Operations, IT/IS, and Management who have experience with spatial data
flows within and across functional areas of telcos.
OGC, a 147 member international consortium, is developing the OpenGIS
Specification for standard software interfaces. Diverse GIS, AM/FM, earth
imaging, and navigation systems with OpenGIS Specification conformant
interfaces will be able to communicate directly in terms of earth
coordinates, geometry, geographic feature attributes, etc. In addition to
providing interoperability between geoprocessing systems from different
vendors, the OpenGIS Specification will ultimately enable componentization
of geoprocessing software and the integration of functions such as thematic
map overlays, proximity analysis, and other spatial operations into
information systems of all kinds.
An RFI solicits information from an industry to help guide the OGC
Technical Committee in defining interfaces and services to support that
industry. Responses to the Telco RFI's questions about metadata,
requirements, architectural framework, and interfaces will be used by the
Telco SIG to extend and detail the OpenGIS architecture on behalf of the
telecom industry, on a schedule that reflects the industry's priorities.
The Telco SIG's mission is to ensure that the OpenGIS Specification results
in interoperable geospatial products which meet the needs of the
telecommunications industry. Telcos rely heavily on GIS and AM/FM software
because their facilities and customers are widely distributed
geographically. Telco operations will benefit in many ways from
geoprocessing interoperability: Different operating units with different
kinds of geoprocessing software will be able to share data easily, often
over the Internet. Software will be selected on the basis of application
suitability rather than consistency with a proprietary legacy system.
Merged Telcos will work together more smoothly because the merged
companies' geoprocessing systems will work together. Administrative workers
will be able to take advantage of data collected by and for field
operations. Customers' geodata accesses over the Internet will produce
revenue for Telcos. And OpenGIS Specification conformant interfaces will
make it much easier to provide new online geospatial services, such as
multimedia yellow pages that can tell a customer how to reach a destination.
Tom Strickland of Byers Engineering is the chair of the Telco SIG, in which
many of the telecommunications industry's geoprocessing software vendors
are represented. GTE Internetworking, a Principal Member of OGC, and other
telcos also participate in the SIG.
The OGC Telecommunications RFI is available at http://www.opengis.org.
Responses to the RFI are due by January 18, 1999.
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