--- Begin Forwarded Message ---
Date: Mon, 13 Dec 1999 18:36:54 -0500
From: Lance McKee <[log in to unmask]>
Subject: New OGC consensus standard for web mapping
Sender: Lance McKee <[log in to unmask]>
The following announcement is being sent to multiple lists. We apologize
for cross-postings.
Lance McKee
---------------
PRESS ANNOUNCEMENT
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact:
Lance McKee, Vice President, Corporate Communications
Open GIS Consortium, Inc. (OGC) Wayland, MA 01778
tel: +1-508-655-5858 fax: +1-508-655-2237
[log in to unmask]
http://www.opengis.org
OGC SEEKS INPUT ON WEB MAPPING STANDARD
Wayland, MA, USA, December 13, 1999: The Open GIS Consortium, Inc. (OGC)
today issued Requests for Comment on its pending OpenGIS Web Map Server
Interface Specification and OpenGIS Geography Markup Language (GML)
Specification.
The OpenGIS Web Map Server Interface Specification provides a set of open
protocols that will make it possible for users of ordinary web browsers to
obtain and automatically overlay "map layers" of the same geographic
region, where each layer is a "view" into geographic data potentially held
by a different web server. Map servers can be from different vendors, and
they can vary widely in terms of processing capabilities and data type
(including multiple vector and raster types). The three protocols are
relatively simple, and it is not difficult in most cases to add them to
data servers. GetCapabilities provides information about what a server can
do. GetMap gets maps, which might be georeferenced images (such as JPEG and
PNG), simple display graphics (such as SVG or WebCGM), or more universally
displayable "picture element" data (Simple Features XML, also known as
GML). GetFeature_info provides information about features, so that users
can query to get attributes of specific geographic features in a map layer.
GML is a method for encoding OpenGIS Simple Features (basic vector-based
geographic data) in XML. XSLT "stylesheets" can then be used to render
this "smart data" in application-specific ways. The GML draft document will
be submitted to W3C as a Note.
In the OpenGIS Web Mapping Testbed, the Web Map Server was used with
catalog services defined in the OpenGIS Catalog Services Specification,
which provides a common architecture for online automated directories or
registries of web-based geospatial data and geoprocessing services, rather
like "spatial search engines."
As vendors implement these open standards in software, and as online
geodata suppliers make their data available, web users will easily find,
view, overlay, and combine different thematic maps for a given region.
Geospatial data includes digital maps (including individual map elements
such as roads, lakes and political boundaries), Earth images, and database
records with street addresses or other fields that indicate physical
location. Much geospatial data is currently available on the web, but
users must posses considerable expertise and special geographic information
system (GIS) software to overlay or otherwise combine different "map
layers" of the same geographic region. Now, consensus among GIS software
vendors in OGC has made it possible for such overlays and combinations of
complex and essentially different kinds of geographic information to happen
automatically over the Internet, despite differences in the vendors'
geographic data storage, analysis, and display systems.
The OpenGIS Technical Document 99-077 titled, "Web Map Server Interface
Specification" was submitted by BBN Technologies (Cambridge MA), Cadcorp
Ltd. (UK), CubeWerx Inc. (Canada), Ionic Software s.a. (Belgium),
Laser-Scan Ltd. (UK), SICAD Geomatics GmbH & Co. oHG. (Germany), Social
Change Online Pty Ltd. (Australia), and the US Army Engineer Research and
Development Center (Alexandria, VA). The OpenGIS Technical Document
99-082r1 titled "Geography Markup Language (GML)" was submitted by Galdos
Systems, Inc. (Canada), Oracle Corp. (Redwood Shores, CA), MapInfo Corp.
(Troy, NY), Compusult, Ltd (Canada), and CubeWerx (Canada). Both
documents are available for comment at
http://www.opengis.org/techno/request.htm.
After the OGC Technical Committee reviews and incorporates comments, these
specifications are likely to be formally adopted (as a single
specification) at the OGC Technical Committee and Management Committee
meetings to be held in Vancouver, BC in February, 2000.
OGC is an international, not-for-profit organization working toward
integration of geospatial capabilities into the world's information systems.
-- end --
Lance McKee
Vice President, Corporate Communications and Public Sector Programs
Open GIS Consortium, Inc.
35 Main Street
Wayland, MA 01778 USA
Tel. 508-655-5858
Fax 508-655-2237
http://www.opengis.org
[log in to unmask]
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