The two key organisations leading the development of geospatial standards internationally - the Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) and the International Organization for Standardization Technical Committee on Geographic information / Geomatics (ISO/TC 211) - will be holding their Technical Meetings in Australia in November and December 2010.
This is the first time for over 10 years these two organisations are meeting in the same location, and it is also the first time that OCG Technical Committee has met in Australia. This is in recognition of Australia's role in contributing to International Standard's development and the leadership shown in promoting the adoption of these standards.
ISO/TC 211 and OGC have developed a range of standards to advance geospatial interoperability, enabling spatial data and information to interact with relevant services and also to interact with other business processes in a seamless and integrated manner. In Australia, the application of these standards is essential in developing such capabilities as national water accounting, the Australian and New Zealand Spatial Marketplace and numerous other government and commercial capabilities.
Any use of spatial capability benefits from the ISO and OGC standards in numerous ways and as an early adopter of many of these standards, Australian organisations have developed considerable knowledge of these standards. Australia has played a role in developing these standards and can continue to play a significant role in their ongoing development. Australia's influence in this area is acknowledged by both ISO and OGC through their holding of their critical technical meetings in Australia this year.
‘‘Standards are the foundation of the spatial capabilities we use across government, commercial, research and education sectors. The concept of sharing spatial resources which is undertaken through standards-based interoperability technologies, but it is essential that we understand the role they play and also that the Australian spatial community continues to actively support both their ongoing development and the adoption in our evolving systems. Australia is fortunate to be the location for these significant meetings and will hopefully take full advantage of having this body of knowledge in the country.’’
Ben Searle General Manager
Australian Government Office of Spatial Data Management
OGC Technical Meeting
Sydney, 29 November - 3 December 2010
Contact: Dr David Lemon | david.lemon@csiro
ISO/TC 211 Meeting
Canberra, 6 - 10 December 2010
Contact: Chris Body | chris.body@ga.gov.au
About the ISO/TC 211
ISO/TC 211 Geographic information/Geomatics is responsible for the ISO geographic information series of standards. Further information about the committee can be found at www.isotc211.org where it is also possible to make contact with the committee secretariat if you have any queries. You can also obtain a copy of the fact sheets and an overview document from this web site.
About the Open Geospatial Consortium
The OGC® is an international consortium of more than 385 companies, government agencies, research organizations, and universities participating in a consensus process to develop publicly available geospatial standards. OpenGIS® Standards support interoperable solutions that "geo-enable" the Web, wireless and location-based services, and mainstream IT. OGC Standards empower technology developers to make geospatial information and services accessible and useful with any application that needs to be geospatially enabled. Visit the OGC website at http://www.opengeospatial.org.