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The purpose of this paper is to provide an introduction to standards and an overview of the standardization process in terms of the development, implementation, and deployment of international standards for Spatial Data Infrastructures such as INSPIRE and the GSDI.
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Standards are often deceptive because they serve different functions. Generally, standards are perceived as consensus accepted on technical solutions. Within the International Organization for Standardization (ISO), consensus does not necessarily imply unanimity or approval by majority. The notion of consensus, within this context, refers to the absence of sustained objection. Closer scrutiny reveals that standards are more likely to be political compromises that may have significant roles and implications in the management, policy, and financial considerations of governments, industry, and user communities. In this regard, the approved standard is less than likely to be a superior technical solution. Standards frequently serve as forms of technology transfer between advanced and emerging countries. The traditional technology lag existing between developed and emerging countries is disappearing because emerging countries are now joining technical committees within standardization organizations as participating members or as observers. Within ISO, observers have all the privileges of participating member, however, observers are not required to vote. In reality, many national bodies participate as observers because this is an excellent low cost way, with a minimal commitment of technical resources, to update and manage many new and emerging technical developments. Standards also serve as democratic mechanisms to level the playing field for all players, large or small, in a competitive technological / GIS environment. Smaller companies usually do not have the resources that a larger company has to address significant technical issues. When such issues are resolved by a standard, this shifts the focus of competition between companies to other products and services. This democratic principle also applies to the standardization process: the International Organization for Standardization intentionally uses the ISO acronym rather than IOS to signify and to strive for the equality of nations in the standardization process and voluntary adoption of standards.
Highly important but often overlooked is the role of research in the process of standardization. Such research begins with the basic / pure academic research that establishes the theoretical / conceptual basis for the development of standards. Equally important is the applied research necessary for the implementation and deployment of standards. Applied research for the implementation of standards may occur in the governmental, private, and commercial sectors. Some of this applied research has resulted in implementations of various drafts of the ISO Metadata standard. For this particular standard, there are implementations by governments, the private sector, as well as, commercially within industry. Ultimately, the true essence of standardization remains with the deployment of standards among its users.
High quality research can result in achieving higher levels of technical content and attaining the ever important objective of interoperability, the basic / applied research accomplished before, during, and after the standardization process can also minimize the amount of time and associated effort necessary to progress through the development, implementation, and deployment phases of standardization. Naturally, the emphasis should be on the basic research that can be accomplished "before" it is needed for the purposes of standardization. The more complete and widely accepted research, including concepts and theory, would certainly preclude much of the research that might be needed during the standards development phase, thereby reducing the length of this phase considerably.
