The work of the OpenGIS Consortium and the term 'interoperability' are often cited in Geographic Information (GI) industry literature. This paper presents an overview of the OGC for the uninitiated - outlining its membership, aims and objectives. The paper then defines how OGC initiatives are impacting on the UK Geographic Information community, with the aim of demystifying what is meant by 'interoperability'.
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The term 'OpenGIS' is now commonplace in GIS journals, trade magazines, product literature, tender documents and so on. For many though, 'OpenGIS' is still something of an unknown quantity. The next few paragraphs should, however, begin to shed a little light onto the work of the OpenGIS Consortium (OGC) and illustrate where its work is impacting in the GI industry.
An Overview of OGC
The OpenGIS Consortium appeared as such in November 1994, following various initiatives concerned with spatial data sharing between systems. These initiatives were very much 'US centric', with funding coming from the US Federal Government, military and other research agencies. Although the term 'OpenGIS' has reached the mainstream in the last five years or so, the head of stream has been building since the 1980's, with GRASS (GIS) being a tangible offshoot. From its North American, 'governmental' origins OGC is now a much more complex entity. As of July 2003, 28 countries are represented in a membership of 255 agencies. Whilst the US contains the largest contingent of 109 members, it is by no means a majority (commitment being sizeable), EU countries account for 69 members with Germany's 22 members and the UK's 14. Countries such as Canada (19), Australia (13) and Japan (12) are also thriving centres of activity with relation to OGC's work.
The geographical diversity is complemented by the depth of membership in terms of industry sector with software vendors accounting for the largest, discrete non-academic group. See Figure 1.
Membership levels have different fee levels. This, coupled with a company's size and expertise, determines how it can channel its efforts into the OGC body. Principal and strategic membership is open to any GIS interested body willing to commit to a US$ 50,000 fee per annum. This entitles the member to input into the OGC's Planning Committee and the OGC Technical Committee. There are currently 19 members of Principal status or higher.
The main thrust of activity, which actually impacts on GIS users, via resultant data and systems, is formulated in the Technical Committee.
Fig 1 OGC Members by Sector (July 2003)
