What is the OGC?

An introduction to what The Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) is and what it is trying to do through its consensus standards development process.

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It's open.

It's geospatial.

A standards consortium

people working together to help computers communicate about "WHERE"

The positions of things.

Geographic information

about the weather

or an earthquake.

Data.

On, above and ...

below the earth’s surface.

Information.

Maps and much more.

Incredible maps of things like animal migrations

or satellite images.

It's about knowing where things are

and how they relate

so we can understand the world.

It’s about trust

and transparency,

an open process

open membership

open standards.

It's people,

small companies,

big companies,

universities,

research institutes,

organizations,

agencies,

governments from across the world

settling on standards for sharing data,

sharing information,

integrating information,

so we can communicate

describing places in ways we all understand

Getting "where" information

to and from smartphones and tablets

and computers,

and servers,

and sensors,

lots and lots of sensors.

OGC standards connect people to data

so we can see how an illness spreads

and help planes get where they're going.

So when a hurricane hits a coastline,

and people need to be evacuated

and emergency services need to know

how to find hospitals

with empty beds

in safe areas

where the roads are not blocked.

It doesn't matter that the information decision makers need

is in different places

from different sensors,

different softwares,

different languages...

OGC helps them see a complete picture

quickly

integrating information

and updating hour by hour

so they can save lives.

Arigatou, OGC.

Dhanyawaad, OGC.

Salamat, OGC.

Gurdamargat, OGC.

Spasiba, OGC.

Harlot, OGC.

Merci beaucoup, OGC.

Gracias, OGC.

Thanks, OGC.