OGC(R) Announces Call for Sponsors for Spatial Web Services Initiative.

WAYLAND, Mass. -- The Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) has issued a call for sponsors for the OGC Web Services, Phase 4 (OWS-4) Interoperability Initiative, a testbed to advance OGC's open interoperability framework for geospatial capabilities. Interested organizations are invited to an all day planning meeting on 24 January 2006 in Herndon, Virginia.

In last year's OWS-3 initiative, participants advanced specifications relating to Sensor Web Enablement, Geospatial Decision Support Services, Geospatial Digital Rights Management, Open Location Services and OWS common architecture. These "threads" addressed interoperability issues affecting Emergency Management and Homeland Security, Defense, transport and logistics, e-commerce and other domains.

The 24 January Sponsor Meeting will be the first of three meetings over the next two months to review the OGC specification baseline, discuss OWS-3 results, and identify OWS-4 requirements. OGC members have expressed interest in advancing specifications for: Sensor Web Enablement; image processing workflow automation; information interoperability and user interactions for decision support; Geospatial Digital Rights Management; consumer applications; integration of geospatial information and building information models; indoor location and navigation; temporal features; and enhanced capabilities for conformance testing.

If your organization is interested in participating, register for the meeting at: http://www.opengeospatial.org/events/?page=060124 or contact George Percivall at [e-mail].

OWS initiatives are part of OGC's Interoperability Program, a global, hands-on and collaborative prototyping program designed to rapidly develop, test and deliver proven candidate specifications into OGC's Specification Program, where they are formalized for public release. In OGC's Interoperability Initiatives, international teams of technology providers work together to solve specific geoprocessing interoperability problems posed by the Initiative's sponsoring organizations. OGC Interoperability Initiatives include test beds, pilot projects, interoperability experiments and interoperability support services - all designed to encourage rapid development, testing, validation and adoption of OpenGIS standards.

The OGC(R)is an international industry consortium of more than 300 companies, government agencies and universities participating in a consensus process to develop publicly available interface specifications. OpenGIS(R) Specifications support interoperable solutions that "geo-enable" the Web, wireless and location-based services, and mainstream IT. The specifications empower technology developers to make complex spatial information and services accessible and useful with all kinds of applications. Visit the OGC website at http://www.opengeospatial.org.