OGC Seeks Quotations/Participation in Critical Infrastructure Protection Initiative.

Business/Technology Editors

WAYLAND, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Aug. 19, 2002

The Open GIS Consortium, Inc. (OGC) invites responses to a Call for Participation/Request for Quotation (RFP/RFQ) for OGC Critical Infrastructure Protection Initiative Phase 1 (CIPI-1). The document is available for download at http://ip.opengis.org/cipi/documents.htm.

CIPI takes a new approach to help organizations publish, discover, access, exchange, and maintain vital geo-spatial information and online geoprocessing services required to support critical infrastructure protection. OGC is advancing a "plug and play" capability enabled by a range of vendor software products that implement OpenGIS(R) specifications over the World Wide Web and other networks. CIPI is an opportunity for vendors, users, and other interested parties to mutually shape needed services, interfaces and protocols in the context of a hands-on engineering experience. Industry sponsors Autodesk, BAE SYSTEMS, Intergraph and others, join government sponsors Federal Emergency Management (FEMA), Federal Geographic Data Committee (FGDC), GeoConnections/Natural Resources Canada, U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) and other U.S. Government sponsors, in support of CIPI.

As critical infrastructure protection becomes further integrated into government functions, decision makers need the management "edge" that interoperable geoprocessing provides. Today's systems offer a range of capabilities for users to quickly render one or more layers of digital geospatial data into map-like products for visualization, analysis and decision-making. Through the use of open interfaces developed by OGC members, geospatial information and application services operating on different computing platforms across the Web can be rapidly mobilized and applied to critical infrastructure protection issues in support of a standards-based Spatial Data Infrastructure.

CIPI-1 is the first of several pilot programs addressing the challenge of critical infrastructure protection. CIPI-1 will make use of emerging OGC Web Services (an infrastructure for Web-based online geoprocessing) and GeoFusion Services (an infrastructure for spatial referencing of varied types of data that have spatial meaning). CIPI will also identify requirements for new specifications to improve interoperability across communities that need to collaborate.

CIPI-1 has several objectives including the creation of a Critical Infrastructure Collaborative Environment (CICE). The environment will include several operational nodes that exemplify the open interfaces in use. Prototype nodes, including servers and data, are expected to be hosted by FEMA, GeoConnections/Natural Resources Canada, USGS and other government agencies and by communities participating in the initiative. The CICE will be the basis for executing integration experiments and implementing information security. CIPI-1 will also address the challenge of sharing data from different data models. CIPI will draw upon work done by the OGC under the Geospatial One-Stop - Transportation Pilot (GOS-TP) to test the encoding and service of transportation data among multiple providers and users. The CIPI efforts are intended to support the implementation of the Canadian Geospatial Data Infrastructure (CGDI), the U.S. National Spatial Data Infrastructure (NSDI), and related e-government initiatives.

Responses to the CFP/RFQ are due no later than 5 pm EDT (2100 UTC) September 20, 2002. The initiative is expected to kick off in mid-October with demonstration planned for March 2003. Inquiries related to CIPI should be addressed to Mr. Terry Idol, Chair, CIPI Advisory Committee, [e-mail].

Critical Infrastructure Protection Initiative and its Call for Communities are part of OGC's Interoperability Program, a global, collaborative, hands-on engineering and testing program that rapidly delivers 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. Questions about the Interoperability Program should be addressed to Mr. Jeff Harrison, Executive Director, [e-mail], [phone].

OGC is an international industry consortium of more than 230 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 www.opengis.org.