British Geological Survey Offices, Nottingham, UK – Following the recent successful UK Geospatial Mash-Up meeting, the Association For Geographic Information (AGI), The British Computer Society (BCS) and the Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) have teamed up again to promote and discuss the 'business case' for using open geospatial standards.
Bill Hatton, programme manager of The British Geological Survey's Information Systems explained the importance of the event: “Effective use of geographical data underpins many critical business and governmental decisions and strategies. All too often what is perceived to be the most cost effective application of geographic information and processing systems doesn't take into account open spatial standards and the reduction of technology life cycle costs.”
Professor Mike Jackson, Chair of the OGC UK-Ireland Forum added, “This workshop brings together outstanding expertise from Government agencies, integrators and vendors on the deployment of interoperable geographic and location-based services”.
Delegates will be invited to hear a wide ranging set of topics from an international set of speakers, including Michael Gould, Andy Coote, Thorben Hansen, Ed Parsons, Carl Reed, Steven Feldman, Eamon Walsh, and Tim Duffy. A number of system and product demonstrations will be shown by the speakers and a limited number of exhibitors.
The seminar is aimed at all decision makers and managers who face decisions about employing geospatial technologies. It will describe how to achieve interoperability across technologies, how to future-proof your investments and how to employ best-practice for optimal results. For further information see
http://www.opengeospatial.org/event/070125seminar, or http://geospatial.bcs.org/site/, or
http://www.agi.org.uk/pooled/articles/BF_EVENTART/view.asp?Q=BF_EVENTART_224830.
The event will be held on Thursday 25th January 2007, 0930-1530 at the British Geological Survey, Keyworth, Nottingham. See http://bgs.ac.uk/contacts/sites/keyworth/kwhome.html for directions.
The OGC® is an international industry consortium of more than 335 companies, government agencies, research organizations, and universities participating in a consensus process to develop publicly available interface specifications. OpenGIS® Specifications support interoperable solutions that geo-enable the Web, wireless and location-based services, and mainstream IT. The specifications empower technology developers to maoe complex spatial information and services accessible and useful with all kinds of applications. Visit the OGC website at http://www.opengeospatial.org.
The Association for Geographic Information (AGI) is a multidisciplinary organisation dedicated to the advancement of the use of geographically related information. It covers all interest groups including UK local and central government, utilities, academia, system and service vendors, consultancy and industry. It aims to increase asareness of the benefits brought about by the new technology, and assist practitioners in the attainment of these benefits.
The British Computer Society (BCS) established in 1957, is the leading body for those working in IT in the UK. With a world-wide membership now over 50,000 members in over 100 countries, BCS is the qualifying body for Chartered IT Professionals (CITP). BCS was incorporated by Royal Charter in 1984. Its objects are to promote the study and practice of computing and to advance knowledge of and education in IT for the benefit of the public. BCS is also a registered charity. BCS is licensed by the Engineering Council to award Chartered Engineer status (CEng) and Incorporated Engineer status (IEng); and more recently by the Science Council to award Chartered Scientist status (CSci).
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