Wayland, Mass., July 20, 2006 – The membership of the Open Geospatial Consortium, Inc. (OGC) has released the “OGC GeoRSS White Paper” to the public (OGC Document 06-050r3).
GeoRSS is a simple proposal for geo-enabling, or tagging, “really simple syndication” (RSS) feeds with location information. GeoRSS standardizes the way in which “where” is encoded with enough simplicity and descriptive power to satisfy most needs to describe the location of Web content. It is extensible and upwardly-compatible with more sophisticated formats like the OGC GML (Geography Markup Language®).
GeoRSS is an important stepping stone in the evolution of the geo-semantic web. It is the product of an informal collaboration of geospatial professionals applying expertise in Web standards, syndication, and the Semantic Web. An incubator group within W3C is working to progress things further (see http://www.w3.org/2005/Incubator/geo/charter). This incubator activity represents an important link between the OGC and W3C communities to address the growing importance of the Semantic Web and the need for locally relevant information accessible through a variety of networked devices.
The OGC® is an international industry consortium of more than 300 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 make complex spatial information and services accessible and useful with all kinds of applications. Visit the OGC website at http://www.opengeospatial.org.
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