OGC and DGIWG Announce Memorandum of Understanding

Wayland, MA, September 9, 2005 – The Open Geospatial Consortium, Inc. (OGC) announced the signing of a formal Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between the Digital Geospatial Information Working Group (DGIWG) Secretariat and the OGC.DGIWG, established in 1983, is a standardization body now comprised of 18 nations whose first objective was to set up an effective exchange standard allowing for the transfer of data between the countries' military geospatial production agencies, to meet NATO geospatial requirements. A current objective is to help develop and to encourage the use of technical standards that enable improved interoperability and integration of geospatial information systems. DGIWG wishes to transition from creating military specific standards to using consensus industry and international standards wherever possible.To help meet this objective and to support the mission of the OGC, DGIWG and OGC have agreed to formalize their collaboration on programs for outreach, education and capacity building that benefit both DGIWG and OGC members, and to maximize each organization's ability to review and comment on specifications and standards being advanced through their respective processes.Brigadier Nick Rigby, Director DGIWG, said, “The collaboration with OGC is a major part of DGIWG's strategy to work with key partners in order to maximize the output from our mutual efforts to deliver geospatial standards. Such cooperative effort is essential in the prevailing climate of increasing requirements but limited resources.”Mark Reichardt, OGC President, explained that the benefit to OGC comes from the close connection to users that this MOU provides. “Organizations such as DGIWG have a solid understanding of the needs that our specifications should address and they also bring their expertise to the table to ensure that we are going the right direction. OGC works with numerous other communities of practice in areas such as simulation and modeling, emergency management, CAD/GIS integration, and telematics to gather requirements and to harmonize OGC's specifications with other standards.”The OGC and DGIWG will at times collocate their meetings to provide an opportunity for the OGC and DGIWG member outreach, networking and discussion of programs and issues.OGC is an international industry consortium of more than 280 companies, government agencies 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 websites at http://www.opengeospatial.org and https://www.dgiwg.org.”