Geospatial One-Stop Portal Call for Additional Requirements

Wayland, MA, USA, November 7, 2002 – The Geospatial One-Stop (GOS) initiative recently issued a Call for Additional Requirements for the Geospatial One-Stop Portal (see http://www.geo-one-stop.gov/cfar/ ). The GOS Portal will rely in part on interoperability specifications such as those published by the Open GIS Consortium, Inc. (OGC).Led by the Department of the Interior, Geospatial One-Stop is one of 24 US Office of Management and Budget (OMB) E-Government initiatives to improve effectiveness, efficiency, and customer service throughout all layers of government. GOS builds upon National Spatial Data Infrastructure (NSDI) objectives to enhance interoperability among geographic components of government activities.Geospatial One-Stop will provide a Portal for discovery of and access to certain basic themes of geospatial data, known as Framework data. This Portal will be a general user interface to distributed geospatial data and services available from all levels of government. Also, applications such as desktop GIS software, Decision Support Systems, and other services will be able to utilize the Geospatial One-Stop Portal through open software interfaces.”The Portal is all about access,” said NASA's Myra Bambacus, Acting Executive Director of Geospatial One-Stop. “It will enable all levels of government to get the information they need for planning, disaster response, homeland security, and other activities.”Respondents to the Call for Additional Requirements will help the Geospatial One-Stop Portal Team of state, local, and federal representatives develop the functional requirements of the Portal. These requirements will inform the draft architecture of the Portal, which will then be refined and implemented during an interoperability initiative to be executed by OGC.A description of existing requirements and instructions for submitting additional requirements or comments are available at http://www.geo-one-stop.gov/cfar/ . Responses received by November 22, 2002 will receive full consideration for version 1 of the Portal. Questions should be addressed to the GOS Portal Manager, Dr. Jeff de La Beaujardiere, at 301-286-1569 or portal-cfar-comments@sunrise.gsfc.nasa.gov .OGC is an international industry consortium of more than 230 companies, government agencies and universities participating in a consensus process to develop publicly available geoprocessing specifications. OpenGIS® Specifications support interoperable solutions that “geo-enable” the Web and mainstream IT, and empower technology developers to make complex spatial information and services accessible and useful with all kinds of applications. Visit the OGC website at www.opengeospatial.org .– end –“