The Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) is pleased to announce that its Membership has approved two new Abstract Specification Topics: Topic 6.1 – Schema for Coverage Geometry and Functions – Part 1: Fundamentals and Topic 6.3 – Schema for Coverage Geometry and Functions – Part 3: Processing Fundamentals.
These Topics establish a high-level, implementation-independent framework for defining concepts and terminology for Coverage data structures (Topic 6.1) and operations (Topic 6.3). They play a fundamental role in informing the development of implementation Standards related to Coverages.
The OGC Abstract Specification provides the conceptual foundation for most OGC Standard development activities. Open interfaces and protocols are built and referenced against the Abstract Specification, thus enabling interoperability between different spatial processing systems. The Abstract Specification consists of several topic volumes, each one providing a specific set of abstract models, such as for metadata or geometry, as a foundation unit upon which to build OGC Standards.
Topic 6 of the OGC Abstract Specification concerns Coverages. A Coverage is the digital representation of some phenomenon with a spatiotemporal extent, corresponding to the notion of a “field” in physics. Examples include 1-D timeseries, 2D images, 3D x/y/t image timeseries and x/y/z geophysical data, 4D x/y/z/t atmospheric and ocean data, etc. Technically, Coverages comprise regular and irregular grids (aka datacubes), point clouds, and general curve/surface/solid meshes.
Topic 6.1 – Schema for Coverage Geometry and Functions – Part 1: Fundamentals defines a conceptual framework for Coverages—mapping spatial, temporal, or spatiotemporal locations to values, like color, evaluation, classifications. In analogy to mathematical functions the set of locations in a coverage is called its “domain,” the associated values collectively are named its “range.” An associated range type defines the semantics of such values. In such multi-dimensional Coverage spaces, axes can span spatial, temporal, or non-spatio-temporal “parametric” dimensions (as definedin ISO 19111:2019). The document was prepared by OGC in collaboration with ISO/TC 211 Geographic information/Geomatics, and aligns with ISO 19123-1:2023. Part 1 replaces the earlier OGC 07-011 Abstract Specification document which was identical to the likewise obsoleted ISO 19123.
Topic 6.3 – Schema for Coverage Geometry and Functions – Part 3: Processing Fundamentals outlines a processing language for server-side extraction, filtering, processing, analytics, and fusion of multi-dimensional geospatial coverages representing spatiotemporal sensor, image, simulation, or statistics datacubes. Part 3 supports regular and irregular multi-dimensional grids and anticipates future inclusion of additional coverage types, including point clouds and meshes. The document was prepared by OGC in collaboration with ISO/TC 211 and is derived from the OGC’s Web Coverage Processing Service (WCPS) Language Interface Standard. Part 3 aligns with ISO 19123-3:2023.
The OGC Abstract Specification Topic 6.1 – Schema for Coverage Geometry and Functions – Part 1: Fundamentals and Topic 6.3 – Schema for Coverage Geometry and Functions – Part 3: Processing Fundamentals are available for free from the OGC Abstract Specification webpage on ogc.org.
About OGC
The Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) is a membership organization dedicated to using the power of geography and technology to solve problems faced by people and the planet. OGC unlocks value and opportunity for its members through Standards, Innovation, and Collaboration. Our membership represents a diverse and active global community drawn from government, industry, academia, international development agencies, research & scientific organizations, civil society, and advocates.
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