Press release

OGC Requests Web Map Tile Service (WMTS) Reference Implementations

The Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) requests reference implementations of the OGC Web Map Tile Service (WMTS) Interface Standard for use in compliance testing.The OGC Compliance Testing program (CITE) tests whether implementations of OGC standards comply with mandatory elements in the standards.A WMTS enabled server application can serve map tiles of spatially referenced data using tile images with predefined content, extent, and resolution.WMTS is related to the OGCs Web Map Server (WMS) but is designed to enable better server performance in applications that involve many simultaneous requests.OGC Standards empower technology developers to make geospatial information and services accessible and useful with any application that needs to be geospatially enabled.

2 June 2011.  The Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) requests reference implementations of the OGC Web Map Tile Service (WMTS) Interface Standard for use in compliance testing.

The OGC Compliance Testing program (CITE) tests whether implementations of OGC standards comply with mandatory elements in the standards. Implementations that pass CITE tests are eligible to pay a Trademark License Fee to use the “Certified OGC Compliant” brand in packaging and marketing.

A WMTS enabled server application can serve map tiles of spatially referenced data using tile images with predefined content, extent, and resolution. WMTS is related to the OGC's Web Map Server (WMS) but is designed to enable better server performance in applications that involve many simultaneous requests. To improve performance, instead of creating a new image for each request, WMTS returns small pre-generated images (e.g. PNG or JPEG) or reuses identical previous requests that follow a discrete set of tile matrices.

Development of abstract and executable tests suites (ETS) for WMTS clients and servers is underway. The current draft of the WMTS abstract test suite is at https://svn.opengeospatial.org/ogc-projects/cite/scripts/wmts/1.0.0/trunk/web

OGC Members with WMTS client and server implementations (and test data if available) are invited to become WMTS CITE Initiative sponsors by making these resources available for free for “black box” testing in WMTS executable test suite development. The first three implementations to pass 100% of the testing process during the release candidate phase will have their Trademark License Fee waived for their first complete annual licensing period.

The OGC is seeking client implementations that run on a Windows platform or are accessed via the Web.

For more information about this opportunity, please visit http://cite.opengeospatial.org/node/70 or contact: Luis Bermudez, OGC Director of Interoperability Certification, lbermudez@opengeospatial.org

The OGC® is an international consortium of more than 415 companies, government agencies, research organizations, and universities participating in a consensus process to develop publicly available geospatial standards. OGC Standards empower technology developers to make geospatial information and services accessible and useful with any application that needs to be geospatially enabled. Visit the OGC website at http://www.opengeospatial.org/contact/.