Wayland, MA, USA, May 28, 2002 – The Open GIS Consortium, Inc. (OGC) and the Association of Geographic Information Laboratories in Europe (AGILE), have signed a memorandum of understanding aimed at creating a program of jointly supported educational and market development activities designed to benefit the members of both organizations and the geospatial community as a whole. The signing took place during the AGILE 5th Conference in Palma, Spain. In particular, the two organizations commit to cross-promote the other's activities, explore ways to participate in each other's task forces and working groups and promote student participation in OGC via internships.Some of the possible activities discussed include the development and hosting of a one day seminar on European Interoperability Research and Development Opportunities and collaboration to stimulate the definition and funding of European projects of mutual interest, that might include the development of an OGCNetwork node to support future initiatives in areas such as disaster management, earth and environmental data management and dissemination, and others.On behalf of AGILE's Council, President Mauro Salvemini notes “We have the highest appreciation for the agreement in the framework of offering more opportunities to AGILE members, which are mainly university laboratories and therefore offer the participation of young researchers and students. Moreover the MOU reinforces the opportunity for closer interaction of AGILE members with the IT industry.”David Schell, OGC president, commented, “Education is absolutely key in developing and growing interoperability across the globe. European universities have contributed to interoperability and OGC in variety of ways with a perspective unavailable elsewhere. We are most pleased that AGILE sees the synergy of the two organizations and encourage other educationally focused GIS groups and universities to join us.”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, wireless and location-based services, 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 .AGILE is an association of geographic information laboratories in Europe dedicated to promoting academic teaching and research on Geographic Information Science by representing the interests of those involved in GI-teaching and research at the national and the European level, and the continuation and extension of existing networking activities. Visit AGILE at http://www.agile-online.org/ .– end –“
OGC and AGILE Partner to Weave GI Educators and Students into the Future of GeoSpatial Interoperability
On behalf of AGILEs Council, President Mauro Salvemini notes We have the highest appreciation for the agreement in the framework of offering more opportunities to AGILE members, which are mainly university laboratories and therefore offer the participation of young researchers and students.Moreover the MOU reinforces the opportunity for closer interaction of AGILE members with the IT industry.David Schell, OGC president, commented, Education is absolutely key in developing and growing interoperability across the globe.European universities have contributed to interoperability and OGC in variety of ways with a perspective unavailable elsewhere.We are most pleased that AGILE sees the synergy of the two organizations and encourage other educationally focused GIS groups and universities to join us.
