Press release

OGC calls for participation in USGS Interoperability Assessment Virtual Exercise

USGS data services get over 1 million hits per day.As part of the USGS Interoperability Assessment Initiative, the OGC and its members are evaluating the different USGS data services with the goal of assessing whether OGC standards as implemented in USGS servers are meeting users requirements.To achieve this goal, the OGC is issuing a Call for Participation (CFP) for the USGS Interoperability Assessment Virtual Exercise Responses to this call for participation are due by 31 May 2014.The overall goal of the initiative is to improve the user’s experience with USGS data services.OGC Standards support interoperable solutions that geo-enable the Web, wireless and location-based services, and mainstream IT.

1 May 2014. USGS data services get over 1 millionhits per day. These data are used by a range of communities includinggovernments at state, county, and city levels for a variety of purposes(science, decision-support, etc). As such, there is an increasing desire todetermine whether the USGS data services are fully compliant with relevant OGCstandards, and if there are opportunities to improve how the data is beingserved to the different communities.

Aspart of the USGS Interoperability Assessment Initiative, the OGC and itsmembers are evaluating the different USGS data services with the goal ofassessing whether OGC standards as implemented in USGS servers are meetingusers' requirements. To achieve this goal, the OGC is issuing a Call for Participation (CFP) for the USGSInteroperability Assessment Virtual Exercise Responses to this call forparticipation are due by 31 May 2014.

The overall goal of the initiative is toimprove the user's experience with USGS data services. The exercise will helpevaluate the current tools, service instances, standard services, and bestpractices. The recommendations derived from the exercise will serve developersand users. They will guide the developers of tools and standards to betterserve the needs for the communities of use, and those communities will learnabout additional tools and approaches to optimize their workflows.

Moreinformation about the project:  http://www.opengeospatial.org/projects/initiatives/usgsia

Linkto the Call for Participation: https://portal.ogc.org/files/58813

The OGC® is an internationalconsortium of more than 475 companies, government agencies, research organizations,and universities participating in a consensus process to develop publiclyavailable geospatial standards. OGC Standards support interoperable solutionsthat “geo-enable” the Web, wireless and location-based services, andmainstream IT. Visit the OGC website at http://www.opengeospatial.org/.