Wayland, Mass., April 20, 2006 – The Open Geospatial Consortium, Inc. (OGC®) has released a Request for Comment on a new candidate OGC standard: OpenGIS® Catalogue Services Specification 2.0.1 – ISO Metadata Application Profile. This document specifies a catalogue application profile based on ISO19115:2003/ISO19119:2005 metadata with support for XML encoding per ISO/CD TS 19139 and HTTP protocol binding.
Catalogue services are the key technology for locating, managing and maintaining distributed geo-resources (i.e. geospatial data, applications and services). With OGC catalogue services, client applications are capable of searching for geo-resources in a standardised way (i.e. through standardised interfaces and operations) and, ideally, they are based on a well-known information model, which includes spatial references and further descriptive (thematic) information that enables client applications to search for geo-resources in very efficient ways.
The OGC® is an international industry consortium of more than 300 companies, government agencies, research organizations, and universities participating in a consensus process to develop publicly available interface specifications. OpenGIS® Specifications support interoperable solutions that “geo-enable” the Web, wireless and location-based services, and mainstream IT. The specifications empower technology developers to make complex spatial information and services accessible and useful with all kinds of applications. Visit the OGC website at http://www.opengeospatial.org.
“