Open Standards

Open Standards allow us to share information. They are general agreements about how information is structured, similar to how cultural traditions determine common interactions between people and groups.

Examples of Standards

Before exploring specifics of geospatial standards, it is worthwhile to explore a few more tangible standards.

Any household will contain several standardized components such as plumbing fixtures, electrical outlets, and doorways. By building the house using standardized equipment, we are able to save time and money.

For some items there are competing standards. For example, power outlets vary in shape and size around the world. However, by having existing standards for such items, it is possible to create adaptors to convert from one standard to another.

Geospatial Standards

Standards typically are not developed in private, and should be the collaborative process of many parties. In the geospatial sector, the primary standards making body is the Open Geospatial Consortium (hereforth OGC). The OGC have develped standards for the structure, exchange, modification, and description of geospatial data.

Web Standards

Before moving on, there is one more set of standards that are significant to our work. The Internet has become a crucial component in science and our culture. It allows knowledge sharing on an unprecedented scale.

Early in the development of the World Wide Web, the need became aparent for standard ways to describe and display information. Over the course of several years, the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) was formed to develop and steward the standards making process. Many of the standards created by the W3C are relevant to Geospatial Information Science.