[OGC Press Release] OGC(R) Web Services for GEOSS Demonstrated in International Workshops

[OGC Press Release]

PRESS ANNOUNCEMENT FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
For information about this announcement, contact:

Sam Bacharach
Executive Director, Outreach and Community Adoption
Open Geospatial Consortium, Inc
tel: +1-703-352-3938
sbacharach at opengeospatial.org

-----------------------------------------------------------------------



Wayland, MA, September 5, 2007 - Six of the nine regional 2007 "The User 
and the GEOSS Architecture" [http://www.ogcnetwork.net/GEOSSdemos] 
workshops organized by the IEEE, ISPRS and OGC have been completed. In 
regional scientific application scenarios, the workshops demonstrate 
publishing, discovery, and access of complex geospatial data and online 
processing services using existing OGC standards consistent with the 
architecture principals of the GEOSS 10 Year Implementation Plan.

Most recently, "The Impact of Climate Change and Variability on
Biodiversity and Energy in the Arctic" was demonstrated by
Compusult, CIESIN and IMAA-CNR on 19-20 August 2007. The workshop was
part of IPY GeoNorth, the First International Circumpolar Conference
on Geospatial Sciences and Applications, held in Yellowknife, N.W.T.,
Canada.

Prior to that workshop, "Sustainable development through Earth
Observation, Agriculture," led by the University of New Mexico,
was held at the IEEE/GRSS 32nd International Symposium on Remote
Sensing of Environment (ISRSE) June 29, 2007 in San Jose, Costa Rica.
And "GEOSS System and Interoperability - Sahara Dust and Ocean
Productivity Over the Mediterranean," led by Washington
University (St. Louis, MO, USA), was held July 22, 2007 in Barcelona,
Spain at the IEEE International Geoscience and Remote Sensing
Symposium (IGARSS).

Upcoming workshops include: "Earth Observation to benefit Water
and Health," at AfricaGIS07, September 15-16 in Ouagadougou,
Burkina Faso; "Regional Decisions for Climate Change,"
September 21-22 in Boulder, CO, USA; and "Environment
Disaster/Tsunami," November 14 at the Asian Association on Remote
Sensing (AARS) Asian Conference on Remote Sensing (ACRS) in Kuala
Lumpur, Malaysia.

The Boulder workshop will be held in conjunction with the September
2007 OGC Technical Committee and Planning Committee meetings, which
are being hosted by the National Center for Atmospheric Research
(NCAR). The demonstration will address access to Intergovernmental
Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Data Distribution Centres for data to
support regional decision makers considering the predicted effects of
climate change. The keynote speaker will be Dr. Robert Corell,
Director, Global Change Program at the H. John Heinz III Center for
Science, Economics and the Environment; Senior Policy Fellow, American
Meteorological Society; and co-chair of the Arctic Council climate
impact assessment (ACIA). Speaking of the OGC standards that are a
critical component of the GEOSS architecture, Dr. Corell said,
"Developing the bridge of climate predictions with regional
decision makers is a vital step to planning for our future."

The OGC® is an international industry consortium of more than 350
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.