OGC Seeks Industry Comment on Styled Layer Descriptor Specification”

May 6, 2002

Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC)

Wayland, MA -- Today, the Open GIS Consortium, Inc. (OGC) released a Request for Comments (RFC) on the OpenGIS® Styled Layer Descriptor (SLD) Implementation Specification.The OGC membership is considering adoption of this draft specification. The SLD specification defines an extension to the Web Map Server Specification to allow user-defined symbolization of feature data independent of the geographic data or the brand of geoprocessing technology used. OGC members CubeWerx Inc., (Editor, Canada), Syncline (US), and Ionic Software s.a.(Belgium) submitted the SLD specification as a Request for Comment.Industry comments are invited through June 6, 2002.

Because maps are a form of graphic representation, those who use them need a way to consistently document and control the map display for effective presentation, no matter the source of the data. The SLD specification addresses this need and also supports the ability for geographic data to be stored and processed independently of symbology.

The RFC for the OpenGIS Styled Layer Descriptor Specification documents a styling language that allows software applications and end users greater control over symbology.The proposed language, called the Styled Layer Descriptor, is an XML encoding that can be used to portray the output of Web Map Servers (servers for vector, raster or matrix data), Web Feature Servers (servers for vector feature data) and Web Coverage Servers (servers for raster or matrix data) that implement OpenGIS® Specifications.The SLD language enables a wide range of capabilities, from simple rendering such as coloring all of the water in a layer blue, to more complex renderings that determine symbology based on a feature's attribute or user preference.In this case, wider rivers might be drawn proportionately thicker than thinner streams.

The RFC is available for review and comment at http://www.opengis.org/techno/rfc14info.htm.Organizations interested in learning more about the OGC Web Services Initiative should visit the OGC web site at http://www.opengis.org.

ABOUT CUBEWERX INC.
Founded in 1996, CubeWerx has been developing standard-based off the shelf software products (SCOTS) in response to Spatial Data Infrastructure (SDI) requirements for interoperable information infrastructures. CubeWerx is an innovative software company whose expertise includes development, marketing and selling of Web Services and Spatial Warehousing software products. These products and other location-based software product components support the most demanding requirements for the integration, access, and management of very large volumes of Spatial Data over the web. CubeWerx products such as CubeXPLOR, CubeSERV and CubeSTOR were developed using open and interoperable specifications from the Open GIS Consortium. These products allow organizations responsible for Geospatial data to respond to their most demanding client requirements and offer them on-line Web services in a multi-vendor products environment. More information on CubeWerx is available on the Internet at www.cubewerx.com.

For more information please contact:
Edric Keighan (CubeWerx)
Tel.: (819) 771-8303 x207
E-mail

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