OGC Seeks Public Comment on Proposed Web Coverage Service Specification”

December 20, 2002

Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC)

Thousand Oaks, CA -- At last week's Open GIS Consortium, Inc.(OGC) Technical and Planning Committee meetings, the Coverage Working Group, the OGC Technical Committee, and the OGC Planning Committee voted to release the proposed Web Coverage Service (WCS) Implementation Specification, for public comment, as a Request for Comment (RFC).The RFC details draft interfaces that allow gridded and certain non-gridded geospatial data on a server to be accessed and used by client software as input into spatial model, local rendering and other uses.The documentation is available at http://www.opengis.org/info/techno/request.htm and comments are invited from any interested parties for 30 days, until Jan 17, 2003.

The Web Coverage Service (WCS) provides access to intact, raw data. WCS' three key operations, GetCapabilities, GetCoverage, and DescribeCoverageType are designed to work with coverages (imagery, TINS and other types of gridded and non-gridded intelligent data).

The GetCapabilities operation returns an XML document from the server that describes the service and the data collections available.The GetCoverage operation of a Web Coverage Service returns values or properties associated with geographic locations.The values are encoded in one of the well-known coverage formats as supported by the server and selected by the client.

Jeff Labonte, Director of the Canada's GeoConnections Program, stated that the Web Coverage Service is an important element that will further development of the Canadian Geospatial Data Infrastructure by promoting interoperability of important sources of information such as earth observation satellites and imagery.

Myra Bambacus, Program Manager, NASA Geospatial Interoperability Office highlights NASA use of WCS to date."NASA is advancing WCS implementation through efforts in its Earth Observing System - Data and Information System and through the Committee on Earth Observing Satellites.These implementations have begun a revolution in the ready accessibility of coverage data for geospatial applications."

NASA is the lead submitter on WCS.The submission team also includes BAE SYSTEMS, Cubewerx, Inc., George Mason University, German Aerospace Center DLR, Intergraph Mapping and Geospatial Solutions, IONIC Software s.a, PCI Geomatics, Polexis, Inc., and Natural Resources Canada.

Request for Comment is a key method to integrate public input into OGC's consensus process in the creation of its OpenGIS(R) Specifications.After the Request for Comment period ends, and comments are assembled and addressed, the WCS RFC may be brought to a vote to become an Adopted OpenGIS Specification.

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

Home | Company | Products | Services | Press | Contact Us