1. ® ® Global Advisory Council (GAC) Outreach overview, Jan 2011 Mark Reichardt, President and CEO Open Geospatial Consortium © 2011 Open Geospatial Consortium © 2011 Open Geospatial Consortium

2. OGC ® Outreach and OGC standards Outreach in the context of the Global Advisory Council means reaching out to emerging and developing regions Highlighting the value of Spatial Data Infrastructure (SDI) and geospatial information sharing enabled through open, consensus-based standards. Making location count. Definition © 2011 Open Geospatial Consortium

3. OGC ® Outreach and OGC standards Extensive use of industry events and publications OGC provides international best practice Typically done at a national level (NSDI) SDIs are at different stages of development and market conditions and institutional arrangements vary significantly. Making location count. Current situation © 2011 Open Geospatial Consortium

4. OGC ® Outreach and OGC standards Potential language barriers, full participation may require good English skills and there may be a need for additional translations Membership fees too expensive, maybe a need to review the membership levels and pricing strategy Costly to participate actively, due to time and travel GovFuture addresses a number of these areas. Making location count. Reported issues © 2011 Open Geospatial Consortium

5. OGC ® Outreach and OGC standards Finding the right people to participate in OGC activities above and beyond technical people Government agencies compete for funding to control activities and the value of investing in the OGC processes is often not clear Explain benefits for private companies/software vendors/system integrators [OGC Business Value Committee tackling these topics.] Making location count. Reported issues © 2011 Open Geospatial Consortium

6. OGC ® Outreach and OGC standards Address the argument that international vendors have already implemented the standards in their products and nothing more needs to be done Outreach activities to be tailored to specific regional and national requirements, which vary widely The basic IT infrastructure is in place, with key issues being politics and human resources There is a perception that some national and regional leaders are barriers, due to lack of understanding of the value of participation. Making location count. Reported issues © 2011 Open Geospatial Consortium

7. OGC ® Outreach and OGC standards Create an online booklet written in different languages for public and private sector execs The booklet should include: –Vision of society –Current interoperability situation in each country –Role and position of geospatial interoperability in information infrastructures –How OGC and geospatial standards contribute to society Making location count. Suggested approach © 2011 Open Geospatial Consortium

8. OGC ® Outreach and OGC standards The booklet should also address: –What kinds of standards and networking opportunities are provided through the OGC –Relationships to other standards development organizations worldwide –Resources needed to construct standards-based SDIs Making location count. Suggested approach © 2011 Open Geospatial Consortium

9. OGC ® Outreach and OGC standards Another suggestion was to adopt modern marketing techniques (e.g. videos, social media, such as Twitter and LinkedIn) Try to engage more members of the geospatial and IT community. These are existing activities for the OGC, e.g. several thousand connections on LinkedIn Making location count. Suggested approach © 2011 Open Geospatial Consortium

10. OGC ® Outreach and OGC standards ISO standards are part of the outreach picture Industry demands an implementation environment of the ISO standards because otherwise the ISO standards remain useless (too abstract) How do we communicate the links and joint work between OGC and ISO? There is a Joint Advisory Group (JAG) between OGC and ISO/TC211 OGC standards are now recognised as ISO standards/ISO standards support OGC standards. Making location count. ISO and OGC © 2011 Open Geospatial Consortium

11. OGC ® Outreach and OGC standards Standards-based geospatial information infrastructure is restricted because: –Organizations need a substantial reason and resources to improve legacy systems and data to follow standards –Too few engineers understand geospatial standards and use of standards components not common with developers –For the engineer, it is hard to use the implementations without local technical support –Organizations in charge of public policies do not have required leadership or are not promoting standards –At the organizational level the adoption of values that promote interoperability are not in place. Making location count. Additional feedback © 2011 Open Geospatial Consortium

12. OGC ® Outreach and OGC standards There is still an overriding need for education – both inside and outside of the consortium Interoperability problems are common across the world, priorities laid out in SDIs vary greatly OGC works very closely with other standards development organisations, e.g. ISO, Oasis, W3C Reported issues actively being addressed The Council can advise and guide on these topics Making location count. Summary © 2011 Open Geospatial Consortium

13. OGC ® Outreach and OGC standards Outreach will be supported by Council input It will be tailored to specific communities of interest and will take regional requirements into account, such as language and culture Marketing activities will consider the local perspective when supporting: –Conferences and seminars –Publications: online and offline –Website development Regular Council input is important Making location count. Conclusion and next steps © 2011 Open Geospatial Consortium

14. ® ® Thank you