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<DIV
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'; COLOR: #000000; FONT-SIZE: 12pt">Steko
-</DIV>
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<DIV style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'; COLOR: #000000; FONT-SIZE: 12pt">The
OGC Members did not take the XLink decision lightly. There was considerable
discussion that started in the GML Standard Working Group in mid-2011. The GML
SWG brought the issue to the OGC Architecture Board. The OAB discussed and
investigated the issue. Their guidance was for the OGC Members to consider
moving from the OGC XLink schema to the W3C XLink 1.1 schema. The OGC Members
discussed the issue during the OGC Brussels Technical Committee face to face
meetings. During that time, a variety of informational emails were sent to the
OGC Members so that they would have the information necessary to make an
informed decision. At the Brussels meeting, the Members by a formal motion and
vote agreed to the requirement to migrate from the OGC XLink 1.0 schema to the
W3C XLink 1.1 schema. The entire decision process was within the OGC consensus
decision framework as defined in our Policies and Procedures – which by the way
are very similar to the W3C, OASIS, and the IETF. I know – I work standards in
all three of those SDOs.</DIV>
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style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'; COLOR: #000000; FONT-SIZE: 12pt"> </DIV>
<DIV style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'; COLOR: #000000; FONT-SIZE: 12pt">In
my various emails and in my blog postings, I thought I was very clear regarding
the background and the reasons for this change. Please read <A
title=http://www.opengeospatial.org/blog/1597
href="http://www.opengeospatial.org/blog/1597">http://www.opengeospatial.org/blog/1597</A>
again. If you do not understand the background requirements and reasons for the
move to XLink 1.1, please let me know. </DIV>
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style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'; COLOR: #000000; FONT-SIZE: 12pt"> </DIV>
<DIV style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'; COLOR: #000000; FONT-SIZE: 12pt">As
to the disruptive nature, of course we are very aware of that this change has
numerous implications for the implementation community. We also understand your
suggestion regarding issuing a new version of the affected standards. The
problem is that we would have all the older versions of the existing standards
using OGC XLink 1.0 schema and the new version using W3C XLink 1.1 schema. This
inconsistency would cause many more (aggravating) problems then revising all the
existing OGC standards “in place” with the new W3C XLink schema reference. This
is due to how schemas are processed by applications and how schemas may be
cached. This is not my area of expertise and if you would like more details on
the technical implications of the approach you suggested, I will be happy
to forward your suggestions and concerns to the OGC Architecture Board.</DIV>
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style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'; COLOR: #000000; FONT-SIZE: 12pt"> </DIV>
<DIV style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'; COLOR: #000000; FONT-SIZE: 12pt">As
to the timeline, this is being driven more by government procurement
requirements than by OGC Member requirements. Further, public blogs and other
informational posting have been our there for months. <A
title=http://www.spatineo.com/2012/01/ogc-w3c-xlink-transition-a-potential-validity-breaker/
href="http://www.spatineo.com/2012/01/ogc-w3c-xlink-transition-a-potential-validity-breaker/">http://www.spatineo.com/2012/01/ogc-w3c-xlink-transition-a-potential-validity-breaker/</A>
for example.</DIV>
<DIV
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'; COLOR: #000000; FONT-SIZE: 12pt"> </DIV>
<DIV
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'; COLOR: #000000; FONT-SIZE: 12pt">Finally,
we knew outreach was required many months ago but we did not have an approved
timeline and technical approach until the final discussions and Member approval
of the approach at the March 2012 OGC Austin meetings.</DIV>
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style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'; COLOR: #000000; FONT-SIZE: 12pt"> </DIV>
<DIV
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'; COLOR: #000000; FONT-SIZE: 12pt">Hope
this information is useful.</DIV>
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style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'; COLOR: #000000; FONT-SIZE: 12pt"> </DIV>
<DIV
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'; COLOR: #000000; FONT-SIZE: 12pt">Regards</DIV>
<DIV
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'; COLOR: #000000; FONT-SIZE: 12pt"> </DIV>
<DIV
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'; COLOR: #000000; FONT-SIZE: 12pt">Carl
Reed, PhD<BR>CTO and Executive Director Standards Program<BR>Open Geospatial
Consortium<BR>www.opengeospatial.org<BR><BR>The OGC: Making Location
Count!<BR><BR>---------------------<BR><BR>This communication, including
attachments, is for the exclusive use of addressee and may contain proprietary,
confidential or privileged information. If you are not the intended recipient,
any use, copying, disclosure, dissemination or distribution is strictly
prohibited. If you are not the intended recipient, please notify the sender
immediately by return email and delete this communication and destroy all
copies.<BR><BR>"The important thing is not to stop questioning." -- Albert
Einstein <BR>"Security is mostly a superstition. It does not exist in nature.
Life is either a daring adventure or nothing." -- Helen Keller
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