[OSGeo-Discuss] OGC and OSGeo Sign Memorandum of Understanding

[Chris Puttick]

Excellent news! Can we have an open standard for GIS projects now? :)

Chris

----- "Tyler Mitchell (OSGeo)" <tmitchell at osgeo.org> wrote:

> From: http://www.opengeospatial.org/pressroom/pressreleases/944
> Wayland, Mass., January 7, 2009 - In Valencia, Spain, at the December 
> 
> Technical Committee meetings of the Open Geospatial Consortium, Inc. 
> 
> (OGC), the OGC and the Open Source Geospatial Foundation (OSGeo)  
> signed a Memorandum of Understanding to coordinate in advancing open 
> 
> geospatial standards (OGC's mission) and open source geospatial  
> software and data (OSGeo's mission).
> 
> Mark Reichardt, CEO and President of the OGC, explained that,  
> "Openness benefits markets. Vendors of proprietary software have  
> found that today's more open and complex "business ecosystem," which 
> 
> includes both open source software and open standards, is good for  
> their businesses. It's also good for technology users. It makes sense 
> 
> for the OGC to work with the OSGeo."
> 
> Open source software is software that has been designed and developed 
> 
> in an open, community process. The OGC's open standards are similarly 
> 
> developed in an open, community process, but they are specifications 
> 
> (for interfaces, encodings and best practices), not software.
> 
> Arnulf Christl, President of OSGeo, said, "We look forward to  
> collaborating with the OGC to identify open source technologies that 
> 
> can be used as reference implementations for OGC standards and to  
> identify standards requirements that result from our open source  
> geospatial software development programs."
> 
> The MOU provides for the assignment of up to six one-year Individual 
> 
> Memberships in the OGC. Memberships will be selected by OSGeo and are 
> 
> subject to OGC qualifications for Individual Membership.
> 
> The OSGeo is a not-for-profit organization founded in 2006 whose  
> mission is to support and promote the collaborative development of  
> open source geospatial technologies and data.
> 
> The OGC® is an international consortium of more than 365 companies,  
> government agencies, research organizations, and universities  
> participating in a consensus process to develop publicly available  
> geospatial standards. OpenGIS® Standards support interoperable  
> solutions that "geo-enable" the Web, wireless and location-based  
> services, and mainstream IT. OGC Standards empower technology  
> developers to make geospatial information and services accessible and 
> 
> useful with any application that needs to be geospatially enabled.  
> Visit the OGC website at http://www.opengeospatial.org/.
> 
> Contact:
> Sam Bacharach
> Executive Director, Outreach and Community Adoption
> Open Geospatial Consortium, Inc
> tel: +1-703-352-3938
> sbacharach at opengeospatial.org_______________________________________________
> Discuss mailing list
> Discuss at lists.osgeo.org
> http://lists.osgeo.org/mailman/listinfo/discuss


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