[gdal-dev] Fwd: CF Convention workshop 2026 @ ECMWF

[Alan Snow]

https://xkcd.com/927/

My brief journey into CF Conventions led me to understand that CF
Conventions are for a specific software community. It covers all of that
communities use cases and can get complex in order to achieve that. The
convention isn't really meant to cover all use cases for the broader
geospatial community.

My hope is that any effort to standardize across the broader community will
stay to some simple core features that cover the majority of use cases
without trying to cover all of them.

>From the GDAL/PROJ perspective, a CRS WKT and a GeoTransform will cover
most use cases. I would just want them to put that in standard locations in
the file metadata where relevant.

https://geozarr.org/ did a nice job of creating a simple convention that
does just that. Simple for the broader geospatial community to use without
becoming too complicated. That makes adoption much easier across the
community.

Best,
Alan Snow

On Wed, Jul 15, 2026, 1:07 PM Even Rouault via gdal-dev <
gdal-dev at lists.osgeo.org> wrote:

> Hi,
>
> if anyone has feedback about GDAL vs CF/netCDF/GRIB to provide to ECMWF
>
> Even
> -------- Message transféré --------
> Sujet : CF Convention workshop 2026 @ ECMWF
> Date : Tue, 14 Jul 2026 12:45:14 +0000
> De : Sebastien Villaume <sebastien.villaume at ecmwf.int>
> <sebastien.villaume at ecmwf.int>
> Pour : even.rouault at spatialys.com <even.rouault at spatialys.com>
> <even.rouault at spatialys.com>
> Copie à : Lorea Garcia San Martin <lorea.garciasanmartin at ecmwf.int>
> <lorea.garciasanmartin at ecmwf.int>
>
>
> *Dear Even Rouault,*
>
> I am writing on behalf of the organising committee of the CF Conventions
> workshop 2026 <https://events.ecmwf.int/event/568/>, taking place on *21–24
> September 2026* at ECMWF in Bonn, Germany (hybrid, co-hosted with the
> Copernicus Climate Change Service).
>
> One of the topics that has generated considerable interest within the CF
> community is *format interoperability*, and in particular the role that
> conventions such as CF can play in facilitating interoperability across
> different data formats and software ecosystems. Given your long-standing
> involvement with GDAL and your perspective as Chair of the GDAL Project
> Steering Committee, we would be very interested in having you participate
> in the workshop and contribute to these discussions.
>
> We believe that the GDAL community has valuable experience and insights
> into the practical challenges of interoperability, including what works
> well today, where difficulties remain, and where conventions such as CF and
> formats such as netCDF and GRIB could evolve to better support users and
> software developers.
>
> Depending on the final programme and available time, there may also be an
> opportunity for you—or another GDAL contributor you would recommend—to give
> a presentation on these topics. At this stage we would be interested in
> having the GDAL perspective represented in the workshop discussions.
>
> There is no registration fee for the workshop, and registration
> <https://events.ecmwf.int/event/568/registrations/440/> is now open.
> Please note that we are unfortunately unable to cover speaker/attendee
> travel or accommodation costs.
>
> We would be delighted to hear whether you might be interested in
> participating, and we would be happy to provide further details about the
> workshop and programme.
>
> *On behalf of the organising **committee**,*
> Dr Sébastien Villaume
> Senior Analyst
> Forecast Department
> European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts
> *Reading, UK* | Bologna, Italy | Bonn, Germany
> *e:* sebastien.villaume at ecmwf.int
> *t:* +44 118 949 2301 *m:* +44 78 2552 1592
> *w:* ecmwf.int <https://www.ecmwf.int/>  <https://www.ecmwf.int/>| staff
> profile
> <https://www.ecmwf.int/en/about/who-we-are/staff-profiles/sebastien-villaume> |
> *twitter:* @s_villaume <https://twitter.com/s_villaume>
> [image: cidimage001.png at 01D7AB16.7820E190]
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