August 13, 2015 — The Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC®) is pleased to announce that Natural Resources Canada (NRCan) has raised its membership level from Technical level to Principal level. Led through the GeoConnections Program at the Canada Centre for Mapping and Earth Observation (CCMEO), Natural Resources Canada has been an active member in the OGC since1998.
As a Principal Member, NRCan will participate in OGC’s Planning Committee to explore market and technology trends relevant to OGC’s mission to assure that OGC’s policies and procedures remain effective and agile in a changing technological environment. Principal Members also participate in final approval decisions for all OGC standards and for nominations to the Board of Directors.
“NRCan has been a very strong partner in fulfilling the OGC’s mission of advancing an international open geospatial standards platform,” said Mark Reichardt, President and CEO of the OGC. “NRCan was a sponsor of the OGC’s first major testbed in 2000 and a sponsor or participant in almost all of the OGC Web Services testbed activities since then. Through NRCan’s work, Canada has advanced an impressive National Spatial Data Infrastructure. We deeply appreciate the significant support NRCan has provided to our process, as well as their work to demonstrate to the world the value of OGC standards. We are very pleased to have them upgrading again to Principal Membership.”
OGC standards are an essential part of the Canadian Geospatial Data Infrastructure (CGDI). NRCan’s commitment to OGC standards has contributed to the success of the CGDI as a generator of innovation, societal benefits and economic value. NRCan, along with private and academic sectors, through their support and commitment as providers of data, software and services in Canada are recognized as early implementers of OGC’s international standards.
About Natural Resources Canada
From satellite to desktop, Natural Resources Canada provides leadership in the field of Geomatics and open-source information enabling public geoscientific and geospatial expertise, knowledge and technology to support environmental, social and economic objectives of the Canadian government. This knowledge is used to strengthen Canada’s understanding, stewardship and sovereignty of its landmass and natural resources and helps to build a competitive advantage for its related economic sectors. Not only does it rely on its in-depth science and technology expertise, Earth Sciences programs and services in NRCan also leverage federal / provincial / territorial and academic partnerships to effectively support its mandate and legislated responsibilities.
About the Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC)
The OGC is an international consortium of more than 510 companies, government agencies, research organizations, and universities participating in a consensus process to develop publicly available geospatial standards. OGC 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 www.opengeospatial.org/contact.
