Article:		Standards: Optional Features or Law?
Subject:		Enforcing standards
Date:		2003-03-27 07:26:17
From:		Lance McKee
I invite you to see what the Open GIS Consortium (OGC http://www.opengis.org) does. Specifications are drafted in testbeds sponsored by major users, usually federal agencies who bring their requirements. The key to commercial implementation of the specifications is in boilerplate standards-demanding language in government requests for bids and proposals at federal, state and local levels. Such language also needs to be written into grants from higher levels of government that may pay for software and data procurements by recipient agencies. This "procurement language" initiative is not really off the ground yet, but it has wide support among user members of OGC. OGC focusses on interoperability between geoprocessing systems like GIS, earth imaging, facilities management, navigation and location services. MUCH publicly paid for data in this domain is (or was until OGC succeeded) locked into proprietary systems. Lance

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