Wayland, MA, June 1, 2009.The Open Geospatial Consortium (OGCr) has issued a call for sponsors of the OGC Web Services, Phase 7 (OWS-7) Testbed. 

OGC also seeks to establish alliances with standards bodies having technology relevant to this initiative.

OWS-7 will develop interoperability specifications in the areas of Sensor Web Enablement, geoprocessing workflows, 3-dimensional information management, events and security architecture, aeronautical information systems, enterprise web services, mass-market geoservices and compliance testing of OGC standards. These "threads" address interoperability issues affecting emergency management and homeland security, defense, Earth observation, transport and logistics, e-commerce and other domains. Interested organizations are invited to a planning meeting on 11 June 2009 in Herndon, Virginia. At this meeting potential sponsors will review the OGC standards baseline, discuss OWS-6 results, and document OWS-7 requirements and plans. Attendance does not constitute a commitment to help sponsor OWS-7. Sponsor and participant commitment will be part of a subsequent Request for Quotation / Call for Participation (RFQ/CFP) process.

Alliances with other Standards Developing Organizations (SDOs) are a key element of developing OGC specifications for geospatial applications. Maintaining strategic SDO alliances assures cooperation and sharing among the SDOs and convergence of standards employed by OGC members. Therefore, the OGC is also seeking partnerships with other SDOs to develop sponsorship of the OWS-7 Testbed.

If your organization is interested in this initiative, contact George Percivall at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it or David Arctur at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it

OGC testbeds, pilot projects and interoperability experiments are part of OGC's Interoperability Program, a global, hands-on collaborative prototyping program designed to rapidly develop, test and deliver proven candidate specifications into OGC's Specification Program, where they are formalized for public release.

The OGCr is an international consortium of more than 380 companies, government agencies, research organizations, and universities participating in a consensus process to develop publicly available geospatial standards. OpenGISr 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/.