OGC and NSGIC partner to collaborate on promoting the uptake of location-based technology trends.
Under the MoU, OGC and NSGIC will work together to promote the uptake of location-based technology trends.
OGC CEO, Dr. Nadine Alameh, commented: “I’m very excited about the OGC partnership with NSGIC during these unique times where geospatial (as a technology and as a community) is being widely recognized for the value it can bring to problem solving, such as during pandemics or disasters. The partnership between OGC and NSGIC further unifies our community and will enable both organizations to make a bigger impact on our world.
“I’m particularly excited about our partnership bringing the community together to better understand the implications and the opportunities around the US Geospatial Data Act of 2018, and look forward to future common community and standardization activities based around that.”
NSGIC President, Frank Winters, commented: “The term governance is met with mixed reactions. Some think of bureaucratic controls increasing overhead. In our discussions with OGC we are looking at governance differently. Governance has two functions: awareness and trust. First, we gain awareness of the contributions of others, freeing us to concentrate on our most impactful efforts. Second, we establish a framework allowing us to trust in the work of others and build off it, further advancing our own contribution. I am excited about the collaboration between NSGIC and OGC. It is an important step in helping our geospatial ecosystem thrive.”
The collaboration between OGC and NSGIC started in the early days of the pandemic when there was a realization that geospatial is still handled as its own separate function within government entities, unnecessarily delaying targeted actionable information during critical events such as a growing pandemic. With that in mind, this collaboration is primarily centered around raising the awareness of the value of geospatial, and to promote the uptake of location-based technology trends at all levels of government. Inspired by the success of the collaboration on the US GDA community workshop, OGC and NSGIC will work together on the scoping, execution, and promotion of joint initiatives such as: webinars and workshops; invitations to events; articles/discussion papers around location information and interoperability topics; and other projects.