The Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) has issued a Request for Quotation/Call for Participation (RFP/CFP) in the OGC Testbed 11 Interoperability Testbed.

Testbed 11 sponsors have documented interoperability requirements and objectives for this testbed activity. Organizations selected to participate in Testbed 11 will develop solutions based on the sponsors’ use cases, requirements and scenarios, which are described in detail in the CFP. Participants’ solutions will implement existing OGC standards as well as new prototype interface and encoding specifications introduced or developed in Testbed 11. Prototype specifications may ultimately become OGC standards, revisions to existing OGC standards, or best practices for using OGC standards.

Testbed 11 Sponsors include:

European Organization for the Safety of Air Navigation (EUROCONTROL)
Land Information New Zealand (LINZ)
National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)
National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA)
UAE Ministry of Interior Abu Dhabi Police GIS Center for Security (UAE ADP-GIS SC)
UK Defense Science and Technology Lab (UK-DSTL)
US Department of Homeland Security (DHS)
US Geological Survey (USGS)]

The RFQ/CFP and information about Testbed 11 are available at http://www.opengeospatial.org/standards/requests/126. Responses are due by 5:00 pm EST on 21 November 2014.

Testbed 11 focuses on spatial communication requirements that emerge when a population is displaced due to coastal inundation. Testbed participants addressing requirements in this scenario will attempt to meet these goals:

Advance OGC Architecture with respect to REST and SOAP design patterns for synchronization of geodata across data stores, as well as storage and synchronization of geodata in GeoPackages;
Evaluate approaches to JSON and GeoJSON encodings as well as vector data and image streaming in the OGC standards framework;
Integration of high-resolution simulation models into geospatial infrastructures
Advance use of Linked Data and Semantic Enabling of OGC Web Services, with a special focus on Hydrographic Data;
Advance use of OGC Catalog Services;
Advance use of spatially enabled Social Media data;
Advance use of a common symbology that can be used to share common operational pictures in an international environment;
Advance compliance tests for the OGC Web Feature Service and Catalog 3.0 Service interface standards;
In Aviation, advance a Digital NOTAM validation service and enrichment service and advance use of Aviation Feature Schema (AFX). Also develop guidance on using geometrical constraints in the Semantics of Business Vocabulary and Rules (SBVR) (an Object Management Group standard).
Those testbed goals sort into these technology threads:
Cross-Community Interoperability (CCI) Thread
Urban-Climate Resilience (UCR) Thread
Geospatial Enhancements for NIEM (Geo4NIEM)

This cutting edge technology work has enormous potential for testbed stakeholders – both technology users and the technology providers – and for the world at large. The return on the shared investment in spatial standards is extraordinary, much like the return on the original shared investments in http and html. Technology providers who participate in the testbed gain market exposure, market intelligence, and a chance to quickly take advantage of the business opportunities that arise with the introduction of new standards and associated technical capabilities.

If you want to learn more about this opportunity, please contact Lew Leinenweber , Director Interoperability Programs (techdesk@opengeospatial.org). See http://www.opengeospatial.org/ogc/programs/ip for more information about the 15 year old OGC Interoperability Program in which OGC testbeds, pilot projects and interoperability experiments are organized, planned and managed.

The OGC is an international geospatial standards consortium of more than 495 companies, government agencies, research organizations, and universities participating in a consensus process to develop publicly available standards. OGC standards support interoperable solutions that “geo-enable” the Web, wireless and location-based services, and mainstream IT. Visit the OGC website at http://www.opengeospatial.org/.