The Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) is excited to announce the formation of the OGC Geo For Metaverse Domain Working Group (DWG), which will serve as a forum for the collective geospatial expertise of the OGC community to gather to help build and grow the open Metaverse. The group is open to OGC Members and non-members alike.

The Metaverse is perhaps the ultimate distributed digital twin of the world. It has the potential to represent everything in the world alongside imagined spaces. The challenges to Standards Development Organizations (SDOs), technologists, artists, and society are huge, but the payoff is believed to be equally tremendous. The Metaverse is not a single thing but, like the internet, is a collection of platforms and technologies: a world of objects that can be navigated and interacted with.

Everything OGC does can be applied to the Metaverse. Our community can contribute expertise in 3D, Modeling & Simulation, Artificial Intelligence, Digital Twins, streaming, Augmented and Virtual Realities, routing, mapping, and more – all at scale.

The OGC Geo For Metaverse DWG will work on pieces of the Metaverse that pertain to geospatial applications and Standards by identifying standardization activities and best practices based on FAIR data principles (making data Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, and Reusable). Given that the Metaverse will be an evolutionary development, the working group will identify both near- and long-term goals that will help ensure interoperability, FAIRness, and openness. Much of the Metaverse is already happening, so collaboration with other partners will be key to its success and will be a grounding principle of this OGC DWG. Specifically, the DWG will be the primary point of contact with the Metaverse Standards Forum, of which OGC is a founding and Principal member.

3D geospatially anchored data is powering a revolution across a range of industries. This same data – currently relied upon for construction of the real world – is now driving the creation of virtual/digital worlds that will form parts of the Metaverse.

For the Metaverse to succeed, however, all digital and physical world information will have to work in concert at scale. We have a collective responsibility to ensure that the shared future is FAIR and Open. OGC has always focused on interoperability and open Standards – both of which are key to ensuring an open Metaverse. Working together, we can have a positive impact on this future.

For a primer on the Metaverse and the role that OGC and the Geospatial Industry can play, see the blog post ‘The Metaverse is Geospatial’ on ogc.org.

Join OGC for a conversation about how our standards and innovations contribute to the metaverse – from real-time 3D, to digital twins, to Augmented Reality, GeoPose, and more. OGC’s 125th Member Meeting (February 20-24, 2023, virtual and in-person at ESA’s ESRIN in Frascati, Italy) will include the inaugural meeting of the OGC Geo For Metaverse DWG. Learn more and register at meet.ogc.org.

OGC members and non-members alike who are actively working within the Metaverse and related communities are invited to participate in the Geo For Metaverse Domain Working Group. OGC Members can join the OGC Geo For Metaverse Domain Working Group using the following Portal Page. OGC DWG’s are open to the public. Non-OGC Members can join the OGC Geo For Metaverse DWG by signing up to the mailing list here.

Learn more about the Mission, Goals, and Planned Activities of the DWG on the OGC Geo For Metaverse DWG homepage.