OGC announces a new standard that improves the way information is referenced to the earth
Contact: info@opengeospatial.org
24 October 2017: The
membership of the Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC®) has approved the Discrete
Global Grid System (DGGS) as OGC Abstract Specification - Topic 21 [OGC
15-104r5].
The goal of DGGS is to enable rapid assembly of spatial data without
the difficulties of working with projected coordinate reference systems. The
OGC DGGS Abstract Specification standard defines the conceptual model and a set
of rules for building highly efficient architectures for spatial data storage,
integration and analytics.
“DGGS will provide the capability to properly integrate global
geospatial, social, and economic information. It also allows communities with
data attributed to fundamentally different geographies to integrate this
information in a single consistent framework,” said Dr Stuart Minchin, Chief,
Environmental Geoscience Division at Geoscience Australia.
“DGGS will revolutionise the way we perceive, work with, and
visualise spatial information,” said Dr. Matthew Purss, Senior Advisor at
Geoscience Australia, co-chair of the OGC DGGS Standards and Domain Working
Groups, and Editor of the OGC DGGS Abstract Specification – Topic 21 [OGC
15-104r5]. “DGGS are a technology that allow the harmonisation of raster,
vector, and point cloud data in a common, globally consistent framework –
enabling the spatial industry to overcome some key challenges presented by
traditional GIS approaches; namely, the ‘raster-vector divide’, as well as the
use of map projections.”
DGGSs represent the Earth as hierarchical sequences of equal area
tessellations on the surface of the Earth, each with global coverage and with
progressively finer spatial resolution. Individual observations can be assigned
to a cell corresponding to both the position and size of the phenomenon being
observed. DGGS come with a standard set of functional algorithms that enable
rapid data analysis of very large numbers of cells and, by their very nature,
are well suited to parallel processing applications at multiple spatial
resolutions.
“It is timely for DGGS to become the de facto standard grid
referencing system globally for geographic Big Data,” said Dr Zoheir Sabeur,
Science Director at University of Southampton IT Innovation Centre,
United Kingdom, and co-chair of the OGC DGGS Standards and Domain Working
Groups. “DGGS will fit extremely well in the stack of big data necessary for
intelligent processing levels that will enable fast and accurate exploration,
mining, and visualization of Big Data.”
“We have reached a tipping point in our ability to make effective use
of Big Data to derive economic and societal value,” added Dr. Purss. “DGGS
represents the paradigm shift that will allow us to overcome some of the
critical barriers preventing us from realising the true potential that Big Data
promises to deliver.”
There is explosive growth in both the variety and the volume of
spatial data and processing resources, along with a growing understanding of
the tremendous benefit that can be derived from enabling interoperability
between them. On the other side of this deluge of spatial content is a growing
demand by decision-makers for a participatory environment where content can be
accessed directly from diverse contributors and used with other content without
reliance on time-consuming and costly geographic transformation processes.
“Decision-makers who require situational awareness exist across all
sectors of the economy: public health, agriculture, natural resources, land
development, emergency response, supply chains, transportation, outdoor
recreation, etc,” said Perry Peterson co-chair of the OGC DGGS Standards Group
and founder of PYXIS.
“Most of us in fact, from scientists to citizens, regularly seek answers to
spatial questions. However, assembling the array of spatial data available in a
way it can make sense is presently an expensive challenge requiring an expert. DGGS
offers a solution.”
One of the core contributions of a DGGS is geospatial data fusion on
demand. In a multiple provider environment, fusion is only possible with an
information system architecture based upon open standards. The OGC DGGS
Abstract Specification provides a platform to enable interoperability within
and between different DGGS implementations while promoting reusability,
knowledge exchange, and choices in the design of individual DGGS
implementations.
As with any OGC standard, the open DGGS Abstract Specification is
free to implement. Interested parties can view and download the standard from http://docs.opengeospatial.org/as/15-104r5/15-104r5.html.
About the OGC
The
OGC is an international consortium of more than 525 companies, government
agencies, research organizations, and universities participating in a consensus
process to develop publicly available geospatial standards. OGC 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 www.opengeospatial.org.