Open Geospatial Consortium and Natural Resources Canada partner on Geospatial Innovation

NRCan upgrades to OGC’s highest level of membership to help drive standards and shape development priorities relevant to location-based natural resource stewardship

30 October 2018: Following a highly successful Canadian Forum on Geospatial Standards in Whitehorse, Yukon, the Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) is pleased to deepen its partnerships across Canada.

Canada has a long history of providing leadership in OGC, via its many private, academic, and public sector members. Recently, Canada has demonstrated global leadership through its sponsorship of The Arctic Spatial Data Pilot, the Portrayal Concept Development Study, OGC Testbed-13 and the on-going Testbed-14.

NRCan (CCMEO) has also contributed to, or led the development of, new standards that have increased interoperability and helped make geospatial data available to mainstream web developers and non-geospatial experts in Canada and around the world. The work of NRCan (CCMEO) also underscores a complex and mature understanding of innovative data and technology strategies that move from high-level strategy to concrete, on-time, and on-budget deliveries – a critical delivery outcome for public, private, and academic sectors alike.

As a result of this ground breaking work and leadership, NRCan will now participate in OGC as a Strategic Member. It will participate in OGC’s Planning Committee to provide leadership through the exploration of market and technology trends to ensure that OGC's activities remain effective and agile in a changing technology environment.

Additionally, NRCan will now participate in final approval decisions for all OGC standards and nominations to the Board of Directors. Further, NRCan will work with other Strategic Members as part of an OGC Strategic Member Advisory Committee to help identify and advance high priority areas of interoperability concern.

 “Natural Resources Canada has been a long-time active member of the Consortium, working across our international membership to enable innovative advancements in location interoperability,” commented OGC President and CEO, Mark Reichardt. “Through OGC’s consensus process, as well as our Innovation Program of Testbeds and Pilots, NRCan has addressed a range of important issues to Canada and the world, including emphasis on improving location data sharing and management, heightening multinational understanding of the Arctic region, and improved management of water resources. Their elevation to Strategic membership in OGC reflects their continued substantial commitment of talent and resources to the OGC mission and vision.”

“NRCan is honoured to become a Strategic member of the Open Geospatial Consortium and to continue taking a leadership role in promoting geospatial standards,” said the Honourable Amarjeet Sohi, Canada’s Minister of Natural Resources. “By helping to monitor the effects of climate change in the Arctic, calculating Canada’s forest biomass, and collecting information related to natural disasters like floods or fires, the advancement of standards benefits all Canadians. The OGC is an important resource and partner in these efforts.”

As the co-chair of the Canada Forum on Geospatial Standards, NRCan will continue to further develop Canadian capabilities and capacity to share geospatial data and information; increase awareness of the Canadian Geospatial Data Infrastructure (CGDI); improve the sharing of information across application communities; and most importantly, help provide a platform for all Canadian stakeholders to participate and focus on standards and the Canadian geospatial landscape, inclusive of government, private, academic, research and indigenous sectors.

NRCan regards OGC and other international standards organizations as important partners in promoting geospatial standards, industry innovation, and international competitiveness, all while working towards the betterment of Canadians’ quality of life.

About Natural Resources Canada

NRCan seeks to enhance the responsible development and use of Canada’s natural resources and the competitiveness of Canada’s natural resources products. They are an established leader in science and technology in the fields of energy, forests, and minerals and metals and use their expertise in earth sciences to build and maintain an up-to-date knowledge base of our landmass. www.nrcan.gc.ca

NRCan has been a key proponent in the development of Canadian geospatial data infrastructure as well as the development of international open geospatial standards.

About OGC

The Open Geospatial Consortium (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 within any application that needs to be geospatially enabled. Visit the OGC website at www.opengeospatial.org.