OGC seeks public comment on Symbology Conceptual Core Model (SymCore)

SymCore will increase consistency between different maps by defining agreed upon symbology rules.

12 August 2019: The Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) seeks public comment on the candidate Symbology Conceptual Core Model (SymCore).

The Symbology Conceptual Core Model (SymCore) is the basis for defining symbology rules for the portrayal of geographic data. The model is modular and extensible (one core model, many extensions), and also encoding agnostic (one symbology model, many encodings).

The work by the SymCore Standards Working Group that led to this proposal was done as a continuation of the OGC Symbology Encoding standard (SE 1.1), only with a focus on modularity and extensibility. 

SymCore provides a consistent approach that:

• Provides the flexibility required to achieve adequate symbology rules for a variety of information communities, e.g. aviation symbols, weather symbols, thematic maps, etc, and;
• Achieves high-level styling interoperability without encoding dependencies.

As such, Symcore defines a more general and portable symbology model for use across the broad OGC standards baseline that can be applied to geospatial datasets as well as online geospatial data and mapping services. 

Potential implementations of SymCore are expected to enhance OGC standards such as the Web Map Service, Web Feature Service, GeoPackage, and others. By sharing a common core, and using the extension mechanism, integration of these standards for the purposes of cartographic representation could be greatly simplified.

Last year, authors of the SCCM standard requested early public feedback in advance of finalizing the candidate standard to ensure that the work was reflecting the community’s needs. This announcement marks the start of the formal public comment period as the standard moves towards adoption.

The candidate Symbology Conceptual Core Model (SCCM) standard is available for review and comment on the OGC Portal. Comments are due by 13 September and should be submitted via the method outlined on the candidate Symbology Conceptual Core Model (SCCM) request page.

About OGC

The Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) is an international consortium of more than 530 businesses, government agencies, research organizations, and universities driven to make geospatial (location) information and services FAIR - Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, and Reusable.

OGC's Standards Program maintains a member-driven consensus process to create royalty free, publicly available geospatial standards. OGC's Innovation Program provides an agile, collaborative Research and Development (R&D) lab where prototype solutions to members' use cases are built & tested, and emerging tech trends are analyzed & anticipated.

OGC members together form a global forum of experts and communities that use location to connect people with technology and improve decision-making at all levels. OGC is committed to using location to create a sustainable future for us, our children, and future generations.

Visit OGC's website at ogc.org.