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The Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) - Standards in Voyager

The Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) - Standards in Voyager

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The Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) is an international, voluntary standards organization that brings together industry, government, academic, and non-profit members to collaboratively develop and promote open standards for geospatial content and services, GIS data processing, and data sharing.

What is OGC

Founded in 1994, OGC is a consortium of more than 500 member organizations worldwide.

It provides a neutral forum where stakeholders from different sectors work together to solve interoperability challenges related to geospatial and location-based data.

Its work ensures that spatial data can be discovered, accessed, integrated, and used seamlessly across different platforms, applications, and systems.

What They Do

  • Develop Open Standards: OGC creates internationally recognized specifications (such as WMS, WFS, WCS, GeoPackage, SensorThings API) that make it possible for geospatial systems and applications to interoperate.

  • Promote Interoperability: Their standards help organizations integrate geospatial information across different software and hardware, making it easier to use maps, sensor data, satellite imagery, 3D/4D models, and real-time data.

  • Innovation & Testbeds: OGC runs collaborative initiatives (testbeds, pilots, hackathons) where members experiment with emerging technologies such as digital twins, Earth observation, AI/ML for geospatial data, cloud services, and smart cities.

  • Community & Policy Support: OGC works with governments and international bodies to align geospatial standards with policy needs, supporting areas like disaster response, climate monitoring, urban planning, defense, and environmental management.

 

To learn more about OGC, please visit their website: https://www.ogc.org/

 

Enhancing Geospatial Data Integration and Interoperability through integration with Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) Standards

At Voyager Search, we are dedicated to delivering exceptional enterprise registry and data retrieval solutions, with a special focus on geospatial data. Our commitment to supporting OGC standards is a testament to our resolve in improving decision-making and response capabilities across various industries. By adhering to OGC standards, Voyager Search not only ensures the seamless integration and interoperability of diverse geospatial data sources but also provides a unified, accessible view of critical information. This approach facilitates better, more informed decisions and effective actions. Our support for these standards extends to both our software capabilities and consulting services, encompassing the reading and consumption of standard data formats and exposing our system through OGC-compliant web services. Voyager Search stands firmly with the OGC's mission of making geospatial information FAIR - Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, and Reusable - thereby bridging the crucial gap between complex data and strategic decisions.

 

OGC Membership

As an active member of the Open Geospatial Consortium, our organization not only benefits from but also contributes to a global and diverse community, where we engage with leading geospatial standards and share collaborative insights, thereby enhancing our capabilities and driving innovation in the field of geospatial technology. Find Voyager Search in the OGC Member Directory.

 

Voyager Search’s Involvement in OGC Initiatives

Voyager Search is proud to have partnered with the Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) on two key initiatives: the Disaster Pilot 2023 (DP23) and the Climate and Disaster Resilience Pilot 2024 (CDRP24).

In collaboration with leading organizations—including the Federal Geographic Data Committee (FGDC), Group on Earth Observations (GEO), AmeriGEO, National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA), HSR Health, and Esri—these pilots advanced disaster preparedness and response capabilities. The projects focused on innovative data integration, next-generation geospatial infrastructures, and emerging technologies to improve resilience to both natural and human-made disasters.

Building on the success of these pilots, Voyager Search is now contributing to the National Spatial Data Infrastructure Modernization Project 2025. This initiative is transforming how geospatial data is discovered, accessed, and used across government and public platforms. Key priorities include automating metadata generation, enhancing interoperability through open standards, and enabling real-time data integration to support mission-critical applications such as disaster response.

 

Standards

OGC Standards serve as the foundational glue for geospatial information interoperability, widely adopted by thousands of organizations worldwide. At our core, we proudly support a selection of these pivotal standards, including but not limited to:

  • Catalogue service

  • COG (Cloud Optimized GeoTIFF)

  • GeoPackage

  • Geography Markup Language

  • GeoRSS

  • GeoTiff

  • KML

  • LAS (LIDAR, or other, point cloud data records)

  • NetCDF

  • OGC API – Features

  • OpenSearch

  • Simple Features

  • STAC (SpatioTemporal Asset Catalog)

  • WCS (Web Coverage Service)

  • WFS (Web Feature Service)

  • WMS (Web Map Service)

  • WKT

Each of these standards plays a crucial role in enabling seamless integration and efficient sharing of geospatial data, underscoring our commitment to advancing interoperable geospatial technologies on a global scale.