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We are Open! OGC and OSGeo Collaboration

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No logo availableFOSS4G
Logo of Open Source Geospatial Foundation (OSGeo)Open Source Geospatial Foundation (OSGeo)
 Kralidis, Tom Simoes, Joana Codrina, Ilie Trakas, Athina

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We are Open! OGC and OSGeo Collaboration
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CC Attribution 3.0 Unported:
You are free to use, adapt and copy, distribute and transmit the work or content in adapted or unchanged form for any legal purpose as long as the work is attributed to the author in the manner specified by the author or licensor.
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Abstract
The Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) and the Open Source Geospatial Foundation (OSGeo) have a long and natural tradition of collaborating. In 2022, the Memorandum of Understanding between both organizations was updated - to pay tribute to ongoing and future activities. In the initial MoU (2008), OGC and OSGeo agreed to work closely to coordinate with each other’s memberships regarding new standards developments and standards changes that may be required as a result of open source programs. Another important aspect of the relationship is to keep each other well informed of the respective activities and directions. Both aspects have proven to be of great importance. One goal was and is to coordinate activities in such a way as to maximize the achievement of both organizations’ mission and goals. That includes to identify open source technologies that can be used as reference implementations for and validate compliance tests developed for OGC adopted standards. Since the first MOU, there has been an increase in OGC on developer focus and engagement of software communities and activities. Increased collaboration has also occured by way of the OGC API code sprints. In addition, key opportunities for cross pollination have evolved given shared missions (FAIR data) and the viewpoint that FOSS4G software is beneficial for all software. The development of the OGC API suite of standards is an excellent example on how the MoU works in practical terms. The OGC APIs are a family of Web APIs that have been created as extensible specifications designed as modular building blocks that enable access to spatial data that can be used in data APIs. These revolutionary APIs make location information more accessible than ever before through the use of RESTful principles, and the OpenAPI specification for describing interfaces. OGC APIs have been tested in close collaboration with the global developer and end user communities through hackathons, sprints, and workshops to provide a modern solution to tomorrow’s location sharing issues. For example, the 2021 Joint Code Sprint organized by OGC, OSGeo and the Apache Software Foundation (ASF) included open source implementations of OGC APIs - and became a standing sprint activity that was repeated in 2022. This presentation provides a deeper dive into the new Memorandum of Understanding and how both open standards and free and open source software can benefit from one another.
Keywords
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Query languageDatabase transactionInformationComputer reservations systemOpen setComputer programStandard deviationLatent heatProduct (business)ImplementationPrototypeSystem identificationSoftware testingSoftwareServer (computing)Software developerOpen sourceEvent horizonLengthMachine codeFeedbackStatisticsProcess (computing)MetadataHybrid computerCollaborationismService (economics)Element (mathematics)Integrated development environmentCoordinate systemGroup actionMaxima and minimaMachine codeImplementationMachine codeElement (mathematics)FreewareSoftware developerPhysical systemRepository (publishing)Sign (mathematics)View (database)NumberWeb 2.0Projective planeECosMappingFocus (optics)Open sourceAssociative propertyLevel (video gaming)SoftwareTerm (mathematics)Standard deviationImage registrationPlanningIterationTesselationGroup actionCASE <Informatik>Line (geometry)Process (computing)FeedbackObject-oriented programmingTrailBitWordPublic domainOpen setInformationMetadataPoint (geometry)Row (database)Position operatorPropositional formulaSound effectMereologyGoodness of fitSlide ruleOcean currentVirtualizationLattice (order)Computer animation
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Transcript: English(auto-generated)
00:05
Thank you, Astrid. Thank you everybody for attending and on behalf of Kudrina and Joanne and myself, we're very excited to give you an update on some recent things that have been happening with regards to OSGO and OGC collaboration.
00:21
So in the next 20 minutes, we'll walk through some timelines in history, some turning points as well as what we've been up to with regards to collaborative events between the two organizations and talk to you about our updated memorandum of understanding and how you can get involved because I know everybody here wants to get involved, right?
00:41
History and timelines. So we've always had a natural relationship between open standards and free and open source software, I believe, and this is a perfect fit and we're excited to give these updates. How it all started? So the open story, open software and open standards has been around for quite some time.
01:05
It started off with GRASS in the 90s, in the Open GRASS Foundation, NCSA Mosaic. The OGC and ISO TC211 were formed in 1994, both of them, and in 1999, we had the first OGC web mapping testbed in
01:23
Maryland, which had the first live demo of interoperable web maps. And in 2004, something very important happened. The Open GIS Consortium turned into the Open Geospatial Consortium. It's not just about GIS the way it used to be, it's geospatial as a wider domain. And in
01:44
2006, of course, OSGEO was founded and the rest, as they say, is history. So now I'm going to show my age and this is for historical purposes, but this is the actual first PowerPoint of the web mapping testbed that was in 1999.
02:04
So we demonstrated that map servers can provide static images of geospatial data, or sorry, GIS data, and they can happen on different servers. So what happens when you put those together?
02:21
Oh my goodness, I thought the same thing. I was in the crowd and I was just shell-shocked. So I think we've come a long way, built on solid foundation since then. In 2006, we had the initial event in Lausanne, and we had the first memorandum of understanding between the OGC and
02:47
OSGEO. And that proved very valuable to sow the seeds of where we are today and some of the updates we're going to give to you. In 2009, we started the annual OSGEO sprints.
03:01
So the Sea Tribe was one that I helped organize in Toronto, in Canada, and the Java one in Bosena, Italy, and both of those sprints continue to happen, as well as community-wide sprints in OSGEO. So this is a very important piece of the equation of having all these open source projects working together at these sprints, a lot of them implementing open standards.
03:26
Turning points. Time goes on, and we do some inflection and retrospection, and we see what are new opportunities that can be presented before us. So in
03:40
2017, there were a number of white papers that started to set a new direction, a clean break, modernized standards to reflect the requirements and what we need in terms of how IT and information management happens today, as well as addressing the mass market. So this, I think, is a really good response to the Open GIS Consortium changing their name to the Open Geospatial Consortium, as
04:06
well as it's not only about people coming to GIS people for solutions, it's about the geospatial community integrating with wider mainstream mass market and IT initiatives. So with all that, we had the W3C spatial data on the web best practices, which is a very important key
04:24
cornerstone document, and we had the OGC API white paper in 2017, which called for a modernization of a lot of the way our web services worked at the time. At the same time, the OGC
04:40
started to embark on sprints. So the OGC started to have their own sprints. Previously, we only had member meetings or technical committee meetings. Now OGC is getting into sprints, and that is showing the realization of the value of developers and their implementation. So this started with what was called the WFS3 hackathon in Boulder, I believe,
05:03
or in Colorado at least, and the weather on the web API code sprint that happened in DC. The momentum of the sprints continued, and from one sprint, and we all got back home and said, oh, that was kind of cool. Next thing you know, a few months later, there was another one, and another one, and another one.
05:22
So these were not just one ops from OGC, but they were a wider direction that OGC was trying to cut a path for. The momentum continued in 2020. The OGC had eight sprints in all of 2020. Most of them were virtual, given the
05:40
circumstances. In 2021, the momentum continued. All along that time, in OSGO, we realized that, given this shift, that we wanted to sort of look at the memorandum of understanding and see how we can update it and get a better value out of it. So within discussions in Bucharest between the OSGO board and
06:04
the OGC, we decided to embark on a new updated memorandum of understanding. In parallel to that, we also had the first ever OGC Apache Software Foundation and OSGO code sprint in 2021, and we'll talk a little bit about
06:22
to talk a little bit, talk to it a little bit later in the presentation. And in 2022, that momentum continued. So a lot of momentum happening on both sides of the equation, adherence to open standards and implementing open standards that are now much easier than they've ever been, and
06:42
support of open source from open standards organizations. And we had them updated memorandum of understanding, which I will talk to a little bit about later. So a lot's been going on from the perspective of the timelines of both organizations, and you can see these convergences. With that, I'll turn it over to Joanna.
07:00
Thank you. So the concept of building blocks is part of this paradigm change that Tom has been describing. So standards are now developed as a set of discrete parts, and each one you can incorporate into your existing applications to enable just a particular piece of functionality.
07:21
So you can basically use them like legal pieces, and you can mix and match and create something new. There are many different reasons why this synergy could have positive
07:41
effects both in OSGO and OGC. From the OSGO point of view, the projects can be involved in the development of the standards, so actively involved in development of the standards. And from the point of view of OGC, there is a need for implementations, and in particular for reference implementations.
08:08
So reference implementations are publicly available. So they normally are open source projects, not necessarily OSGO, but they are very important in terms of
08:21
visibility of the standard. And OSGO has contributed already with a compliant standard implementations, and also with reference implementations, which you can see the log, which logos you can see on the slide there.
08:45
So as Tom was saying, the standards are now developed in a different way out in the open. So most of the development takes place on GitHub repositories at the public eye. Anyone can inspect the code and even contribute if you feel like you wish to do so with a pull request. And
09:05
the sprints have become extremely important because they provide this feedback from the implementers. So this feedback is incorporated in the actual standard. So they are organized
09:20
regularly by OGC and you are very welcome to participate. The first joint code sprint, so it was organized jointly by OSGO, Apache Software Foundation and OGC took place last year, and it was a huge success, many
09:45
many projects joined. And this year we organized a second edition, which was also very very much attended. There were different projects that participated in these code sprints, some OSGO projects,
10:01
but we would love to see more projects coming. So there are plans to organize another one next year and we hope to see more people from the community there. Having said that, there will be a code sprint in mid-September.
10:20
This is jointly organized by OGC and ISO TC211, and it will focus on metadata and standards around metadata. So OGC API records, ISO 9115, FGJson and also STAC. Registrations are open and everyone is invited to participate either in person, it's going to be in London, or
10:48
virtually. And there will be another code sprint towards the end of the year. So this one will focus on standards related to web mapping. So OGC API tiles, OGC API maps and OGC API
11:03
styles. And I'll pass the word to Tom so he can tell us a bit about this MAO.
11:24
Thank You Johanna. So I'm happy to announce that we have an updated memorandum of understanding between the OGC and OSGO. It was a long trail, it took us a couple of years. In OSGO we assembled an MOU review team
11:40
who did exactly that. They reviewed the existing memorandum of understanding and identified parts which would be valuable for OSGO and the OGC on their side did the same thing. The press release was in January and there's been work since then to get the entire activity moving. So this is really good news.
12:04
The MOU itself, the big update and value proposition from the MOU is that the previous MOU provided a number of slots to individuals in OSGO who could then use those slots and check them out and check them back in as they work on various projects.
12:22
The big thing now with the updated MOU is now OSGO has an organizational membership or what OGC calls an associate membership level and that allows an unlimited number of participants from OSGO to participate in OGC activities.
12:42
So that is significant and that is a clear sign of the value of OSGO participation and free and open source participation in the open standards development ecosystem. And this is in line with obviously the joint code sprints that Joanna mentioned which we hope will continue
13:03
you know into the future. So a lot of this, it's all about the cross-pollination where we want, you know, where it's valuable to have more OSGO participation in OGC and we want OGC to you know, have more code sprints and continue the focus on developers and software and in our case
13:25
open, so free and open source software. Again, this is an unlimited membership. Any number of individuals in OSGO can participate. You can either participate in a standards working group if you want to help define the standard.
13:43
So I just want to have a clarification there. The current iteration of OGC API standards are done on GitHub, so you can interact with those standards through GitHub just like anybody else. If you do want to participate in the actual standards working group, which has
14:03
meetings and so on and so forth within the OGC process, you can do that through the OSGO membership. So if there's something you wanted to improve in the spec and you really wanted to have a say, you can participate normally on GitHub or through the code sprints or you can
14:21
sign up for one of the standards working groups who work on the standards. There's also domain working groups who are basically information communities who are applying the standards for their given requirements and use cases. So the initial thinking in OSGO is that the associate membership will be made available for charter members.
14:45
Again, there's no limit and as a charter member you are representing OSGO proper and you'll be able to participate in the SWGS or the DWEGS accordingly. You'll also be able to present on pilots and test beds, which also gives you, and OSGO for that matter, opportunities to apply for funding
15:02
with regards to these pilots, test spreads, or code sprints. We've established a committee and we're going to have a kickoff meeting, an OSGO OGC standards committee. I got to get all that right and in order and we'll be kicking that off in the fall to identify a technical representative as well as an architecture of participation on how we as OSGO concerted effort
15:23
liaise and work with OGC. And we continue the joint code sprints as I mentioned before. With that, I'm going to turn it over to Kudrina. Thank you. So hello from my side.
15:40
Everything that you have heard until now is absolutely wonderful, but in reality, you know the powerful and the productiveness of this MOU update is going to be highly dependent on how much we engage with OGC as OSGO representatives. So this is a call to action. There are multiple
16:06
opportunities to engage. Tom as well as Joanna mentioned a few of them, but please be aware that there are more so you can participate
16:20
for innovation programs such as the Disaster Pilot 2022, Climate Resilience Initiative, the TESBED-18. Please join, vote and lead not only standards, but also the domain working groups, marine, climate change, 3D information management, hydrology and so on.
16:41
Very important, take advantage of the marketing opportunity, which is a great advantage. Make your software OGC compliant and importantly add your software to the website. And of course, it was mentioned, lead and participate in the code sprints. Tom has already mentioned, but it's important to
17:06
emphasize the fact that participating from OSGO from OSGO side, you make the OSGO voice heard within the OGC, which is an again an important element.
17:23
So in order to understand how we can best channelize all these efforts within OSGO, we had a Birds of a Feather meeting yesterday. We had very good discussions and a few important elements came out. So
17:40
one of the most obvious one was that all the work done to update the MOU and the update of the MOU was absolutely wonderful, but it is not enough. And the committee that Tom was mentioning will work to prepare outreach material for all for the OSGO members
18:01
to clearly show all the opportunities that now we have through this update. Another important aspect, one minute, another important aspect is regarding the clear guidelines that we will set for the OSGO representative within OGC.
18:22
What to do, what is not that not what not to do. So a few ideas that would be related to the possible roles that would be clearly translated in the time needed from the OSGO representative within OGC. Another one is related to the reporting back to the OSGO regarding all the activities that are the activities in OGC.
18:47
And to go really fast forward, as Tom mentioned, we are putting together a dedicated committee for this. So you're welcome to join and if you're interested in what is happening, please join the standards list if you are not already there.
19:03
No. So to go closer to the to the finish, I'd like to to quote wonderful Athena saying that, you know, we don't have to reinvent the wheel, we shouldn't. Get involved, contribute and benefit from this
19:22
memorandum of understanding. Just as the saying goes, if you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together. So to close, I would like to invite Ivan Sanchez to share a bit of his experience with OGC.
19:40
Thank you so much, Codreina. So I was curious about this Code Spring thing that OGC and OSGO were setting up earlier this year. I am known for having strong opinions on freedom and openness. So I approached this Code Spring with a bit of skepticism. I didn't know what to expect from an OGC event.
20:01
And I have to say I liked what I saw, like really like what I saw. I would say in my head the OGC is a very bureaucratic entity and I was pleased to see that I didn't need to do any bureaucracy at all. I signed up as an unaffiliated individual. I didn't need to represent any organization. I didn't need to represent any project.
20:23
I didn't need to represent any company. So you don't need to represent those. You, if you want to just dip your toes into how the standards are being done, you can just go by yourself and spend some time. Also, I have been implementing clients for several of the OGC standards and
20:40
sometimes the experience as a developer is less than perfect when a standard is finalized because it's already set in stone. For me, it has been kind of almost fun to see how the draft standard works. And it's been a boon to be able to speak to other developers and to the people making the standards about
21:02
how the standard doesn't really fit my needs. So it's really good to be able to talk to the people actually making the standards and complete during the draft phase of the standard before it gets finalized. It will give you a much smoother experience when you actually have to do the final implementation.
21:22
And you don't have to do anything to join the code springs. You don't even have to be an OGC charter member, even though you should. And please become an OGC charter member and help promote the OGC goals. You can just go there and spend your own time and that's all you will spend. A bit of time to see how the OGC code springs work. So I will
21:42
invite you to the next code springs, which I think Tom has already said, which they are. But please come because it's an actual good experience. I have to say that the OGC is not perfect. The code springs are not still perfect. But I think they are in the right way to becoming a good developer experience.
22:05
Tom, I think you have some closing words. Thank you Ivan. Thank you, Kudrina. And thank you, Johanna. So in closing, this is a call to action. I'll quote Cliff Kaufman from OGC if anybody knows.
22:23
Interoperability doesn't happen by accident and getting involved early will allow us to measure twice, cut once, and lower the barrier for people to implement the standards and implement the software and deploy the software and lower the access, the barrier to the access of the actual data.
22:41
So with that, I thank everyone. We look forward to your participation, questions, comments, and I hope you enjoy the week. Thank you.