John Werle, President and CEO of PCI Geomatics Inc. (USA), has been elected by the OGC Interoperability Institute (OGCii) Board of Directors to Chair the OGCii Board.

OGCii is an independent, not-for-profit research organization chartered to promote and extend the use of interoperable geoprocessing in the research community, and dedicated to continued improvements in worldwide application of interoperable geoprocessing and spatial data. The complex research requirements that OGCii was founded to address include such urgent societal challenges as climate change, sustainable development, disaster mitigation and ecological modeling.

“I am extremely honored to be elected to chair the OGCii Board and to have the opportunity to work with such a prestigious and influential group of individuals,” said John Werle, President and CEO of PCI Geomatics Inc. (USA). “The OGCii will demonstrate interoperability using open standards providing a pathway for cross enterprise sharing of spatial information. This data sharing will foster new applications and dramatically increase the value of spatial data.”

David Schell, Chairman of the Open Geospatial Consortium, and also an OGCii Director, said, “OGCii is a new and experimental kind of organization with a large vision and difficult task. We have a very strong board of directors drawn principally from the academic research community able to address a variety of challenging research issues. As Chairman, John Werle will provide an essential organizational vision and management perspective drawn from his years of executive experience in the electronics and aerospace industries, as well as his long-standing interest in earth observation research and development. I think we are very fortunate that John has agreed to Chair the OGCii board and look forward to his making a unique contribution to OGCii’s growth and development.”

• OGC Interoperability Institute web site

• PCI Geomatics web site