The Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC®) membership has formed the Mobile Location Services Domain Working Group (DWG). The new group will replace both the existing Mass Market and OpenLS working groups. In an effort to better reflect the current technology market this new DWG will be focused on interoperability in a number of key areas including mobile, Internet of Things (IoT), SensorWeb, Points of Interest, Augmented Reality, geofencing and related location services.

The kick-off meeting of the new Mobile Location Services DWG will be at the June 2014 Technical Committee meeting in Geneva, Switzerland.

The Mobile Location Services DWG provides a forum for both OGC members and interested non-members to review the requirements of the growing mobile and location services industry and make recommendations for OGC’s development and adoption of open standards to improve interoperability. What has changed in the market is the explosion in applications for mobile devices, the emergence of cloud computing, and the availability of new and emerging OGC interface and encoding standards and best practices that greatly expand the data and services options available to developers.

In recent OGC Testbeds, the Open Mobility and Cross Community Interoperability technology threads produced Engineering Reports that address location for mobile apps, security, semantics and information architecture. Further detail and implementation guidance can be found in these comprehensive reports. Some of the Public Engineering Reports that are available now are:

• OGC Testbed-9 Mobile Apps: Definition, Requirements, and Information Architecture
• OGC Testbed-10 Rules for JSON and GeoJSON Adoption: Focus on OWS-Context

Watch the OGC Public Engineering Reports page for other Testbed-10 Engineering Reports that are now in the final stages of editing. (Click on “Date” in the table’s heading row to see the most recent reports.) Topics include, for example:

• Performance of OGC Services in the Cloud
• OpenMobility and GeoPackage
• OGC Web Service integration
• Cross-Community Interoperability
• OWS Context in requests based on the US National Information Exchange Model (NIEM)

The OGC Mobile Location Services DWG also supports and encourages other OGC working groups to make progress on various key services and encodings, and seeks their advice on topics of mutual interest.  Some of the OGC standards that are particularly relevant to Mobile Location Services are:

• OGC GeoPackage Encoding Standard
• OGC Open GeoSMS
• GeoRSS (GML RSS Profile)
• OGC KML
• OGC Web Services Context Document (OWS Context)

Pending standards and OGC working groups that are particularly relevant to Mobile Location Services include:

• OGC ARML 2.0 SWG (Augmented Reality Markup Language)
• OGC IndoorGML SWG
• OGC Points of Interest (PoI) SWG
• OGC Sensor Web for IoT SWG – “SensorThings”

Developers working in areas of mobile and location services application development are encouraged to investigate these OGC standards and follow and participate in the activities of the OGC Domain Working Groups and Standards Working Groups whose work impacts their development objectives.

The OGC Mobile Location Services DWG will support and help focus the OGC’s ongoing collaboration with OGC Alliance partners such as:

• Open Mobile Alliance (OMA)
• In-Location Alliance
• World Wide Web Consortium (W3C)
• Location Based Marketing Association (LBMA)
• Small Cell Forum

At the recent Mobile World Congress event, the OGC’s GeoPackage and IndoorGML workshops and an Augmented Reality interoperability demo were well attended. These workshops were organized with the participation of members of the Mobile Location Services DWG.

The OGC® is an international consortium of more than 475 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. Visit the OGC website at http://www.opengeospatial.org/.

[Source: OGC press release]

URISA is pleased to announce the presentation of three of its Certified Workshops via instructor-led web-based training.  Normally full-day classroom sessions, each workshop has been re-packaged into three sections for presentation virtually without the travel expense and time away from work. The workshop content is thoroughly peer-reviewed and updated each year and is eligible for GISP Education credit (8 hours of EDU-2). The cost to attend each virtual workshop is $195 for URISA members and $245 for non-members.

URISA’s virtual classrooms are limited according to the number of participants in order to facilitate online discussions and Q&A with the presenters. Individuals are encouraged to register early to reserve a spot. (Note that the workshops are recorded, so if for some reason you cannot attend all three sections of a workshop, you will have complete access to the recorded archive.) A registration form and more details are available online.

 

Introduction to GNSS

This 8-hour workshop (formerly Introduction to GPS) will be presented virtually over three days in June:

• Tuesday, June 24, 2014 – 1:00– 4:00 pm EDT
• Wednesday, June 25, 2014  – 1:00– 4:00 pm EDT
• Thursday, June 26, 2014 – 1:00– 3:00 pm EDT

Course Description: The use of the Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) has become pervasive in the GIS and Surveying communities, and with anyone who needs or collects data that has a geographic or locational component.  Local, state and federal agencies regularly use it for a myriad of purposes including E911, utility locations, pavement inventories, biological studies and more.  In the private sector, surveyors, GIS data collectors and other consultants use GNSS in their everyday work.  Even hikers, boaters and hunters rely on GNSS to document their fishing holes, hunting blinds and to leave virtual bread crumb trails.  This data finds its way into thousands of different databases and maps and is used in every conceivable application.  GNSS is a highly specialized technology that, by its very nature, is prone to accidental misapplication; and it will produce inaccurate results that are not recognized to the untrained user.  This workshop will, in a non-technical, yet thorough manner, explore the GNSS satellite constellations, how geographic positions are determined, sources of errors in GNSS data collection, and the types of receivers with the goal of arming users with the ability to achieve the results they expect and need in their work.

Specific topics include:

• The Global Navigation Satellite System – satellites, control and receivers
• How GNSS works – Measurements from 12,000 miles up
• Latitude and Longitude
• Factors affecting the accuracy of GNSS measurements
• Determining the accuracy of my GNSS measurements
• How to obtain more accurate results
• Types of GPS receivers
• Methods of making GNSS measurements – Static, Rapid Static, RTK
• GPS, GLONASS and other Global Navigation Satellite Systems

Intended Audience: Any person who uses a GPS receiver, or who relies on or uses geographic locations determined by GNSS measurements

Instructor Profile: Keri Brennan, GISP is URISA’s Education Manager and was a long-time volunteer for the organization before she joined the URISA staff in 2013. Keri was GIS Education Program Manager for The Schneider Corporation in Indianapolis for the previous 12 years.  Her job entailed traveling over much of the US visiting local government and private clients and helping them with their GIS implementations, serving as a trainer, consultant and client advocate.

 

Building an Address Repository Using the FGDC Standard: Implementing Quality and Data Sharing

This 8-hour workshop will be presented virtually over three days in August:

• Tuesday, August 5, 2014 – 1:00– 4:00 pm EDT
• Thursday, August 7, 2014  – 1:00– 4:00 pm EDT
• Tuesday, August 12, 2014 – 1:00– 3:00 pm EDT

Course Description: Street addresses are the key, user-friendly geospatial identifier used by everyone, but addressing processes are usually poorly organized at the local level. This workshop will help you understand the addressing process, managing address data, and organizational challenges. It will guide you in developing a Master Address Repository that serves the needs of the entire organization.  The workshop will also review the Federal Geographic Data Committee Street Address Data Standard, and help you understand how the standard can help you build quality address data.

Specific topics include:

• What is an address?
• What are the types of address?
• How are addressing systems structured, and addresses assigned?
• How do you develop a Master Address Repository
• Geocoding and managing addresses in the GIS
• Organizational issues with addressing
• Working with the FGDC Street Address Data Standard

Intended Audience: GIS Managers, staff members who assign, maintain or use addresses. This workshop will focus on managing address workflows, address data, and use.

Instructor Profile:  Martha McCart Wells, GISP is co-chair of the FGDC Addressing Standards Working Group that championed adoption in 2011 of the United States Thoroughfare, Landmark, and Postal Address Data Standard and is currently being updated.  She had been the primary instructor of the very popular URISA Addressing Workshop for several years.  As founder of Spatial Focus, Inc., she brings over 40 years of experience in local government planning and zoning, organizational issues, budgeting, project management, real estate development, transportation planning, and coastal zone management.

 

Asset Management: Planning, Strategy, and Implementation

This 8-hour workshop will be presented over three days in November:

• Tuesday, November 18, 2014 – 1:00– 4:00 pm EDT
• Wednesday, November 19, 2014  – 1:00– 4:00 pm EDT
• Thursday, November 20, 2014 – 1:00– 3:00 pm EDT

Course Description: Public and private agencies face continuous challenges to accomplish more with less as increases in demand, regulatory requirements, infrastructure deterioration, and political and economic forces have significantly outpaced increases in capital and operating budgets.  Many of these agencies are turning to Asset Management to cope with these challenges and improve business performance and effectiveness.  This workshop will focus on several aspects of developing an asset management system that could help improve performance, reduce long-term costs, and maximize return on investment in infrastructure assets.

Specific topics include:

• Strategy and Planning
• Data Collection Methods
• Software Solutions
• Information Management and Decision Support Tools
• Evaluation and Performance Measures
• GASB34 Reporting
• Life Cycle Costs

Intended Audience: This workshop is intended for utility, transportation, engineering, planning, and environmental managers and analysts of the public and private sectors.

Instructor Profile:  Allen Ibaugh, AICP, GISP is the current President of URISA and Certified Workshop Instructor for this and a few other URISA workshops. Allen, co-owner of DTS, has years of Program Management experience working on various GIS, database, and multimedia projects for the departments of transportation, forest management companies, metropolitan planning organizations, and city/county governments. He has extensive knowledge of web development, Geographic Information Systems (GIS), IT, and relational database integration. Allen holds an M.S. in Urban and Regional Planning and an M.A. in Geography.

Registration and more details about each workshop are available online.

{Source: URISA press release]