Joint Steering Group on Spatial Standardization and Related Interoperability

Charter

Charter of the Joint Steering Group on Spatial Standardization and Related Interoperability

Preamble

All businesses that produce, distribute, or utilize spatial information alone or in conjunction with non-spatial information will benefit from spatial standards. Environments supported include geographic information, decision support, data mining, data warehousing and modeling and simulation. Application areas include but are not limited to automated mapping, geo-engineering, computer aided drafting and design, entertainment, modeling, and simulation. These span the planning, design, construction, operation, and maintenance of facilities and their supporting infrastructure such as communications, transportation, and utilities.
There are many places in the marketplace that will benefit significantly from interoperable access to spatial information and services. Industry sectors include such areas as the travel and tourism industries, the mapping and routing industries, communications, utilities, transportation, national defense, agriculture, disaster management and public safety, location/mobile services, inventory management, real and synthetic environmental modeling and gaming, and the emerging needs of electronic commerce for spatial information.
Achieving more interoperability requires proactive coordination of spatial standards at both the abstract and implementation levels of detail. Proactive cooperation between spatial standards activities should also help to utilize, more efficiently, available resources by minimizing technical overlap, where appropriate. Such coordination and cooperation should lead to more market relevant spatial standards and could serve as a useful roadmap for all interested parties.
As an advisory group, the forum will respect the different culture, practices and rules of the member organizations. Such a forum will serve to draw attention to potential loss of interoperability at an early stage and identify opportunities for synergistic co-operation.

Appointment of Chair

The Chairperson will be the Chairman of ISO/TC 211, Mr Olaf Østensen.

Appointment of Secretariat

The Secretariat will be the ISO/TC 211 Secretariat (NSF, Ms. Bjørnhild Sæterøy).

Terms of reference

Scope and purpose

The purpose of the steering group will be to share information in order to manage coordination activities better, and not to assign or manage specific spatial standards projects. The intent is to foster the rapid insertion of spatial technology into mainstream information technology while also working to optimize standards development resources.

Membership

The membership of this steering group is open to all Spatial Standards Setting Organizations (SSSOs), including those that use or have requirements for spatial standards. For this purpose, standards include all formal specifications and consensus agreements. SSSOs shall have a suitable Charter or be an accredited international standards authority. Direct membership will not include National Standards Bodies and equivalent, or for-profit companies or individuals. One duty of the Chairman will be to review SSSO credentials on behalf of the members. The ISO Central Secretariat will be a member.

Status of existing liaisons

The steering group will complement and not replace existing technical liaisons and cooperative agreements.

Concept of operations

One focus of the group will be on planning activities to accomplish collaboration in support of interoperability.
The group will use electronic means wherever appropriate and in preference to meetings.
The documents prepared by the group will be made public. Other documents made available to the group will be made public whenever possible.
The group shall be considered as a legitimate liaison to each of its members, therefore all documents that support the goals of the steering group shall be made available to all members.
The group will maintain a matrix of spatial standards components and the members' related accomplishments, plans and schedules. This matrix will be exploited to identify opportunities for co-operation.
Specific proposals for co-ordination activities will be posted on the web site for Joint Steering Group use and to attract further community interest.
Co-operation will be directly between technical peer groups.
The steering group will not make a recommendation without the unanimous consent of its members.
The group shall not have any authority to delay the work of its members.
The group shall review the need for its continuance at each of its meetings.

Meeting schedule

The first meeting is recommended to start 11th September 2000, Washington DC area.
Wherever possible meetings shall be co-located with a member's meeting.

Deliverables

A matrix of spatial standards components will be maintained on-line.
The group will maintain an open publicly accessible web site as well as a pass-worded area for protected documents and work in development.
The web site will include news about the progress of the group, the list of members and the liaisons, co-operation agreements, a consolidated calendar of members' meetings, and links to the members' web sites.

Outreach

The members of the group will be expected to ensure that their own members and liaisons and all market sectors are appraised of the progress of the group.