Allen -
The topic of symbology may be an opportunity for the EM TC and the OGC to
collaborate. Our membership has done considerable work in the "how" of
interoperability for encoding and communicating symbology. We do not deal
with the actual definitions (content) for symbols. Symbology definition is
better done by groups such as USGS, FEMA, NIMA, APWA, and so forth.
For example, we have an OpenGIS specification called "Style Layer
Descriptor" (SLD). SLD - using XML Schema - provides a mechanism for
expressing symbology portrayal rules to an application client or to a
server. The reason our members defined and adopted SLD as a specification is
that when a user is requesting spatial data from multiple servers, how can
the user be assured that they will see the spatial data rendered in a common
consistent manner using symbology that they are used to?
We are also working on various other aspects related to interoperability and
symbology, such as symbology metadata and how to build, maintain, and access
a library of symbol libraries.
The SLD specification can be found on the public portion of our web site
(www.opengis.org).
I look forward to exploring this potential area of collaboration.
Regards
Carl Reed
OGC