Just a thought. Rather than focus entirely on content standards, there are
other possible (and proven) avenues to explore. There are available
standards that when implemented support near real time interoperability and
use multiple network accessible content resources independent of content
format and technology implementation. There is also work being done on
mechanisms for mapping disparate content models into a common representation
that can then be used by the client applications. There are numerous reasons
for considered a balanced approach. One is that the client applications -and
hence the users - can be protected from changes in the underlying content,
technologies, and so forth. A really big one is that many local
jurisdictions will fight very hard anything that requires them to change
their existing (and operational) content models. This is a major issue in
the geospatial industry.
As much of the information required by first responders is held in existing
databases (transportation, water system, building exits, school locations,
and so forth) or available through some form of sensor web (wind speed and
direction, traffic volumes, etc.) we also need to insure that such
information is made available as quickly and as easily as possible and at a
reasonable cost.
Carl Reed
OGC