OGC and IAI Join Forces

The Open Geospatial Consortium, Inc. (OGC) and the International Alliance for Interoperability (IAI) signed a memorandum of understanding to work together to strengthen open standards based interoperability between systems used by the building infrastructure community and the broader geospatial, Architecture/Engineering/Construction (AEC) and Information Technology (IT) communities.

Initially, the two organisations will assess member interest in advancing the creation, testing, and implementation of open standards to improve the sharing of XML based Industry Foundation Class XML (ifcXML-IFC) building models and Geography Markup Language (GML) geography models in the AEC and geospatial user communities. A technical report will be prepared and the two organisations will work together on programs of outreach and education to promote participation in the joint standards effort.

Christopher Groome, IAI International Business Manager, explained, "Sharing of digital information becomes increasingly important in building design, construction, and operations, as well as city planning, disaster response, security, transportation and environmental management. Fortunately, it is now possible, through collaboration on open standards, to remove the technical barriers that have prevented interoperability among the computer aided design and geospatial systems used in these activities. We look forward to working with the OGC to advance a standards framework that will bring these disciplines closer together."

Mark Reichardt, president of the OGC, noted that "with the increasing need to integrate the "as built" and broader geospatial environments, more effective and efficient standards solutions can only come from closer, more formal coordination between relevant standards setting bodies. The alliance between IAI International and the OGC is a major step in addressing a coordinated standards solution."

IAI is an international alliance of some 500 private and public organizations in the AEC and FM industries aiming to change the organisation, processes and technology of their industries. Seamless data exchange along the construction supply chain using intelligent software is seen as a tool to speed up the whole design and procurement process, as well as enhancing quality, improving value for money and reducing risk.