Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC)

About OGC

The Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) is an international industry-academic-government partnership driving the development of open standards for geospatial and location data.
 

OGC standards ensure that data, systems, and applications can communicate seamlessly—making geospatial information discoverable, shareable, and usable across platforms, sectors, and nations. At Geo-Intel Lab, IITTNiF, we actively promote and implement OGC-compliant frameworks to bridge the gap between data providers and data users, supporting India’s vision for a robust and interoperable National Geospatial Infrastructure.

OGC Test Beds and Innovation Activities

OGC Test Beds are collaborative research and development environments where emerging geospatial technologies, APIs, and standards are prototyped and validated before global adoption.
 

They bring together experts from academia, industry, and government to solve complex interoperability challenges. At Geo-Intel Lab, we are working toward:

1. Participating in OGC Test Beds focused on:

   • Federated data services and cross-platform discovery.

   • Sensor Web Enablement (SWE) and IoT data streams.

   • Geospatial AI and analytics interoperability.

   • Cloud-native geospatial architectures and APIs.
     
     

2. Developing Indian OGC Use Cases in collaboration with partners such as the Survey of India, ISRO, NRSC, and IISc Bangalore, to align national datasets and services with global OGC standards.
   
   

3. Testing & Validation for the Federated GDI:

   • The Federated Geospatial Data-Sharing Interface (GDI), developed with the Centre for Public Good, IISc Bangalore, is designed on OGC-compliant architecture.

   • It supports WMS, WFS, WCS, and OGC API – Features standards, enabling discovery, access, and integration of government, startup, academic, and private datasets under one interoperable framework.

   • The GDI acts as a test bed node for validating interoperability, metadata harmonization, and data-exchange protocols.

Why OGC Matters to India’s Geospatial Mission

• Interoperability for Public Good: Ensures data from diverse sources (CORS, NavIC, Drone, LiDAR, IoT, and RS platforms) can interact without barriers.

• Scalable Digital Governance: Enables data-driven governance through standardized web services and APIs.

• Support for National Policies: Directly contributes to the National Geospatial Policy 2022 and the National Geospatial Mission, promoting open, federated, and standards-driven ecosystems.

• Global Collaboration: Connects India’s geospatial innovation network with the global OGC community for knowledge exchange and co-development.

Geo-Intel Lab’s Vision

The OGC and Federated GDI initiatives together embody our mission —

“To establish an open, interoperable, and federated geospatial ecosystem that powers innovation, digital governance, and research for public good.”

By aligning with OGC standards, Geo-Intel Lab is transforming into a national reference node for geospatial interoperability, enabling researchers, startups, and government users to access, publish, and integrate data effortlessly.