The View From Here

Open is one of those words used everyday with respect to technology. I for one have to take a moment to consider exactly which meaning is in use at any one time. Open in Open GIS Consortium and OpenGIS Specifications highlights the meaning relating to published, accessible interfaces. Open in open source means published in the sense of including source code, but also has a specific meaning relating to licensing and other matters.

In this issue of OGC User, those two uses of open come together, uniting OpenGIS Specifications with open source software. Both implementations, the first supporting data from across Canada, and the second united data sets for the City of Copenhagen, mix commercial software with open source software via open standards.

Expect more, not fewer, of these types of implementations in the coming months and years.

Adena Schutzberg
Editor