October 19, 2007
Gardiner, Maine — October 19, 2007 – Blue Marble Geographics (www.bluemarblegeo.com), in cooperation with 1Spatial, is supporting a research initiative by the Spatial Data Quality Working Group of the Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC). Blue Marble President, Patrick Cunningham, is Vice Chair of the Spatial Data Quality Working Group (WG) and he has worked together with Graham Stickler of 1Spatial to develop the survey. As well, Blue Marble development staff members have donated their time to post and launch the survey. The Charter of this WG is to attempt to establish how data quality can be both defined and communicated, using standards to help in the reuse of spatial data and in the creation and management of spatial data infrastructures.
The WG is working to develop a framework, or model, for quality assurance web services that will enable access and sharing of high quality geospatial information, improve data analysis and ultimately influence policy decisions. As a first step the WG has commissioned a survey to try and establish some context and importance of Spatial Data Quality to the various stakeholders in the spatial data supply chain.
The survey went live this week and is wide reaching, targeting thousands of geospatial data suppliers and users from around the world. The WG hopes that this survey will provide a solid foundation for developing relevant terms of measure and a powerful spatial data quality model. The survey takes only 15 minutes to complete and the results will remain anonymous. To participate please follow the link:
http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=_2ffWZCQbm2ugKS_2fW8A0MWIQ_3d_3d
Access to the results of the research will be available to respondents upon completion of the questionnaire.
“This survey work will be extremely valuable as there is limited secondary research available in this area,” stated Cunningham. “Articulating and understanding how best to manage data quality throughout the data lifecycle can have real benefits to consumers of geospatial information.”
Graham Stickler of 1Spatial, chair of the Working Group, commented, “From the very beginning we recognized that the various participants in the geospatial data supply chain may have different requirements when it comes to data quality. As a group we feel the best way to understand the importance and meaning of data quality to these stakeholders is to reach out and poll them ourselves. I’m delighted that as a Group we have managed to raise awareness and develop interest across the community over the past 9 months. We encourage all geospatial users to participate in this survey and build momentum in this increasingly important area of the geospatial industry.”
Full details of the OGC, and of the Spatial Data Quality Working Group are available on the OGC website at www.opengeospatial.org
About Blue Marble Geographics: Blue Marble Geographics of Gardiner, Maine is a leading developer and provider of geographic software products that provide sensible solutions for users and developers of geographic data. Blue Marble has been writing GIS software tools and solutions for 14 years and currently serves hundreds of thousands of users worldwide. Learn more at www.bluemarblegeo.com
About Open Geospatial Consortium: The Open Geospatial Consortium, Inc (OGC) is an international industry consortium of 349 companies, government agencies and universities participating in a consensus process to develop publicly available interface specifications. OpenGIS® Specifications support interoperable solutions that “geo-enable” the Web, wireless and location-based services, and mainstream IT. The specifications empower technology developers to make complex spatial information and services accessible and useful with all kinds of applications. www.opengeospatial.org.
About 1Spatial: 1Spatial has 35 years of experience in providing operational solutions to organizations with large spatial databases. With leading expertise in transforming data from CAD and GIS, quantitative data quality control, and spatial database technologies we also enable reuse and repurposing of such data and access through both internal and external portals. The modern era demands the unconstrained sharing of spatial data between systems, business areas, organizations, and the public. We are the specialists in enabling such cooperative infrastructures. www.1spatial.com.
Contact Information:
Shelagh Harvard
Blue Marble Geographics
Gardiner, ME, USA
marketing@bluemarblegeo.com
800-616-2725 / 207-582-6747
