ORGANIZATIONS

• INCITS Technical Committee L1, Geographic Information Systems - The work of INCITS L1 consists of adopting or adapting information technology standards and developing standards used in creating, defining, describing, and processing digital geographic data. INCITS L1 is the means by which the FGDC and its member agencies participate in ISO and ANSI standardization activities for standardization activities in geographic information. INCITS L1 serves as the U.S. technical advisory group (TAG) to ISO Technical Committee 211 (ISO TC 211), Geographic information/Geomatics.
  

• The InterNational Committee for Information Technology Standards (INCITS) is accredited by the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) to develop standards for Information and Communications Technologies (ICT). INCITS comprises of many technical committees, including INCITS L1, that develop standards in specific topic areas of ICT.

• ASTM International (not shown), formerly known as the American Society for Testing and Materials, has been accredited by ANSI to develop "technical standards for materials, products, systems, and services." In addition, ASTM International is an ANSI Audited Designator, which means that ASTM International has the authority to designate its standards as American National Standards, without approval by the ANSI Board of Standards Review (BSR), given its track record in developing voluntary consensus standards.

• ANSI is the U.S. member body of the International Organization for Standardization, or ISO. ANSI accredits standards developers, certification bodies and technical advisory groups (TAGs) to both ISO and the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC).
  

• ISO describes itself as a "network of the national standards institutes of 147 countries, on the basis of one member per country." Standards development is carried out by technical committees, including ISO Technical Committee 211.

• ISO and IEC co-sponsor Joint Technical Committee 1 (ISO/IEC JTC 1) for standardization in Information Technology. INCITS serves as ANSI's Technical Advisory Group for ISO/IEC JTC 1. Several ISO/IEC JTC 1 subcommittee are liaisons with ISO TC 211.
  

• Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) is a consortium aimed at growing interoperability for technologies involving spatial information and location. OGC has a liaison relationship with ISO TC 211. FGDC member agencies are members of OGC.
• Other consortium activities include:
• • Object Management Group (OMG), a not-for-profit consortium that produces and maintains computer industry specifications for interoperable enterprise applications, including specifications for Unified Modeling Language (UML), the conceptual schema language used for ISO TC 211 standards.
  • The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C), which develops interoperable technologies (specifications, guidelines, software, and tools) to lead the Web to its full potential. It developed Extensible Markup Language (XML) that plays an increasingly important role in data exchange on the Web.
  • The Organization for the Advancement of Structured Information Standards (OASIS), which drives the development, convergence and adoption of e-business standards. OASIS produces worldwide standards for security, Web services, XML conformance, and more.
    

INFORMATIVE SITES

• The SDI Cookbook, Version 2.0 (PDF), from the Global Spatial Data Infrastructure initiative, provides geographic information providers and users with background to evaluate and implement components of Spatial Data Infrastructures (SDI).
• The American Society of Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing (ASPRS) has a home page for its Standards Committee.
• ICA Spatial Data Standards Commission - The International Cartographic Association (ICA) is an external liaison of ISO Technical Committee 211. It has surveyed spatial data transfer standards and Metadata standards from around the world. In its current cycle of work, it proposes to develop a conceptual model of the SDI and define the technical characteristics of the SDI.
• Joint Steering Group on Spatial Standardization and Related Interoperability is a group of representatives of Spatial Standards Setting Organizations (including ISO TC 211 and OGC) that share information in order to manage coordination activities better.
• StandardsLearn.org sponsored by ANSI provides online educational tools to introduced users to to standards and conformity assessment activities.
  

PUBLICATIONS

The following publications focus on legal development and government policy pertaining to standards, and each has its particular point of view:

• ANSI has a free biweekly What's New E-newsletter. To subscribe, send an email to pr@ansi.org
  
• Consortium Standards Bulletin is a free monthly E-newsletter from Gesmer Updegrove LLP, a Boston law firm that represents OGC and other consortia.