Geospatial Standards , Interoperability , Metadata Semantics and Spatial Data Infrastructure

The main standards now being implemented in the geospatial world emanate from the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) Technical Committee 211 Geomatics/Geographic Information (generally referred to as ‘TC 211’), in their 19xxx series of standards. Because some EU Member States have legal requirements that ‘European standards’ be used for various types of work, if they exist, the European standards organisation CEN is creating ‘European profiles’ of ISO standards in the 19xxx series. Prior to this, CEN had developed a series of geomatics related standards in their Technical Committee TC 287, but these were not progressed beyond pre-standards (preENs) before TC 287 stopped work, as by that time the ISO TC 211 work has begun, and much of the TC 287 work was subsumed into the ISO work. In the USA, the Federal Geographic Data Committee (FGDC) created its geospatial standards in the mid-1990s which became the basis for the metadata creation work and clearinghouse development mandated by Presidential Executive Order in April 1994 creating the USA NSDI. Much of the FGDC standardisation work was also subsumed into the ISO TC 211 work from 1998 onwards.