UKHO becomes Strategic Member of Open Geospatial Consortium

The UK Hydrographic Office (UKHO) has strengthened its longstanding relationship with Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) by enhancing its membership level from Technical to Strategic to provide greater leadership, boost innovation, and advance geospatial data for the marine industry.

The UKHO has long been a champion of open standards and innovation at OGC. As a Strategic Member, UKHO will augment its expertise and leadership offering to OGC, while providing greater access to and usage of its marine geospatial data.

In this new capacity, UKHO will support planning committees by providing leadership through the exploration of market and technology trends to ensure that OGC's activities remain effective and agile in a changing technology environment. This includes participating in final approval decisions for all OGC standards and nominations to the Board of Directors.

By deepening their collaboration under this new strategic membership, the two organisations aim to drive real change in the marine and land geospatial domains.

Peter Sparkes, UKHO’s CEO, commented: “We’re pleased to enhance our close collaboration with OGC to strengthen our mission of meeting the evolving geospatial needs of mariners around the world, contributing fully to the development of international data standards for navigation, autonomous vessels and marine spatial data infrastructure. The pace of technological change in the maritime sector is accelerating. The geospatial industry needs to respond innovatively and proactively to the decarbonisation and digitalisation challenges our users face.

We will continue to work with the OGC to improve access to, and use of, marine spatial data in support of safe, secure and thriving oceans.”

Nadine Alameh, CEO of OGC, said: “We’re delighted to welcome UKHO as a strategic member of the OGC at a time when the geospatial community is mobilising its expertise to make the world a safer and more sustainable place, across land, space, and water. It’s great to see UKHO’s commitment to being a global leader in our innovative, problem-solving community, and a firm believer in the power of partnerships and standards to address the changing needs of all those who depend on the marine environment.”

UKHO will work with other Strategic Members, who are also leaders in their fields of expertise, to shape the future of location-based standards and improve their utility for decision-makers across the globe. Other members include the US Department of Homeland Security (DHS), the European Space Agency (ESA), the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), the US Geological Survey (USGS), US National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), the US National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA), Natural Resources Canada/GeoConnections (NRCan), and Ordnance Survey UK (OS).

As a first major event in the new association, UKHO is sponsoring the upcoming Federated MSDI Pilot to further the development of internationally recognised standards for opening out marine and hydrographic geospatial data.