The Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) has announced the formation of a Standards Working Group (SWG) that will aim to establish API standards to assist in the distribution of environmental data.
The new Environmental Data Retrieval API Standards Working Group (SWG) will work to standardize several APIs to assist in the distribution of various common environmental data patterns. The consortium notes that currently, too much environmental data is not readily accessible for many use cases. The OGC is hoping that by establishing stable and reliable API standards their partners will be able to benefit from environmental data formatting that is not only web-friendly but also scalable. The announcement of the new working group noted that increased reliability and accessibility of environmental data is likely to encourage innovation:
Using stable, standardized, service APIs based on simple data retrieval patterns will, therefore, improve the access and use of environmental data and information across different domains, facilitating more innovation and value.
The OGC is an international consortium that includes over 530 partnering businesses, government agencies, and research organizations. As they are just getting started with the Environmental Data Retrieval API Standards Working Group, the OGC is currently asking for members that have experience with standardizing environmental data retrieval APIs to participate in the SWG.
