The Open GIS Consortium, (OGC) moved two OpenGIS(R) Web Services specifications through the approval process during a meeting held recently in Spain. The Technical and Planning Committees adopted the Web Coverage Service Specification,
which defines how to access gridded geographic data and moved the Web Terrain Service Specification, which details how to render vector and raster data as a 3D view, to Request For Comment status.
The Web Coverage Service (WCS) provides access to intact, raw data such as imagery, digital elevation matrix (DEM) and other types of gridded data. Unlike the Web Map Service (WMS), which returns static maps, the Web Coverage Service provides only data access. Typically client-side applications will model, analyze and render the data. WCS was submitted by BAE SYSTEMS – Information Systems Sector (U.S.), Commonwealth
Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) Exploration and Mining (Australia), CubeWerx Inc. (Canada), German Aerospace Center – DLR (Germany), Galdos Systems Inc. (Canada), George Mason University (U.S.), Intergraph Mapping and Geospatial Solutions (U.S.), IONIC Software (Belgium). MITRE Corporation (U.S.), National Aeronautics and Space Administration (U.S.), PCI Geomatics, Inc. (Canada), Polexis, Inc. (U.S.), Raytheon Company (U.S.), United States Army Corps of Engineers,
and the United States Geological Survey. The approved specification is publicly available for download at https://www.opengis.org/specs/?page=specs.
