RE: [emergency-gis] Re: [emergency] Kent State Symbology Study

[Bill Schroeder <bschroeder@esri.com>]

Allen/Elliot/Matt:

I sat in on the a brief from FGDC and they are working on a release of the
symbols for comment in October.

I asked the presenter (Michael Domarantz) if they were considering the
digital exchange of symbols and standards for interoperability and he
suggested that would not be undertaken by this working group.  It appeared
to me to be outside their scope and beyond their resources. 

I think this is a real issue/problem/opportunity.  In my opinion the problem
is one of those that is in need of a champion and more importantly one with
$ to staff and work the symbol interoperability effort.  

Do we want to seek a champion/funds/charter or join with an organization
which can do this (OGC)?   May be a question for the Exec Board. 

Bill







-----Original Message-----
From: Allen Wyke [mailto:emtc@nc.rr.com] 
Sent: Monday, August 04, 2003 8:45 PM
To: Carl Reed
Cc: emergency-gis@lists.oasis-open.org; IF SC
Subject: [emergency-gis] Re: [emergency] Kent State Symbology Study

On Mon, 2003-07-21 at 17:28, Carl Reed wrote:
> The topic of symbology may be an opportunity for the EM TC and the OGC to
> collaborate. Our membership has done considerable work in the "how" of
> interoperability for encoding and communicating symbology. We do not deal
> with the actual definitions (content) for symbols. Symbology definition is
> better done by groups such as USGS, FEMA, NIMA, APWA, and so forth.

I agree - this is a good place to collaborate. I actually have been
exchanging emails with Scott McAfee at DHS, whom Bill S (ESRI) has been
communicating with as well. Scott had mentioned that he was working with
you guys on this.

>From an EM TC perspective, I think the proper approach would be for the
GIS SC to formally take on this effort - "effort" being defined as
summarizing the areas of collaboration and vision, so that the greater
EM TC can understand the overall purpose. Is that something you can
initiate with Bill and Eliot? Or maybe, we just did that :)

Any thoughts on how best to proceed would be appreciated.

> For example, we have an OpenGIS specification called "Style Layer
> Descriptor" (SLD). SLD - using XML Schema - provides a mechanism for
> expressing symbology portrayal rules to an application client or to a
> server. The reason our members defined and adopted SLD as a specification
is
> that when a user is requesting spatial data from multiple servers, how can
> the user be assured that they will see the spatial data rendered in a
common
> consistent manner using symbology that they are used to?
> 
> We are also working on various other aspects related to interoperability
and
> symbology, such as symbology metadata and how to build, maintain, and
access
> a library of symbol libraries.
> 
> The SLD specification can be found on the public portion of our web site
> (www.opengis.org).

Ok, so I think you might have answered my initial question of where to
start here. This certainly sounds like a VERY exciting and applicable
area of interest, although I would defer to the experts on if it is the
only area (I assume not) for the EM TC.

That being said, I have cross posted this with the EMIF SC, because this
certainly spans the topic of the greater EM infrastructure. I think the
question to the EMIF that stimulates the potential answer you have
provided is, "with the presence of an agreed upon symbologize standard,
what is the best way to exchange data that includes those symbols that
maintains the intent of the originating source?" If SLD is potentially
an answer to that question, which is sounds like it is, then the next
step would be to work with the EMIF to make sure it found its
appropriate home in their specs.

This is only my personal initial thought based on what you have
provided. I will defer to Rick and his group to determine/evaluate if
SLD is part of their picture, and to the GIS SC to probe you for
additional areas of collaboration. In the meantime, if you have any
other ideas, thoughts, or recommendations, we certainly welcome the
insight.

Allen

> I look forward to exploring this potential area of collaboration.
> 
> Regards
> 
> Carl Reed
> OGC
> 
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: Allen Wyke <emtc@nc.rr.com>
> To: David Hall <dhall@federalsupportsystems.com>
> Cc: Emergency Management TC <emergency@lists.oasis-open.org>;
> <emergency-gis@lists.oasis-open.org>
> Sent: Monday, July 14, 2003 7:35 PM
> Subject: Re: [emergency] Kent State Symbology Study
> 
> 
> > This is actually an excellent report. I have cross posted it with the
> > GIS SC.
> >
> > Eliot/Bill: I recommend we attempt to contact Dr. Dymon
> > (udymon@kent.edu) and see if he can speak at one of your con calls. In
> > conjunction, we should try and ascertain the status of the work at FEMA,
> > if they received this paper, and get their thoughts/direction. The goal
> > would be to specify where we (the EM TC) plans to draw its symbology
> > from, even if it is in a working draft state.
> >
> > Thoughts?
> >
> > Allen
> >
> > On Tue, 2003-07-01 at 13:36, David Hall wrote:
> > > The following is a link to the Emergency symbology study performed by
> > > Kent State for FEMA that was mentioned in today's XML committee call.
> > >
> > > http://dept.kent.edu/geography/Dymon/symbology.htm
> > >
> > >
> > > ******************************
> > > David Hall
> > > Federal Support Systems
> > > 703-627-0215
> > > 703-832-5664 fax
> > > -----------------------------
> > > System Engineering
> > > Information Security
> > > Internet Software Systems
> > > Project Management
> > > ******************************
> > >
> > --
> > R. Allen Wyke
> > Chair, Emergency Management TC
> > emtc@nc.rr.com
> > http://www.oasis-open.org/committees/emergency
> >
> >
> > You may leave a Technical Committee at any time by visiting
>
http://www.oasis-open.org/apps/org/workgroup/emergency/members/leave_workgro
> up.php
> >
-- 
R. Allen Wyke
Chair, Emergency Management TC
emtc@nc.rr.com
http://www.oasis-open.org/committees/emergency


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