Standards for geographic hypermedia: MPEG, OGC and co

Abstract

Purposes of standardization in information system are interoperability, interpretability, exchangeability, and sustainability of information. Standards in geographic and hypermedia information systems are the results of complex and tedious negotiation processes on an international scale. This chapter gives an overview of the existing standards in the both fields and tries to bridge the gap between the fields. These standards include OGC OpenGIS specifications for geographic information, as well as Dublin Core, MPEG-7 and MPEG-21 for hypermedia. Meanwhile MIDAS, CIDOC and Object ID for cultural heritage will be discussed, because cultural heritage standards work with geographic hypermedia standards closely. By combining the key concepts of these technologies in an open and generic metadata framework, comprehensive geographic hypermedia systems can be deployed in various areas of applications such as cultural heritage management, e-tourism, e-government, and e-learning.