Geospatial Open Source and Open Standards Convergences

Abstract

Geospatial information has become a ubiquitous resource. The proliferation of the Internet and information technology has resulted in an enormous volume of information exchange and a growing global geospatial data infrastructure presence. Interoperability is increasingly becoming a focus point for organizations that distribute and share data. Standards are an essential aspect of achieving interoperability. This chapter illustrates the benefits of using open standards for geospatial information processing. It also discusses various free and open source for geospatial software (FOSS4G) packages that support open standards. Finally, the chapter illustrates how open source software and open standards can be easily integrated in a number of scenarios.