Abstract Specifications

The OGC Technical Committee (TC) has developed an architecture in support of its vision of geospatial technology and data interoperability called the OpenGIS Abstract Specification. The Abstract Specification provides the conceptual foundation for most OGC specification development activities. Open interfaces and protocols are built and referenced against the Abstract Specification, thus enabling interoperability between different brands and different kinds of spatial processing systems. The Abstract Specification provides a reference model for the development of OpenGIS Implementation Specifications.

Document Title (click to download)	Version	Document #	Editor	Date
Topic 0 - Overview	5.0	04-084	Carl Reed	2005-06-27
Introduction and roadmap to the Abstract specification.
Topic 1 - Feature Geometry	5.0	01-101	John Herring	2001-05-10
Same as ISO 19107
Topic 2 - Spatial Referencing by Coordinates	3.0	04-046r3	Roger Lott	2004-02-11
Describes modelling requirements for spatial referencing by coordinates.
Topic 3 - Locational Geometry Structures	4.0	99-103	Cliff Kottman	1999-03-18
Provides essential and abstract models for GIS technology that is widely used.
Topic 4 - Stored Functions and Interpolation	4.0	99-104	Cliff Kottman	1999-03-30
This Topic Volume provides essential and abstract models for technology that is used widely across the GIS landscape. Its first heavy use is expected to occur in support of Coverage specifications (see Topic 6, The Coverage Type).
Topic 5 - Features	4.0	99-105r2	Cliff Kottman	1999-03-24
A feature object (in software) corresponds to a real world or abstract entity.
Topic 6 - Schema for coverage geometry and functions	7.0	07-011	OGC	2007-12-28
This International Standard defines a conceptual schema for the spatial characteristics of coverages. Coverages support mapping from a spatial, temporal or spatiotemporal domain to feature attribute values where feature attribute types are common to all geographic positions within the domain. A coverage domain consists of a collection of direct positions in a coordinate space that may be defined in terms of up to three spatial dimensions as well as a temporal dimension.
Topic 7 - Earth Imagery	5.0	04-107	George Percivall	2004-10-15
Replaced previous material in Topic 7 with ISO 19101-2, Reference Model - Geographic Information - Imagery. Version 5 of OGC Topic 7 is identical with ISO 19101-2 Working Draft #3. Topic 7 will be updated jointly with the progress of ISO 19191-2. Appendix A of Topic 7, version 4 contained a "White Paper on Earth Image Geometry Models." That white paper is now separate OGC Recommendation document.
Topic 8 - Relationships Between Features	4.0	99-108r2	Cliff Kottman	1999-03-26
This Topic introduces an abstraction for the relationships between entities in the real world. This abstraction is modeled as relationships between the features introduced in Topic 5.
Topic 10 - Feature Collections	4.0	99-110	Cliff Kottman	1999-04-07
An OpenGIS Feature Collection is an abstract object consisting of Feature Instances, their Feature Schema, and Project Schema.
Topic 11 - Metadata	5.0	01-111	ISO	2001-06-08
ISO 19115 was adopted as a replacement for OGC Abstract Specification Topics 9 and 11. In June 2001, a motion to include material in addition to ISO 19115 was adopted as document "01-111 Metadata AS." The approved addition to document 01-111 is contained in document 01-053r1, which normatively references parts of the old AS Topic 9, document 99-109r1. FGDC in conjunction with ANSI INCITS L1 are planning the migration of the FGDC Content Standard for Geospatial Metadata to be a profile of ISO 19115
Topic 12 - The OpenGIS Service Architecture	4.3	02-112	ISO	2001-09-14
Same as ISO 19119
Topic 13 - Catalog Services	4.0	99-113	Cliff Kottman	1999-03-31
Covers the Geospatial Information Access Services
Topic 14 - Semantics and Information Communities	4.0	99-114	Cliff Kottman	1999-04-04
The OpenGIS notion of Information Communities was devised to enable groups such as ecologists and civil engineers to efficiently manage the semantics (or feature schema mismatches) of their own geodata collections and get maximum benefit from each other's geodata collections, despite semantic differences.
Topic 15 - Image Exploitation Services	6.0	00-115	Cliff Kottman, Arliss Whiteside	2000-04-24
Describes the categories and taxonomy of image exploitation services needed to support the use of images and certain related coverage types.
Topic 16 - Image Coordinate Transformation Services	4.0	00-116	Cliff Kottman, Arliss Whiteside	2000-04-24
Covers image coordinate conversion services.
Topic 17 - Location Based Mobile Services	0.0	00-117	Cliff Kottman	2000-05-15
Draft Abstract Spec for Location Based Services. Never formally adopted
Topic 18 - Geospatial Digital Rights Management Reference Model (GeoDRM RM)	1.0.0	06-004r4	Graham Vowles	2007-01-29
This document is a reference model for digital rights management (DRM) functionality for geospatial resources (GeoDRM). As such, it is connected to the general DRM market in that geospatial resources must be treated as nearly as possible like other digital resources, such as music, text, or services. It is not the intention here to reinvent a market that already exists and is thriving, but to make sure that a larger market has access to geospatial resources through a mechanism that it understands and that is similar to the ones already in use.
Topic Domain 1 - Telecommunications Domain	1.0	01-042	Tom Strickland	2001-10-09
Domain Model for telecommunications Networks