The OGC works in the complex and specialized area of software engineering that concerns itself with the attributes and geometries of features and phenomena on or near the Earth's surface, and with the many kinds of digital processing employed to make this data useful. To enable efficient and precise communication, every specialty, including this one, has its own special terms and special definitions of ordinary words. Facilitating agreement on definitions of geospatial technology terms - for

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... sake of "semantic interoperability" - is appropriately part of OGC's mission. As geospatial technology comes into wider use through OpenGIS Specifications that enable its integration into the rest of the information technology world, there is a growing need for a definitive ("normative") geospatial technology industry glossary. To create this glossary, we have drawn from a number of sources and from our familiarity with the language and agreed terms of the OGC Technical Committee. This is a living document, an open source document whose content will change as the technology and technology agreements evolve. We invite you to send your comments and suggestions to Glossary at editor@opengeospatial.org.