Applied Research Associates (ARA) has joined the Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC), an international organization dedicated to promoting open standards for storing and exchanging world data, also known as Geospatial Information Systems (GIS) data. This relationship gives ARA the opportunity to influence how GIS data will be represented, processed, and communicated. Through OGC, ARA will keep abreast of the latest state-of-the-art in GIS.
At the March OGC Technical and Planning Committee Meeting in Washington D.C., ARA’s Virtual Heroes Division (VHD) proposed its Layered Terrain Format (LTF) technology as a candidate to become a new OGC standard. LTF is a specification designed for efficient environment data interchange. LTF serves a unique dual role: LTF is a compact file format optimized for runtime simulation use, ideal for real-time reasoning on mobile devices. The format includes framing elements to provide fast random-access seeking within a large content database, as well as organize data collections within the host file system. LTF also serves as a network protocol optimized for on-demand streaming. The protocol includes standard service messages to search for environment content meeting various criteria, such as location and semantic feature type.
For more information on LTF or ARA’s involvement with the OGC, contact VHD Group Leader Jeff Lyons at 407-823-9121 x840019 or jlyons@ara.com.