The Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) is seeking comment on a candidate Abstract Specification Topic, ‘Topic 25 – Abstract Conceptual Model For Time’.
The OGC points out that, “Historically, the coordinate systems used in geospatial communities are two- or three-dimensional with temporal aspects stored as attributes of the data rather than valid components of the coordinate system itself.”
“Inconsistency between the different approaches to defining and expressing time as an attribute continues to cause confusion and impede interoperability — even as geospatial applications and datasets become increasingly dynamic, faster, and multidimensional.”
According to the OGC, although the fundamental concepts of events, clocks, timescales, coordinates, and calendars have been long established, “there remains no clear, straightforward defining document for them”.
“As such, the new OGC Abstract Specification provides clear, consistent definitions of the fundamental concepts and terminology used to describe and express time.”
“The community can therefore use the common conceptual basis and terminology established by the OGC Abstract Conceptual Model for Time to define more detailed documents, such as logical and implementation standards, which can then contribute to building better and more interoperable systems.”
The OGC says the document is consistent with the established OGC 18-005r4: OGC Abstract Specification Topic 2: Referencing by coordinates (and its ISO equivalent, ISO 19111:2019 Geographic information Referencing by coordinates) and W3C Time Ontology in OWL Standards.
The candidate Abstract Conceptual Model is available for review on the OGC Portal, with comments due (via email, in a specified format) by 28 December 2023.
