WAYLAND, Mass. — (BUSINESS WIRE) — August 19, 2009 — The Open Geospatial Consortium, Inc. (OGC) and the Open Standards Consortium for Real Estate (OSCRE) signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to collaborate in standards development and to enable and promote the use of Web based geospatial technologies in real estate commerce and real property management.
"There's a growing interest among OGC members in standards related to the built environment and we are fortunate to have the opportunity to work with OSCRE,” said Mark Reichardt, president and CEO of the OGC. “There's a tremendous need for better information transfer among companies and agencies that buy, sell, own, occupy, inspect, appraise, manage, design, build and protect real estate, and geospatial information is important in all these activities."
“The use of geospatial data is expanding rapidly, particularly by the private sector, since geospatial information can be used by many real estate stakeholders for site selection, appraisal, brokerage, mortgage, insurance, facility management and other professions who seek information about demographics, crime, sales comparatives, foreclosures, and natural and man-made hazards such as wildfires, hurricanes, floodplains, terrorism and hazardous materials,” states OSCRE CEO Andy Fuhrman. “We expect enormous value for members of OSCRE and OGC from this working relationship.”
About the Open Standards Consortium for Real Estate (OSCRE) Americas
Headquartered in Washington, D.C., OSCRE Americas, Inc. is a 501(c)(6) non-profit, voluntary, member-based standards adoption and development consortium of 52 companies. OSCRE’s mission is to effectively facilitate the standards development and adoption process among all real estate stakeholders, including owners, tenants/occupants, investors, operators, tenants, developers, service providers, regulatory agencies, consulting firms, vendors and suppliers — to benefit all stakeholders and enable the real estate industry to function more efficiently in the digital economy. Supporting member organizations of OSCRE Americas represent in excess of $3.6 Trillion in Real Estate Assets, 20.7 Billion Square Feet of Floor Space and 1,389,000 association members. For more information please visit our website at http://www.oscre.org.
About the Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC®)
The OGC® is an international consortium of more than 385 companies, government agencies, research organizations, and universities participating in a consensus process to develop publicly available geospatial standards. OpenGIS® Standards support interoperable solutions that "geo-enable" the Web, wireless and location-based services, and mainstream IT. OGC Standards empower technology developers to make geospatial information and services accessible and useful with any application that needs to be geospatially enabled. Visit the OGC website at http://www.opengeospatial.org.
Contact:
Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC®)
Sam Bacharach, +1-703-352-3938
Email Contact
or
OSCRE Americas, Inc
Elaine M. Groves, 404-226-0181
Email Contact