1.1.3 What are open standards?

From Geostandards

Jump to: navigation, search


Contents

Closed and open standards

Standards can be both 'closed' or 'open'. A closed standard is a supply-driven intellectual property right. By using an open standard instead of a closed standard, the user is able to collate information in a future-proof format. Open source software (http://www.osgeo.org/) frequently uses open standards but there is no inherent necessity for this. Both proprietary and open source software can and do implement open standards. Some closed standards cannot be implemented by anyybody but the copyright owner which renders the standard less useful.

What is an open standard?

An open' standard meets the following requirements:

  1. This text is quoted from definition of open standards of the European Interoperability Framework (EIF):
  2. The standard is adopted and maintained by a not-for-profit organisation, and its ongoing development occurs on the basis of an open decision-making procedure which is available to all the interested parties (consensus or majority decision etc.);
  3. The standard has been published and the standard specification document is available either freely or at a nominal charge. It must be permissible for anyone to copy, distribute and use the document for free or for a nominal fee;
  4. Intellectual property - i.e. patents possibly present - of (parts of) the standard is irrevocably made available on a royalty-free basis;
  5. There are no constraints on the re-use of the standard.



Dutch policy open standards

Recently the European Commission made the use of open standards into a policy: "For all parties involved, the exchange of documents and data between authorities, businesses and citizens must be possible without technical barriers. The public administration must not exclude anyone from participating in an electronic procedure owing to the use of a specific product. The Member States are agreed that, in the future, electronic documents should be exchanged fully on the basis of open document exchange formats" (Berlin; 2007).

The policy of the current Dutch government is based on six pillars of the Coalition agreement which was forged on 7 February 2007. In pillar two, which is based on an innovative, competitive and enterprising economy, and in pillar six, in which the authority is viewed as an ally and as part of the public service sector, the government found its important starting points for sharpening up the policy on open standards and open source software. This has now resulted in a plan of action Nederland Open in Verbinding (NOiV).


The goals of this plan of action are applicable to central government, its fellow governing bodies and the (semi) public sector, and are as follows:

  1. Increasing interoperability between, and with, the various building blocks and types of services of the E-Government, by speeding up the use of open standards;
  2. Decreasing the dependence of suppliers who use ICT by the faster settlement of open standards and open source software;
  3. Advancing a common playing field for the software market and for its innovation, and for the wider economy by strongly encouraging the use of open source software. When assignments are given, priority should be given to open source software, if either is equally applicable.


One of the results of the NOiV is the production of a list of open standards, maintained by the Council of Standardisation and Forum Standardisation. To the basic list open standards is the following principles are applicable:  ?comply-or-explain and commit?:

  • Comply: Apply given open standards to ICT assignments for new constructions or reconstructions and ICT contract extensions
  • Explain: criteria for exceptions are:
  1. There is no open standard available for the desired functionality;
  2. The open standard is not supported by a number of suppliers and platforms;
  3. The management and/or services are being threatened in an unacceptable way, security risks included;
  4. International agreements are being violated.
  • Commit: indicate the intention to apply open standards as soon as the exception criterion is no longer applicable.


Geonovum has candidate framework van geo-standaarden to be listed on the main list of open standards. In the spring of 2009, the process to get the basic geostandards, such as the basic model Geo-information (NEN3610), WMS and GML, of this framework on to the basic list open standards was begun.


Apart from the main list of open standards, a number of geostandards have already been laid down in various regulations. Examples are:

  • The RO-standards, which include the Information Model of Spatial Planning (IMRO) in new act on Spatial Planning (nWro);
  • het Informatiemodel Kabels en Leidingen (IMKL) (the Dutch information model Cables and pipelines the Wet Informatie-uitwisseling Onderground Networks (WION), (dutch law for the exchange of information on underground networks) better known as the ?Grondroerdersregeling?;
  • TOP10NL being part of the Dutch statutory key geo-registers (Basis Registratie Kleinschalige topografie (BRK));
  • The implementation of the rules of INSPIRE in the Implementation Act EG-guidelines on the infrastructure of spatial information.

These legal standards are not included on the main list of open standards. This list and the legislation form the framework of policy for the Dutch government.

The framework of geostandards

The geostandards CEN/TC 287, ISO/TC 211 and the Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) meet the definition of open standards. It is a challenge to choose the right set from the wide variety of geostandards. For this reason the framework of geostandards was developed. The geostandards for the Netherlands are mentioned per field of application. The internationally related standards, the widely used mature standards, were important selection criteria. The geostandards listed in the framework made it possible for a solid infrastructure, compatible with the developments in Europe and the national electronic government, to be built.

← previous 1 Framework Geo-standards next →
Retrieved from "http://geostandards.geonovum.nl/index.php/1.1.3_What_are_open_standards%3F"
Personal tools