-- LanceMcKee - 20 May 2016

Title

For many years as the Open Geospatial Consortium [1] (OGC)’s staff writer, the author of this paper wrote about OGC’s collaborative standards development process for making complex spatial and temporal digital data easier to share and integrate. In 2013, he began studying the question of whether an open standard conceptual data model [2] and derived digital encoding(s) [3] for electromagnetic field (EMF) data could benefit domains focused on the electromagnetic spectrum. Conversations with experts in three EMF application domains—remote sensing, bioelectromagnetics, and electromagnetic compatibility—encouraged him to continue. He resigned in March 2016 from his OGC staff position and now works as a consultant. The author is submitting this paper as an OGC member for review by the OGC membership.

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[1] Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) (http://www.opengeospatial.org)

[2] A conceptual data model is an abstract model, using natural language (such as English) and diagrams, that organizes elements of data and standardizes how they relate to one another and to properties of the real world. (Adapted from Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Data_model). See also “Semantic spectrum” in Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Semantic_spectrum ).

[3] A conceptual data model must be translated into a digital encoding before it can be used in computer programs.