Welcome To The OGC APIs

#OGCAPI

Context

The OGC API family of standards are being developed to make it easy for anyone to provide geospatial data to the web. These standards build upon the legacy of the OGC Web Service standards (WMS, WFS, WCS, WPS, etc.), but define resource-centric APIs that take advantage of modern web development practices. This web page provides information on these standards in a consolidated location.

These standards are being constructed as "building blocks" that can be used to assemble novel APIs for web access to geospatial content. The building blocks are defined not only by the requirements of the specific standards, but also through interoperability prototyping and testing in OGC's Innovation Program.
To learn more about using the OGC APIs please view our guidelines here.

The OGC API Roadmap highlights the current and planned standards efforts as well as related extensions to those standards and Innovation Program and other projects influencing and refining the process of standardization.

For more information on the OGC API standards, please contact us using the form below.

To find out more about the OGC please visit our public site. OGC Logo

What's New

OGC API standards in the news

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Developers invited to the 2nd Code Sprint for the Environmental Data Retrieval API

OGC invites developers to its next virtual Code Sprint, which will focus on refining the OGC API - Environmental Data Retrieval (EDR) candidate standard. The OGC API - EDR Sprint 2 virtual event will be held on November 9-10, 2020, from 9:00am 5:30pm US Eastern Time. Registration for the Code Sprint and an associated pre-event Webinar is at https://portal.ogc.org/public_ogc/register/202011q4_api_edr.php

ISO publishes ISO 19168-1:2020, the ISO version of OGC API - Features - Part 1: Core

The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) has now published ISO 19168-1:2020, the ISO version of OGC API - Features - Part 1: Core.

The ISO standard is called ISO 19168-1:2020 Geographic information — Geospatial API for features — Part 1: Core.

The ISO standard can be obtained from https://www.iso.org/standard/32586.html

It can also be accessed online at https://www.iso.org/obp/ui/#iso:std:iso:19168:-1:ed-1:v1:en

Executable Test Suite Available

The executable test suite for the OGC API - Features - Part 1: Core (OGC 17-069r3) is now available in the OGC Validation beta environment.

If you would like to register your product implementation:
  1. Register your implementation in the OGC database: Register
  2. Then link your implementation to the test results in the beta website.

Your implementation will then appear in the OGC database as an official implementation.

If you have any issues, please report them directly to the GitHub project page: https://github.com/opengeospatial/ets-ogcapi-features10/issues

Thank you and happy testing!

APIs

Features

Approved Standard

OGC API - Features - Part 1: Core and Part 2: Coordinate Reference Systems by Reference are both publicly available.

More InfoGitHub repo
Common

OGC API - Common provides those elements shared by most or all of the OGC API standards to ensure consistency across the family. The candidate standard will soon be released for public review.

More InfoGitHub repo
Maps

OGC API - Maps offers a modern approach to the OGC Web Map Service (WMS) standard for provision map and raster content.

More InfoGitHub repo
Records

OGC API - Records updates OGC’s Catalog Services for the Web by building on the simple access to content in OGC API - Features.

More InfoGitHub repo
Processes

OGC API - Processes allows for processing tools to be called and combined from many sources and applied to data in other OGC API resources though a simple API.

More InfoGitHub repo
Coverages

OGC API - Coverages allows discovery, visualization and query of complex raster stacks and data cubes.

More InfoGitHub repo
Tiles

OGC API - Tiles provides extended functionality to other OGC API standards to deliver tiled data, such as Map Tiles.

More InfoGitHub repo
Styles

The OGC API - Styles defines a Web API that enables map servers, clients as well as visual style editors, to manage and fetch styles...

More InfoGitHub repo
EDR

Environmental Data Retrieval (EDR) API provides a family of lightweight interfaces to access Environmental Data resources. Each resource addressed by an EDR API maps to a defined query pattern.

More InfoGitHub repo

Sprints

OGC continues to use special events, hackathons, and sprints to validate the OGC API draft candidate standards as those standards evolve. By including the broadest possible selection of stakeholders, OGC can be confident that when the standards are published, those standards have already withstood testing and suitability evaluation.

  • November 2020

    OGC API - EDR Sprint 2

    Find out more about this event taking place on November 9-10.
    There will also be a pre-event held on November 4th from 9-10am EST.

OGC Web API guidelines

The OGC Architecture Board (OAB) considers architecture consistency and life cycle management of the OGC standards baseline. The OAB has developed OGC Web API Guidelines to be followed when building Web API standards. These guidelines are not mandatory or policy, rather their purpose is to assist standards developers to use common patterns and better align their efforts.

Related Blog Posts

View all OGCAPI related blog posts.

OGC’s WaterML 2.0 Quenches New Zealand’s Thirst for Information Integration
Swimming in Data: OGC’s WaterML 2.0 Quenches New Zealand’s Thirst for Information Integration

By exploiting one of their most precious resources — water — OGC standards helped Kiwis conquer one of their most vexing challenges: disparate data sources. Like so many nations, New Zealand is engaged in a contentious game of environmental tug-of-war.

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OGC API - Maps Virtual Code Sprint
Revolutionizing Location data through accessibility: The OGC APIs Maps Virtual Code Sprint

On July 28 and 29, 2020, OGC hosted a virtual sprint to advance the OGC API - Maps candidate standard, one of many APIs being rolled out by the organization to revolutionize how location information is accessed and shared across the industry.

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Building an Interoperable Routing Engine (Part 1)
Building an Interoperable Routing Engine (Part 1)

The goal of the Open Routing API Pilot was to develop an API that allowed requests for routes from different users in an interoperable and standardized way via Web protocols.

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OGC API - Tiles and its refinement at the 2020 Sprint
OGC’s 115th Member Meeting: Engaging a global location community virtually

Despite the limitations inherent with moving a face-to-face meeting online, the Member Meeting was a success

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OGC API - Tiles and its refinement at the 2020 Sprint
OGC API - Tiles and its refinement at the 2020 Sprint

Further testing and refinement to the OGC API - Tiles candidate standard - the spiritual successor to one of OGC’s most popular standards, the Web Map Tile Service (WMTS) - has occurred during another successful OGC Sprint. The candidate standard is just one of several efforts forming OGC’s move towards modular, resource-oriented, OpenAPI-based standards.

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The OGC Environmental Data Retrieval API: simple access to big data
The OGC Environmental Data Retrieval API: simple access to big data

Another step towards the creation of the OGC Environmental Data Retrieval (EDR) API Standard has been completed: the successful testing of some of the API’s capabilities during the OGC Environmental Data Retrieval API Sprint.

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OPF Hands
ESIP/OGC Coverage Processing Sprint Results

A joint OGC / ESIP Coverage and Processing Analytics API development sprint was held on January 6-7, 2020

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OPF Hands
Open Portrayal Framework

Sharing Styles and Updating Tiles for a New Generation of Maps

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OGC API Hackathon 2019 blog
OGC API Hackathon 2019

How it went!

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OGC APIs blog
OGC APIs and the evolution of OGC standards
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WFS Hackathon

OGC advances the Web Feature Service standard through a public hackathon

Read blog

Supporting Documents

OGC and other documents supporting OGC API efforts.

The OGC API standards rely heavily upon fundamental concepts expressed in OGC White Papers and research and testing performed in Innovation Program activities and documented in Engineering Reports. OGC members are also specifying best practices for the use of web APIs and often share that guidance. The documents below provide some background to OGC API efforts.

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Innovation Program activities

The OGC Innovation Program provides a world-recognized process for users of geospatial technology to collaborate and share the advancement of technologies for future enterprise architectures.

If you have an idea for an initiative or simply have a question or comment, contact Ingo Simonis, Head of the OGC Innovation Program.

Use of OpenAPI in legacy OGC standards

While the OGC API standards are being developed in concert around common core elements, some older OGC web service standards have been described using OpenAPI. Examples of these legacy enhancements are found below.

UK Hydrographic Office Web Map Service (WMS) for Electronic Navigational Charts Prototype OpenAPI definition for Web Map Tile Service (WMTS)

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