The Open Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) has released a call for participation to solicit proposals for the its Indoor Mapping and Navigation Pilot Initiative.
According to OGC, the Indoor Mapping and Navigation Pilot Initiative, sponsored by the Public Safety Communications Research Division of the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), will create and advance solutions to complex geospatial challenges related to indoor mapping and navigation for first responders.
First responders typically survey high-risk facilities in their jurisdiction at least once per year as part of a preplanning process. The preplanning process can be time-consuming and inefficient, according to OGC, so the Public Safety Communications Research Division of the NIST Communications Technology Laboratory has identified mobile 3D light detection and ranging (lidar) as a potentially transformational technology for first responders. Using lidar and 360-degree camera imagery coupled with advanced software processing, first responders could efficiently capture 3D point clouds and a wealth of other information, both observed and derived, while walking through buildings as part of their routine preplanning operations, OGC said.
In addition to creating point clouds for visualization and mapping, 3D lidar can be used in localization, object classification, integration with virtual/augmented reality solutions, change detection and more. OGC’s Pilot Initiative will call upon a diverse array of leading organizations in the field and leverage standardized, open GIS frameworks, data models and data exchange formats to stimulate the rapid generation of prototypes and demonstrations for these activities.
According to OGC, best practices and lessons learned from the Pilot Initiative shall be captured in engineering reports or other means and, where appropriate, forwarded to the respective standards committees under the OGC and International Standards Organization for consideration.
Participation is only open to OGC members; however, proposals from non-members will be considered provided that a completed application for OGC membership (or a letter of intent to become a member) is submitted prior to (or with) the proposal.
