It's a little hard to tell, they have a click-through license at the OGC
site. Does Google have a non-DRM'ed copy anywhere?
Allan
On Apr 18, 2008, at 2:37 PM, Mike Liebhold wrote:
More (perhaps old) news ( 4/13) " OGC(R) Approves KML as Open Standard"
The formal press release from OGC appended below, and this on a google blog
http://google-latlong.blogspot.com/2008/04/kml-new-standard-for-sharing-maps.html
"Starting today, Google no longer controls KML. The Open Geospatial
Consortium (OGC), an international standards body, has announced the
completion of KML's standardization process. KML has become an OGC Standard,
and the OGC will take responsibility for maintaining and extending it. This
transfer of ownership is a strong reflection of Google's commitment to open
standards. Fundamentally, our interest is not to control information, but
rather to encourage its spread."
Despite this announcement , does the OGC community actually now 'own'
the future of kml? I'm not sure.
Perhaps someone more knowledgeable can comment on whether not Google
actually still controls KML destiny, with all of their queued up kml3.0 and
beyond features and extensions they can unilaterally adopt and implement
in google earth, before submission or adoption by OGC committees.
I'm also wondering about highlights of alignment with GML, and what major
elements are left out or postponed in this 'standard' version. Some 3d
elements perhaps?
Raj or Carl or Ron anyone in the OGC KML groups care to share any
comments? (Andrew?)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
http://www.opengeospatial.org/pressroom/pressreleases/857
OGC(R) Approves KML as Open Standard
Wayland, Mass., April 14, 2008 - The members of the Open Geospatial
Consortium, Inc. (OGC) today announced the approval of the OpenGIS(R) KML
Encoding Standard (OGC KML), marking KML's transition into an open standard
which will be maintained by the OGC. Developers will now have a standard
approach for using KML to code and share visual geographic content in
existing or future web-based online maps and 3D geospatial browsers like
Google EarthTM.
"We are pleased to see the adoption of KML as an OGC standard," said Ron
Lake, chairman and chief executive officer of Galdos Systems Inc. "We
believe that this is a major step forward for the OGC and for the entire
geographic information community, as it provides the first broadly accepted
standard for the visualization of geographic information."
"Geographic data adds tremendous value to the online experience. More and
more people are looking for ways to incorporate location information into
their online content," said Michael Weiss-Malik, KML product manager for
Google. "The standardization of KML makes it possible for both novice and
expert users alike to publish and share geographical information in an open
format. It's not unlike web browsers' standardized support for HTML, which
allows any web browser to read any web page."
KML version 2.2 was brought into the OGC consensus process by a submission
team led by Google and Galdos Systems Inc.
KML is an XML-based programming language, originally developed to manage
the display of geospatial data in Google Earth. It's still used heavily in
Google Earth but is also supported by a variety of vendors' tools and
mapping websites.
The OpenGIS KML 2.2 Encoding Standard formalizes the KML 2.2 model and
language while remaining backwards compatible with existing KML 2.2 files
and tools. In comparison with the GoogleTM KML 2.2 Reference, the standard
defines:
* the KML 2.2 geometry encoding and interpolation model
* an extension model in support of application profiles
* conformance requirements and test cases
The adopted OpenGIS KML 2.2 Encoding Standard (OGC KML) is available at
http://www.opengeospatial.org/standards/kml/.
About the OGC
The OGC(R) is an international consortium of more than 345 companies,
government agencies, research organizations, and universities participating
in a consensus process to develop publicly available geospatial standards.
OpenGIS(R) 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/.
Google and Google Earth are trademarks of Google Inc.
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