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An increasingly popular format is KML, a potential lingua franca for geodata exchange, used in Google Earth.
Google Earth and Maps can both produce and consume KML files, making it a good format for interchange
with these and other applications.
Since it’s XML-based and therefore just text instead of the binary format of Shapefiles,
the KML format is a bit verbose, but it’s easy to open in a text editor to inspect the content.
Now the Open Geospatial
Consortium, Inc. (OGC) announced the approval of the
OpenGIS® 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 Earth®.
"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 Google TM 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/.
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