Moving Features Access defines location data access operations so that big data from moving features, such as people and vehicles, can be processed and analyzed swiftly and across different sectors. The standard was jointly developed by Hitachi, Ltd. (Hitachi), the University of Tokyo (the University), and Japan’s National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST).

Although ISO has conventionally standardized specifications to access location data of moving objects by specifying times (ISO 19141: 2008), Moving Features Access standardizes specifications to access data by specifying places in addition to times. For example, Moving Features Access will make it possible to access data on moving objects that passed through a certain area at a certain time after a disaster, therefore gathering information on density and flow of people and vehicles in a more timely manner. As a result, use of the standard is expected to improve speed and accuracy of planning for evacuation guidance and goods transportation. Further, this standard could be used to develop strategies to mitigate traffic congestion in urban areas, improving the convenience of civic life.

Features of OGC Moving Features Access are as follows.

• Regulation of data access specifications to encourage rapid and advanced utilization of location data across many sectors.
• Compliance with Moving Features Encoding, the international standard for moving location data recording formats.

As with any OGC standard, the open Moving Features Access standard is free to implement. Interested parties can view and download the standard from www.opengeospatial.org/standards/movingfeatures.