W3C and OASIS Jointly Issue WebCGM 2.0

W3C and OASIS Jointly Issue New Web Standard for Industrial Graphics

Cooperation Brings Broad Expertise to WebCGM 2.0

30-January-2007.

Today W3C and OASIS have published WebCGM 2.0, a new industry standard for technical illustrations in electronic documents. WebCGM, which is widely deployed in the defense, aviation, architecture, and transportation industries, has reached new levels of interoperability thanks to this joint effort between OASIS and W3C.

"Today, industrial designers reap the benefits of the cooperative work between W3C and OASIS," announced Dr. Steve Bratt, CEO of W3C. "When the developer and designer communities asked for new features and improvements in this critical technology, our organizations combined efforts and expertise, and provided WebCGM 2.0."

"WebCGM demonstrates the benefits that can be realized when standards organizations work together for the good of the marketplace," said Patrick Gannon, president and CEO of OASIS. "The result of this collaboration between OASIS and W3C is a single open standard for CGM on the Web that has been approved by the membership of both our organizations. This degree of endorsement assures implementers around the world that they can adopt WebCGM with confidence."

WebCGM Provides Industrial-Grade Web Graphics

Computer Graphics Metafile, or CGM, is an ISO standard for a tree-structured, binary graphics format that has been adopted especially by the technical industries (defense, aviation, transportation, etc) for technical illustration in electronic documents. As the Web emerged as the environment for sharing and creating documents, it became apparent that the best way to use CGM on the Web needed to be clarified, particularly for interactivity such as hyperlinks and hotspots.

WebCGM finds significant application especially in technical illustration, electronic documentation, and geophysical data visualization. It unifies potentially diverse approaches to CGM utilization in Web document applications, and therefore represents a significant interoperability agreement amongst major users and implementers of the ISO CGM standard.

OASIS and W3C Work Together to Build WebCGM 2.0

W3C published the first WebCGM Recommendation, Version 1.0, in 1999. CGM Open, an independent group created to advance adoption of WebCGM, was incorporated into OASIS not long afterward. As users began demanding more features and improvements, it became apparent that there was both interest and support for a WebCGM 2.0. To get that work formally underway, OASIS and W3C signed a Memorandum of Understanding, making it possible for both organizations to work together on the creation of a new standard. This also allowed for the best range of participation from both the OASIS WebCGM Technical Committee and W3C WebCGM Working Group.

WebCGM 2.0 Provides New API, and Fulfills Goals

WebCGM 2.0 adds a DOM (API) specification for programmatic access to WebCGM objects, and a specification of an XML Companion File (XCF) architecture, for externalization of non-graphical metadata. WebCGM 2.0 also builds upon and extends the graphical and intelligent content of WebCGM 1.0. The design criteria for WebCGM aim at a balance between graphical expressive power on the one hand, and simplicity and implementability on the other. A small but powerful set of standardized metadata elements supports the functionalities of hyperlinking and document navigation, picture structuring and layering, and enabling search and query of WebCGM picture content.

WebCGM 2.0 has been approved as an OASIS Standard and as a W3C Recommendation, signifying the highest level of ratification within both organizations.

About OASIS

OASIS (Organization for the Advancement of Structured Information Standards) is a not-for-profit, international consortium that drives the development, convergence, and adoption of e-business standards. Members themselves set the OASIS technical agenda, using a lightweight, open process expressly designed to promote industry consensus and unite disparate efforts. The consortium produces open standards for Web services, security, e-business, and standardization efforts in the public sector and for application-specific markets. Founded in 1993, OASIS has more than 5,000 participants representing over 600 organizations and individual members in 100 countries. For more information see http://www.oasis-open.org.

About the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C)

The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) is an international consortium where Member organizations, a full-time staff, and the public work together to develop Web standards. W3C primarily pursues its mission through the creation of Web standards and guidelines designed to ensure long-term growth for the Web. Over 400 organizations are Members of the Consortium. W3C is jointly run by the MIT Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (MIT CSAIL) in the USA, the European Research Consortium for Informatics and Mathematics (ERCIM) headquartered in France and Keio University in Japan, and has additional Offices worldwide. For more information see http://www.w3.org/.

Press Contacts

For W3C

Contact Americas, Australia —
Janet Daly
Email: <janet@w3.org>
Tel: +1.617.253.5884 or +1.617.253.2613

Contact Europe, Africa and the Middle East —
Marie-Claire Forgue
Email: <mcf@w3.org>
Tel: +33.492.38.75.94

Contact Asia —
Yasuyuki Hirakawa
Email: <chibao@w3.org>
Tel: +81.466.49.1170

For OASIS

Contact Worldwide —
Carol Geyer
Email: <carol.geyer@oasis-open.org>
Tel: +1.978.667.5115 or +1.978.284.0403

Sources

OASIS - http://www.oasis-open.org/news/oasis-news-2007-01-30.php
W3C - English http://www.w3.org/2007/01/webcgm-pressrelease
W3C - French http://www.w3.org/2007/01/webcgm-pressrelease.html.fr
W3C - Japanese http://www.w3.org/2007/01/webcgm-pressrelease.html.ja

Prepared by Robin Cover for The XML Cover Pages archive.

SEARCH Advanced Search ABOUT Site Map CP RSS Channel Contact Us Sponsoring CP About Our Sponsors NEWS Cover Stories Articles & Papers Press Releases CORE STANDARDS XML SGML Schemas XSL/XSLT/XPath XLink XML Query CSS SVG TECHNOLOGY REPORTS XML Applications General Apps Government Apps Academic Apps EVENTS LIBRARY Introductions FAQs Bibliography Technology and Society Semantics Tech Topics Software Related Standards Historic	W3C and OASIS Jointly Issue WebCGM 2.0 W3C and OASIS Jointly Issue New Web Standard for Industrial Graphics Cooperation Brings Broad Expertise to WebCGM 2.0 30-January-2007. Today W3C and OASIS have published WebCGM 2.0, a new industry standard for technical illustrations in electronic documents. WebCGM, which is widely deployed in the defense, aviation, architecture, and transportation industries, has reached new levels of interoperability thanks to this joint effort between OASIS and W3C. "Today, industrial designers reap the benefits of the cooperative work between W3C and OASIS," announced Dr. Steve Bratt, CEO of W3C. "When the developer and designer communities asked for new features and improvements in this critical technology, our organizations combined efforts and expertise, and provided WebCGM 2.0." "WebCGM demonstrates the benefits that can be realized when standards organizations work together for the good of the marketplace," said Patrick Gannon, president and CEO of OASIS. "The result of this collaboration between OASIS and W3C is a single open standard for CGM on the Web that has been approved by the membership of both our organizations. This degree of endorsement assures implementers around the world that they can adopt WebCGM with confidence." WebCGM Provides Industrial-Grade Web Graphics Computer Graphics Metafile, or CGM, is an ISO standard for a tree-structured, binary graphics format that has been adopted especially by the technical industries (defense, aviation, transportation, etc) for technical illustration in electronic documents. As the Web emerged as the environment for sharing and creating documents, it became apparent that the best way to use CGM on the Web needed to be clarified, particularly for interactivity such as hyperlinks and hotspots. WebCGM finds significant application especially in technical illustration, electronic documentation, and geophysical data visualization. It unifies potentially diverse approaches to CGM utilization in Web document applications, and therefore represents a significant interoperability agreement amongst major users and implementers of the ISO CGM standard. OASIS and W3C Work Together to Build WebCGM 2.0 W3C published the first WebCGM Recommendation, Version 1.0, in 1999. CGM Open, an independent group created to advance adoption of WebCGM, was incorporated into OASIS not long afterward. As users began demanding more features and improvements, it became apparent that there was both interest and support for a WebCGM 2.0. To get that work formally underway, OASIS and W3C signed a Memorandum of Understanding, making it possible for both organizations to work together on the creation of a new standard. This also allowed for the best range of participation from both the OASIS WebCGM Technical Committee and W3C WebCGM Working Group. WebCGM 2.0 Provides New API, and Fulfills Goals WebCGM 2.0 adds a DOM (API) specification for programmatic access to WebCGM objects, and a specification of an XML Companion File (XCF) architecture, for externalization of non-graphical metadata. WebCGM 2.0 also builds upon and extends the graphical and intelligent content of WebCGM 1.0. The design criteria for WebCGM aim at a balance between graphical expressive power on the one hand, and simplicity and implementability on the other. A small but powerful set of standardized metadata elements supports the functionalities of hyperlinking and document navigation, picture structuring and layering, and enabling search and query of WebCGM picture content. WebCGM 2.0 has been approved as an OASIS Standard and as a W3C Recommendation, signifying the highest level of ratification within both organizations. About OASIS OASIS (Organization for the Advancement of Structured Information Standards) is a not-for-profit, international consortium that drives the development, convergence, and adoption of e-business standards. Members themselves set the OASIS technical agenda, using a lightweight, open process expressly designed to promote industry consensus and unite disparate efforts. The consortium produces open standards for Web services, security, e-business, and standardization efforts in the public sector and for application-specific markets. Founded in 1993, OASIS has more than 5,000 participants representing over 600 organizations and individual members in 100 countries. For more information see http://www.oasis-open.org. About the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) is an international consortium where Member organizations, a full-time staff, and the public work together to develop Web standards. W3C primarily pursues its mission through the creation of Web standards and guidelines designed to ensure long-term growth for the Web. Over 400 organizations are Members of the Consortium. W3C is jointly run by the MIT Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (MIT CSAIL) in the USA, the European Research Consortium for Informatics and Mathematics (ERCIM) headquartered in France and Keio University in Japan, and has additional Offices worldwide. For more information see http://www.w3.org/. Press Contacts For W3C Contact Americas, Australia — Janet Daly Email: <janet@w3.org> Tel: +1.617.253.5884 or +1.617.253.2613 Contact Europe, Africa and the Middle East — Marie-Claire Forgue Email: <mcf@w3.org> Tel: +33.492.38.75.94 Contact Asia — Yasuyuki Hirakawa Email: <chibao@w3.org> Tel: +81.466.49.1170 For OASIS Contact Worldwide — Carol Geyer Email: <carol.geyer@oasis-open.org> Tel: +1.978.667.5115 or +1.978.284.0403 Sources OASIS - http://www.oasis-open.org/news/oasis-news-2007-01-30.php W3C - English http://www.w3.org/2007/01/webcgm-pressrelease W3C - French http://www.w3.org/2007/01/webcgm-pressrelease.html.fr W3C - Japanese http://www.w3.org/2007/01/webcgm-pressrelease.html.ja Prepared by Robin Cover for The XML Cover Pages archive.