The OGC API Code Sprint

OGC API
 

Under the theme OGC API, a new family of standards is being developed. They build on existing OGC Web Service standards (WMS, WFS, WCS, WPS, etc.) though intend to be more resource-centric instead of service-centric and take advantage of modern web development practices such as the OpenAPI specification and representational state transfer (REST).

As of now the core part of the OGC API - Features is the first published member of this new family of standards with many more in the works. The standards generally consist of a core and various extensions to address more specific and/or complexe functionality and use cases. The modular characteristics shall provide the capabilities to seamlessly patch together different parts of the standards.

In the whole standardization process, code sprints are kind of a hands on part to iron out bugs and test the abstract specifications against actual implementations. In this code sprint, Camptocamp and the other sprinters focussed on the simple transactions extension draft of the OGC API - Features. More specifically one goal was to examine simple transactions by implementing the HTTP methods to create, read, update and delete features within clients and servers.

Starting from a server implementation written in Rust by one of our colleagues that was already able to handle GET requests, the endeavour to add the simple transactions capabilities was straightforward. The simplicity of developing solutions around these new set of standards was a shared experience among the participants and is as well a basic principle of the core parts of the standards. 

Over the next few years many of them will get finalized. Even though it has yet to be seen how the whole adoption process will pan out, it is certainly worth keeping an eye on it and to consider incorporating them into future geospatial solutions.

More information can be found in the Code Sprint Repository.