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Open source crusade blocks geospatial standard

In early 2011, Esri submitted an API (application programming interface) for ArcGIS (known as the ‘GeoServices REST API’) to standards body the Open Geospatial Consortium for consideration as an ‘open standard’.

Esri proposed that because its GIS server adhered to existing web services standards and because use of the API was freely available via the Open Web Consortium (OWC), it could – much as Microsoft managed to for its OOXML office document format – have it considered an ‘open standard’, all but guaranteeing Esri’s market influence for the foreseeable future.

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