What does the DGGS mean?

[Oliver_Burdekin]

Interesting news from the OGC that the Discrete Global Grid System has been approved. Read more about it here:

OGC announces a new standard that improves the way information is referenced to the earth | OGC 

What does this mean for us as GIS folk and how (and when) will we be able to make use of it? In fact, is it already available in ESRI software? Is this the end of the Web Mercator? What about threed? So many questions.

Discuss

[PerryPeterson]

I would not be overly concerned about revenue streams - adoption of DGGS should facilitate a rapid growth in the use of the spatial data that is being produced by GIS professionals.  In other words, a discrete global grid system does not produce data anymore than an excel spreadsheet produces data.  A DGGS is just the data structure for assembling and using data values.

[PerryPeterson]

DGGS can be any regular tiles - while squares are hard to accomplish on a sphere they are the familiar, triangles are fast, but hexagons are are the finest fit and therefore best for sampling data values.  

DGGS are suppose to have infinite refinement though practically on 64 bit trig the cells are limited to 10 microns or so.

W3W is primarily an addressing scheme on a single resolution not equal area grid.  A W3W type application on a DGGS would be a great idea as it would provide for both data integration and simple addressing.

[PerryPeterson]

Great insight Dan.  While DGGS provide improvements to multi source data analysis with the assumption that data represents character of an area - Questions like Where is condition A and B and 4 kms from C but not D?  or What is here within this adhoc polygon crossing several boundaries? - questions that rely on points like navigation and distance are still better on a continuous datum or projection.  In many ways this is the Vector vs Raster argument though a well built DGGS harmonizes both data structures.

[PerryPeterson]

The use case for the design and adoption of DGGS is straightforward – DGGS simplify the spatial analysis process. I think we can recognize that end-use decision-makers - from scientists to citizens - remain largely disconnected from spatial analysis. While lots of spatial data is available, it is not in a form that can readily answer their pressing spatial questions.  DGGS solves the challenges of spatial data integration/fusion – a bottleneck in the current spatial analysis workflow.  

[AndrewZolnai]

(also on LinkedIn GIS group) see my AGI Lightning talk this past week (private link until released) https://www.slideshare.net/secret/fNxw0VQU099ObX