Re: Draft Charter

Hi, Erik-

Welcome.  Replies inline...

Erik Wilde wrote (on 6/20/08 1:00 PM):
> 
> that being said, i think it would be very good if the geolocation 
> concepts in various pieces of web technology (the most important being 
> HTTP, URI, HTML, and DOM) were aligned. if all these things are being 
> developed in isolation, it is less likely that there is one geolocation 
> concept that is reused in various technologies.
> 
> my hope was and still is that the W3C will recognize the need for a 
> concerted effort among various pieces of web architecture to be 
> augmented with geolocation features, and will develop geolocation 
> concepts which can be reused in various contexts.

W3C is indeed thinking along broader lines for the big picture, and is 
planning to hold a workshop to discuss these larger issues, as well as 
the API.

There are already entire consortia dedicated to the topic of geospatial 
information, and some of those have addressed different parts of the 
puzzle.  The Webbish aspects, though, are definitely in scope for new 
work or coordination at W3C.  We also intend to liaison with other 
standards bodies that already work in this area, to make sure we're all 
on the same page.


> i do understand that this thinking is probably more top-down than 
> bottom-up and may not appeal to everybody. but what i want to do is to 
> point out that this would be a good moment in time to make a decision 
> whether geolocation should be approached by the W3C as a strategic 
> direction, or on a one-by-one basis.
> 
>> [1] http://www.w3.org/2008/06/geolocation/charter/
> 
> as i pointed out, i am new to this list and thus i don't know the 
> history of this list and the planned working group. the charter as it is 
> currently drafted is rather narrow, and that is by intent, i guess. i am 
> curious to hear what others think about the scope of the charter (after 
> all, it's the "geolocation working group" and not the "DOM location 
> module" working group), and specifically, what people think about a more 
> strategic approach to geolocation on the web.

The scope of the Geolocation WG is indeed purposefully narrow.  There is 
a clear market need for a secure, privacy-sensitive, client-side 
Javascript API, and there is will among the vendors to implement it. 
So, this is low-hanging fruit, and we don't want anything to get in the 
way of facilitating that.

However, we are creating not just a single WG, but a new Geolocation 
Activity at W3C, so there is opportunity for a larger scope within that 
activity, if there are people and organizations to drive it.  But like I 
said, our main priority for now is to make sure this Geolocation API 
gets done.

Regards-
-Doug Schepers
W3C Team Contact, WebApps, SVG, and CDF

Received on Friday, 20 June 2008 18:40:11 UTC