Esri’s Keith Ryden, director of software development for operations and standards, was recognized by the Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) with the prestigious Kenneth D. Gardels Award. Each year, the award is presented to an individual who has made exemplary contributions to the consortium’s consensus standards process.
Ryden is a longtime member of OGC and has actively contributed to the creation and adoption of several OGC standards over the past 30 years. He was part of the team in 1997 that created the Simple Feature Specification, which standardized how spatial data should be stored in a relational database management system. He has cochaired efforts to advance and standardize coordinate reference systems to provide locational and temporal frameworks that allow geometric features to be properly positioned in space and time. Ryden is a current member of—and has served multiple terms on—the OGC Architecture Board, which reviews proposed standards and technologies and provides guidance for them as they move through the OGC process.
“I am proud that Keith Ryden is being recognized with this distinguished honor,” said Esri president Jack Dangermond. “I’ve worked with Keith for 40 years, and he’s not only a great engineer—he’s an example for all of us in terms of his integrity and his willingness to collaborate, and the impact of his work will be felt for a long time.”
The Gardels Award memorializes the spirit of Kenneth Gardels, a founding member and director of the OGC, who passed away in 1999. Gardels was renowned for his dedication to making the world a better place through open communication and the use of information technology to improve the quality of human life. The OGC has honored a member of the consortium with the Gardels Award every year since 1999. Ryden is the second Esri employee to receive the award, following David Danko’s recognition in 2009.