World Wide Web Consortium Issues Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG) 1.1 and Mobile SVG as W3C Recommendations
Open Graphics Format Extends Multimedia Beyond the Desktop to Cellphones and Pocket Computers
http://www.w3.org/ -- 14 January 2003 --Leading the Web to its full potential, the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) has issued Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG) 1.1 and Mobile SVG Profiles as W3C Recommendations. SVG 1.1 separates SVG capabilities into reusable building blocks, and SVG Mobile re-combines them in a way optimized for mobile devices. Advancement of these documents to Recommendation indicates that these W3C-developed specifications are stable, contribute to Web interoperability, and have been reviewed by the W3C Membership, who favor their adoption by the industry.
SVG 1.1 Brings Modularization to Vector Graphics
The graphical capabilities of SVG 1.1 are the same as those of the widely implemented SVG 1.0 , which has been a W3C Recommendation since 4 September 2001. What has changed is the way the language is defined. For SVG 1.0, the Document Type Definition (DTD) was a single, monolithic unit. In SVG 1.1, the DTD is divided up into smaller, more flexible functional building blocks that can be reassembled in different ways for different purposes. The SVG Working Group used the same proven modularization techniques pioneered by the HTML Working Group for XHTML modularization.
Mobile SVG Profiles bring Vector Graphics to Handheld Devices
There is an explosion of interest in handheld devices and mobile phones which have color screens, improved processing power and can deliver enhanced multimedia functionality. These still fall short of the capabilities of desktop and laptop machines, but are now capable of displaying Web standard technologies such as XHTML, SMIL and SVG. W3C has used the SVG 1.1 building blocks to make two profiles or subsets of full SVG; SVG Tiny, aimed at multimedia capable cellphones such as the recently announced 3G units, and SVG Basic for handheld and palmtop computers.
"Cellphones allow Internet and Web access for millions of people who don't have access to desktop machines, temporarily or otherwise," said Dean Jackson, W3C Fellow from CSIRO. "With 3GPP already incorporating Mobile SVG, we are already starting to see more rich and useful content in third generation cellphones."
Instead of sending text messages or canned, bitmap logos, SVG Tiny now makes it possible to send a colorful animated multimedia message. Instead of juggling a laptop or taking a static printout to the factory floor, construction site, hospital ward, or trading room, SVG Basic now enables the mobile professional to consult up to date, interactive, informative graphics on a convenient pocket computer which is dynamically updated over a wireless network connected to the XML information hub of the enterprise.
SVG 1.1 Integrates with Open Technologies, XML components
Another way that W3C and others are making use of the modular SVG 1.1 building blocks is to combine them with building blocks from other W3C technologies to produce more powerful, integrated solutions. Examples include the combination of SVG and XForms to construct graphically rich, interactive input forms, or SVG and SMIL Basic to combine vector graphics with streaming audio and video, or XHTML, MathML and SVG for scientific and technical communication including text with headings, lists and tables; mathematical equations, and interactive graphs and diagrams.
"As with all W3C Recommendations, SVG builds on established, open W3C technologies such as XML, CSS and DOM. SVG also has received rigorous review for Internationalization and Web Accessibility requirements, which results in natural integration with existing technologies. This maximizes application power while minimizing its footprint," said Chris Lilley, chair of the SVG Working Group and member of the W3C Technical Architecture Group (TAG). "Adopting open, truly standards-based solutions has already shown return on investment; the pieces fit together in powerful, extensible and economical ways."
SVG Mobile is now deployed
Commercial services using SVG Mobile are now being deployed, including location based services using geographical metadata embedded in the SVG. The SVG Working Group is pleased by both the number of SVG 1.1 and SVG Mobile implementations and their quality of rendering and interoperability. Fifteen implementations were tested in November 2002, including SVG Tiny implementations from BitFlash, CSIRO, KDDI, Nokia, ZOOMON and SVG Basic implementations from BitFlash, CSIRO, and Intesis; others were also under development but were not tested at that time.
As a result of these compatibility trials, SVG implementations are available now from multiple vendors for integration into cellphones or deployment on PDAs in addition to the increasing number of implementations for desktop and laptop computers. Conformance to one of the two profiles, rather than each manufacturer choosing their own subset, ensures widespread interoperability of content across mobile devices from different manufacturers. This interoperability has three advantages for content creators: lower development costs, wider availability, and a trust in being able to display their content in any compliant implementation. As Mobile SVG is a true subset of SVG 1.1, all conformant desktop players will correctly display all Mobile SVG content, ensuring the Mobile and desktop worlds continue to share a common, standards-based Web.
SVG Has Broad, Continued Industry Support
The SVG Working Group has benefitted from the expertise of leading names in the graphics and mobile communications industries, including: Adobe, Agfa-Gevaert N.V., America Online Inc., BitFlash, Canon, Corel Corporation, CSIRO, Eastman Kodak, Ericsson, Expway, Hewlett-Packard, ILOG S.A., KDDI Research Labs, Nokia, Openwave Systems Ltd, Quark, Savage Software, Schema Software, Sharp Corporation, Sun Microsystems Inc. and ZOOMON AB. Many already have, or plan to provide, product support for SVG 1.1 and Mobile SVG.
For more information on SVG, see the W3C SVG Overview.
About the World Wide Web Consortium [W3C]
The W3C was created to lead the Web to its full potential by developing common protocols that promote its evolution and ensure its interoperability. It is an international industry consortium jointly run by the MIT Laboratory for Computer Science (MIT LCS) in the USA, the European Research Consortium for Informatics and Mathematics (ERCIM) headquartered in France and Keio University in Japan. Services provided by the Consortium include: the development and testing of Web Standards, a repository of information about the World Wide Web for developers and users, and various prototype and sample applications to demonstrate use of new technology. To date, nearly 450 organizations are Members of the Consortium. For more information see http://www.w3.org/
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Testimonials for W3C's SVG 1.1 W3C Recommendation
In English: Adobe | BitFlash | Canon | Corel | CSIRO | Ericsson | Hewlett Packard | ILOG | KDDI | Nokia | Openwave | Schema Software | Sharp | Sun Microsystems | Texas Instruments | Zoomon
In French: Corel | CSIRO | ILOG
In Japanese: アドビ システムズ | キヤノン株式会社 | Corel | 株式会社 KDDI 研究所 | シャープ株式会社
Adobe
Adobe is very pleased that the SVG 1.1 and SVG Mobile specifications have become W3C Recommendations. SVG is a fundamental element of Adobe's Network Publishing strategy that will allow precise delivery of visually rich, personalized content in an XML syntax. Adobe is enabling a new generation of dynamic data-driven graphics by incorporating SVG across its product line, including Adobe Illustrator® 10.0, Adobe Document Server, Adobe Graphics Server 2.0, Adobe GoLive® 6.0, Adobe InDesign® 2.0, and Adobe FrameMaker® 7.0.
-- Jon Ferraiolo, Advanced Technology Group, Adobe SystemsBitFlash
BitFlash is truly excited to have contributed to such an important undertaking as the W3C Mobile SVG profiles. Mobile SVG is already an important standard recognized by the wireless industry, including the 3GPP, and it forms a critical part of the BitFlash Mobile SVG line of players, content creation and transcoding tools. We believe Mobile SVG will help the wireless market realize substantial data revenues as it enables device manufacturers, MMS service providers, content creators, operators and portals to deliver a much richer, personal, and informative user experience.
-- Frédéric Charpentier, President and Chief Technology Officer, BitFlash Inc.Canon
The module based SVG 1.1 specification represents a significant step forward for the adoption of vector graphics technology on a wide range of information appliances. Canon is very pleased by the release of SVG 1.1 and SVG Mobile Profiles as W3C Recommendations. We expect that SVG will bring compelling graphical content to a variety of mobile devices.
-- Yukichi Niwa, Group Executive of Platform Technology Development Headquarters, Canon Inc Inc.Corel
The Scalable Vector Graphics 1.1 specification and SVG Mobile Profiles are significant steps towards widespread adoption of SVG for mobile communications. As active participants in the W3C SVG Working Group, Corel is committed to supporting SVG in a wide selection of our industry-leading graphics applications including CorelDRAW 11, Corel Grafigo, Corel SVG Viewer and Corel Smart Graphics Studio. We believe that SVG is the ideal foundation for intelligent and dynamic graphics for the Web and mobile communications. It is our technology of choice for building enterprise-class smart graphics solutions
-- Ian LeGrow, executive vice president of New Ventures for CorelCSIRO
CSIRO is very pleased to have participated in the effective international collaborative effort that has now seen SVG 1.1 and SVG Mobile become Recommendations of the W3C. As Australia's premier research and development organisation, CSIRO believes SVG will be a major force in a wide range of markets, especially mobile computing, and has made a commitment to the SVG community with its PocketSVG technology, a toolkit for developing Mobile SVG applications.
-- Dr Geoff Garrett, Chief Executive Officer, CSIRO AustraliaEricsson
Ericsson welcomes Mobile SVG as a new cornerstone for enriching the graphical appearance of mobile multimedia applications. We have taken active part in the work of defining the Mobile SVG Profiles specification. Our intention is to support this technology in our mobile platform solutions to facilitate the development of powerful multimedia applications by mobile handset vendors as well as third party application developers.
-- Michael Kornby, Vice President Technology Strategies, Ericsson Mobile Platforms ABHewlett Packard
Hewlett Packard is firmly committed to the use of open standards on the Internet and is pleased to have contributed to the development of SVG 1.1 and SVG Mobile. We believe the SVG Mobile specification will facilitate content use and development for small mobile devices -- helping to speed up the deployment of SVG in meeting a wide-range of content management needs for a variety of mobile users.
-- Evan Smouse, IPG Director of Strategic Technology, Hewlett PackardILOG
With SVG 1.1, developers can now create SVG to go, bringing the power of SVG graphics to handheld devices. ILOG is pleased to have been a part of bringing this new mobile graphics revolution into being - as a W3C SVG working group member, as a vendor with one of the first commercial products to support SVG, ILOG JViews, and finally, as an open source contributor with Batik, the Apache XML toolkit for SVG.
-- Patrick Megard, Director of ILOG Visualization Product LineKDDI
As a major Japanese cellular phone career, KDDI has long been working on the popularization of Web services for mobile terminals and is currently developing various content services based on SVG Mobile. As such, we are very pleased to see that now SVG 1.1/Mobile Profile become a Recommendation which, we believe, will certainly facilitate further the utilization of Mobile Web services or map information services and thus make SVG one of major communication media for cellular phone users.
-- Masahiro Wada, Executive Director, KDDI R&D Laboratories IncorporatedNokia
Nokia welcomes the advancement of Mobile SVG to W3C Recommendation. We believe that Mobile SVG will play a significant role in future mobile multimedia applications. Nokia has demonstrated its commitment to W3C open standards by taking the responsibility of the editorship for the new specification, and has strongly driven the adoption in 3GPP standards of the Mobile SVG profile for Multimedia Messaging Service (MMS) and Packet Switched Streaming (PSS). Nokia believes that the availability of a open and mobile-friendly standard for the creation of vector graphics content will play a central role in creating a dynamic and rich market for applications that fully exploit the capabilities of these exciting technologies.
-- Janne Juhola, Senior Technology Manager, Multimedia - Nokia Mobile Phones, Nokia, Inc.Openwave
Openwave is pleased to have contributed to the development of SVG 1.1/Mobile for the benefit of the mobile industry. This standard will enable and improve the user experience of messaging services and other entertaining mobile applications, providing more revenue opportunities for handset manufacturers, mobile network operators, and content developers.
-- Bruce Martin, VP of Technology, Openwave Systems, Inc.Schema Software
SchemaSoft is happy to see W3C extending the applicability of SVG to mobile devices by endorsing SVG 1.1 and SVG Mobile as Recommendations. Based on our experience as SVG software consultants and active participants since the SVG Working Group's inception, SchemaSoft sees significant opportunity for SVG on mobile devices. By generating interactive SVG content on the fly from server data, the next generation of mobile Web applications and services will provide much more powerful, compelling graphical front ends. SchemaSoft makes such graphically rich Web applications possible with tools like Catwalk™ for data visualization and Cleopatra™ for GIS applications.
-- Philip Mansfield, President, Schema Software Inc.Sharp
Sharp is pleased that SVG 1.1 and SVG Mobile Profiles have been officially released as recommended by the W3C (World Wide Web Consortium). Sharp has been implementing "e-animator (SharpMotionART)," using vector graphics technology, in many types of equipment, including cellular phones, and has also provided various related services. Based on these experiences, Sharp will continue to provide mobile services that make the most of SVG. Sharp hopes that SVG will be widely used in mobile computing applications and will lead to the creation of many new services.
-- Toru Chiba, Ph.D., Group Deputy General Manager of Corporate Research and Development Group, Division General Manager of System Technology Development Center, Sharp CorporationSun Microsystems
Sun has been a long-standing supporter of SVG as a key enabling technology for the Web. The advent of SVG Mobile and SVG 1.1 is aligned with our vision of open XML standards for a heterogeneous web of devices ranging from cell phones and PDAs to traditional desktops. We support the Apache Batik Open Source project to help the adoption of SVG, and we are also increasing our StarOffice(tm) suite support for SVG so that data can be easily exchanged among multiple authoring tools and across multiple platforms.
-- Curtis Sasaki, vice president, Sun MicrosystemsTexas Instruments
Texas Instruments believes open standards such as the Mobile SVG profiles are important catalysts for helping the wireless industry generate informative and entertaining content for the mobile user. As a result, we are excited to enable optimized versions of the BitFlash Mobile SVG Tiny and Basic compliant players today as a part of a standard software offering for TI's OMAP platform. Working with industry leaders, such as Bitflash, demonstrates TI's commitment to deliver processing engines that bring SVG and multimedia content to wireless handsets.
-- Paul Werp, Worldwide Director of Marketing for TI's OMAP Platform, Semiconductor Group, Texas InstrumentsZoomon
ZOOMON is proud to have been a part of re-enforcing W3C's commitment to open graphics communication through the SVG 1.1 specification. We are especially encouraged by the standardization of the SVG Mobile Profiles. We believe strongly that they will accelerate the acceptance of SVG as a basis for visual mobile communication. The range of mobile devices on the market is increasingling diverse, and SVG Mobile is the key to open visual communication between them. Our ZOOMON SVG Player and ZOOMON Composer are SVG Mobile compliant software solutions for rich SVG content for mass-market mobile phones and other mobile devices. With a proven track record from numerous RTOS and Symbian based platforms, the ZOOMON SVG Player requires a minimum of memory and CPU, and is easily integrated.
-- Stefan Elmstedt, CEO ZOOMON Mobile Solutions ABCorel
La spécification SVG 1.1 (Graphiques vectoriels adaptables) et les profils SVG pour terminaux mobiles constituent des pas importants vers la généralisation de cette technologie. En tant que membre actif du groupe de travail W3C dédié à SVG, Corel tient à incorporer cette technologie dans de nombreuses applications graphiques primées dont CorelDRAW 11, Corel Grafigo, Corel SVG Viewer et Corel Smart Graphics Studio. SVG est pour nous le format idéal des graphismes intelligents et dynamiques pour le Web et les communications mobiles, et c’est notre technologie de prédilection pour créer des solutions graphiques intelligentes pour entreprises
-- Ian LeGrow, vice-président exécutif, Nouvelles initiatives de Corel CorporationCSIRO
CSIRO est heureux d'avoir fait partie de l'efficace collaboration internationale qui a permis que SVG 1.1 et SVG Mobile deviennent des Recommandations du W3C. Persuadé que SVG va devenir une force majeure pour un grand nombre de marchés, CSIRO, la principale organisation de Recherche et Développement d'Australie, s'est beaucoup investi dans la communauté SVG, en particulier pour l'informatique nomade avec sa technologie PocketSVG, un kit pour le développement d'applications de SVG pour terminaux mobiles.
-- Dr Geoff Garrett, Chief Executive Officer, CSIRO AustralieILOG
S’appuyant sur SVG 1.1, les développeurs peuvent désormais créer des SVG pour les terminaux mobiles, rendant accessible la puissance des graphiques SVG aux équipements portables. ILOG se réjouit d’avoir contribué à rendre possible cette révolution – en tant que membre du groupe de travail SVG du W3C, en tant que fournisseur d’un des premiers produits sur le marché qui supporte le standard SVG, ILOG JViews, enfin en ayant apporté sa contribution à la communauté open source avec la mise en œuvre de Batik, le toolkit Apache XML pour SVG.
-- Patrick Megard, Directeur de la Gamme de Produits de Visualisation, ILOGアドビ システムズ
アドビは、SVG1.1およびSVGモバイルバージョンが、W3C（World Wide Web Consortium）推奨となったことを大変嬉しく思います。SVGは、 XMLをベースに作られた視覚的に豊かでカスタマイズされたコンテンツの正確な配信を可能にする、 アドビの「ネットワークパブリッシング」戦略の基本要素となるものです。 アドビは、Adobe Illustrator® 10、Adobe Document Server、Adobe Graphics Server 2.0、Adobe GoLive® 6.0、Adobe InDesign® 2.0、Adobe FrameMaker® 7.0といった製品にSVGを統合させることで、 データ駆動型のダイナミックグラフィックスの新しい時代を引き続き担っていきます。
-- ジョンフェラリオーロ、 アドバンステクノロジーグループ、アドビ システムズキヤノン株式会社
モジュールベースのSVG 1.1仕様は、さまざまな情報機器でベクトルグラフィック技術が利用できるようにするための非常に重要な意味をもった仕様です。キヤノンは、このSVG 1.1およびSVG Mobile Profile仕様がW3C勧告としてリリースされたことを心より歓迎するとともに、SVGが携帯機器に素晴らしいグラフィックコンテンツをもたらす技術となることを期待しています。
-- 丹羽 雄吉、プラットフォーム開発本部本部長、キヤノン株式会社Corel
Scalable Vector Graphics 1.1 のスペックと SVG モバイル プロファイルは、移動体通信における SVG の幅広い採用へ向けての重要なステップです。W3C SVG 作業部会へ積極的に参加して、Corel は CorelDRAW 11、Corel Grafigo、Corel SVG Viewer や Corel Smart Graphics Studio など幅広い業界トップのグラフィックアプリケーションで SVG のサポートに最大の努力を払っています。我々は SVG が Web や移動体通信用のインテリジェントかつダイナミックなグラフィックにとって理想的基礎だと信じています。企業クラスのスマートグラフィックソリューション構築のため、これが我々のとっておきの技術です。
-- イアン ルグロー、新規事業部副社長、Corel株式会社 KDDI 研究所
KDDI 株式会社は日本の携帯電話キャリアとしてモバイル Web サービスの普及に取り組んでいます。また株式会社 KDDI 研究所は、現在 SVG Mobile コンテンツサービスの開発を行っています。我々は、モバイル Web サービスや地図情報サービスを意識した SVG 1.1, SVG Mobile Profile 仕様が W3C 勧告として公開されたことを心から歓迎すると共に、SVG が携帯電話ユーザにとって主要なコミュニケーションメディアになると信じています。
-- 和田 正裕、執行役員、株式会社 KDDI 研究所シャープ株式会社
シャープ株式会社はSVG1.1およびSVG Mobile Profiles がW3C勧告として正式にリリースされたことを大変喜ばしく思います。 我々は従来からベクトルグラフィックス技術を用いたe-animator (SharpMotionART) を多くの携帯電話を始めとする様々な機器に搭載し、多様なサービスを提供して参りました。今後はその経験を基にSVGの特長を活かしたモバイルサービスを展開して参ります。我々はモバイルコンピューティング環境において、SVGが広く利用され、多くの新たなサービスを生み出すようになることを期待しています。
-- 千葉 徹、 技術本部副本部長 兼 システム開発センター所長、 シャープ株式会社