In June 2011, the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) opened an initiative called EarthCube? in a partnership between the Geosciences Directorate (GEO) and the Office of Cyberinfrastructure (OCI). This seeks "transformative concepts and approaches to create integrated data management infrastructures across the Geosciences." A Charette was held near Washington DC, 1-4 November 2011, in which OGC staff, members, and over 100 others from the research community participated to define a set of capabilities the EarthCube? program needs to address.