UNOOSA to Co-Chair UN Geographic Information WG

25 February 2009, 2:29pm

UNOOSA is the new Co-Chair for the UN Geographic Information Working Group, which is currently involved in promoting the UNSDI initiative.

Priority areas of the incoming Co-Chairs to include: increasing UNGIWG participation by experts in the UN System and strengthening UNGIWG links with other UN structures

THE UN OFFICE FOR Outer Space Affairs (UNOOSA) and the UN Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA) were elected as Co-Chairs of the UN Geographic Information Working Group (UNGIWG)
secretariat, during the 9th UNGIWG Plenary Meeting on November 2008.

UNOOSA is currently consulting with UNECA on the Working Group’s plans for 2009, and a core group of UN experts are working on establishing terms of reference for a number of structures that will help ensure the implementation of UNGIWG’s United Nations Spatial Data Infrastructure (UNSDI) initiative. UNSDI is an institutional and technical mechanism aimed at establishing system coherence for the exchange and application of geospatial data and information for UN activities.

An informal consultation with New York-based UN organizations took place at the end of December, hosted by the Division of Ocean Affairs and Law of the Sea at the UN Office for Legal Affairs, regarding the work programme and expected results of this Working Group.

The formal handover of the chairmanship is expected to take place in the end of February, and one of the priorities of the incoming Co-Chairs is to significantly increase UNGIWG participation by identifying and involving more geographic information system (GIS) and remote sensing experts working in the UN System, both in the field and at headquarters. Another priority is to likewise strengthen and harmonize UNGIWG links with other formal UN
structures such as the Inter-Agency Meeting on Outer Space Activities.

News source: UN SPIDER newsletter

UN GI Working Group web site

UN SPIDER newsletter, January 2009

Geo: International