United Nations Committee of Experts on Global Geospatial Information Management set to clear the path for location based standards

The Fourth Session of the United Nations Committee of Experts on Global Geospatial Information Management (UN-GGIM) will be held from 6-8 August 2014 at the United Nations Headquarters in New York.

Ministers and senior leaders from UN Member States and international organisations are to participate for three days to discuss mapping and location issues that affect the World.

The Fourth Session continues to move UN-GGIM forward towards fulfilling its important mandate to enhance collaboration between Member States and to assist making accurate, reliable and authoritative geospatial information readily available to support national, regional and global development and the important sustainable development agenda.

The use of authoritative geospatial information is beginning to revolutionise global challenges such as climate change, disease pandemics, food shortages, economic crises and disaster recovery situations. One example is where authoritative geospatial data is used by emergency services in rapidly changing environments, such as landslides, floods and earthquakes, enabling them to gain access to the disaster areas faster; saving more lives as a result.

The topics the Committee of Experts will address over the three days cover fundamental issues. These include: the enhancement of the global geodetic reference frame, the legal and policy frameworks including privacy laws required to support the use of authoritative geospatial data, the development of global mapping for sustainable development, the establishment and implementation of standards, the linkage of geospatial information to statistics and a shared statement of principles for the global geospatial community.

Significantly, this event will provide the foundation for a more sustainable global geodetic reference framework which will ensure more consistent locational positioning will be available across the globe. This is especially important as precise positioning is being applied in virtually every aspect of people’s lives, from civil engineering and transportation, to sustainable development and emergency management.

The Fourth Session of the United Nations Committee of Experts on Global Geospatial Information Management (UN-GGIM) live and on-demand, available on UN Web TV website at: http://webtv.un.org.

For additional information on the fourth session, including the agenda and technical reports, please visit: http://ggim.un.org/ggim_committee.html.