United Nations Geographic Information Working Group (UNGIWG) Meeting, 25-27 October 2005, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

Following the establishment of the United Nations Geographic Information Working Group (UNGIWG) and its first five plenary meetings in New York (March 2000), Rome (March 2001), Washington, DC (June 2002), Nairobi (October 2003), and Geneva (October 2004), the six plenary meeting was held in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia from 25 to 27 October 2005.

This meeting brought together a total of 66 participants, from more than 17 countries, representing 14 UN agencies, 4 UN missions, and 13 different Industry Partners, NGOs, and Institutions. Organized by the World Food Programme (WFP), other UN agencies including Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs (UNOOSA), World Health Organization (WHO), United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA), Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), World Food Programme (WFP), United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) , United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) , United Nations Sattelite Agency (UNOSAT), United Nations Joint Logistics Center (UNJLC), United Nations - Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UN-DESA), Deparment Of Peace-Keeping Operations (DPKO), Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty Organization (CTBTO Preparatory Commission), and United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), and affiliates including the African Union represenatives actively participated.

• In the three days meeting the participants discussed the progress made by the six Task Groups:
  International and Administrative Boundaries which is working on collecting and compiling all the information and maps available regarding international and administrative boundaries in close collaboration with the governmental bodies in the countries;

• Core Geo-Database with objectives of identifying and preparing a global framework core data layers for the UN systems, along the lines of the International Boundaries and the Second Administrative Level Boundaries (SALB) databases;

• Remote Sensing that provides interoperable services with objectives to provide an overview of which UN organization has what type of very high-resolution imagery over which areas; satellite imagery purchasing agreements that ensures easy ordering, rapid access and reduced cost to data; expand the range and objectives for the Charter to better comply with UN requirements;

• Interoperable Services that is working with the objectives of improving access to interactive use of spatial data and enhance data sharing and support decision-making through international standards and specifications;

• Map Production Guidelines that is working on compiling a set of standards applicable to most mapping situations; and

• Global Navigation Satellite Systems with objective to harmonize and facilitate field data collection activities undertaken by the different UN agencies.

In addition two case studies were presented. The first presentation was on the interagency cooperation in GIS and mapping that examines the development and implementation of the Sudan Interagency Mapping (SIM) working group. The second presentation was titled “New Frontiers for Satellite Imagery in Humanitarian Assistance: Case studies from the UNOSAT experience”.

The role of the UNGWIG in the development and support of activities related to Spatial Data Infrastructure was discussed thoroughly and the meeting concluded with a decision to form the United Nations Spatial Data Infrastructure.

For further information please visit http://www.ungiwg.org.