It’s a pleasure to represent ISO/TC 211 at various things, and this week I’ve been at UN GGIM 13*, to which TC 211 is an observer. I guess there were about 400 of us from some sixty countries and dozens of organisations. We work closely with Open Geospatial Consortium and International Hydrographic Office in relating to UN GGIM. On Monday, the three of us ran a session on standards supporting the UN Sustainable Development Goals. This included a presentation by ESRI on the solution offered to UN member states by the SDG Data Alliance showing how current standards are already helping. Other presentations from Natural Resources Canada, OGC, and myself looked to the future: expanding SDI, innovation, and data spaces – geo-enabling European data infrastructure.

The other key side events for us were about the UN’s Global Geodetic Reference Frame which we support by operating the ISO Geodetic Register, and Land Administration where our ISO 19152 revision projects align to the UN’s Framework for Effective Land Administration (FELA).

In addition to the formal meetings, I had great chances to meet new people from the International Federation of Geodesists (FIG), Netherlands, Australia, and Canada who have been core contributors to TC 211 for some time, and Jamaica and Colombia – who have both stepped up their engagement with TC 211 in the past months. At the end of the week, Nick Brown of Australia was announced as the Director of the UN Global Geodetic Centre of Excellence; we look forward to continuing the good relationship we’ve had with him as chair of the UN GGIM Subcommittee on Geodesy.

Outside work I enjoyed a free music festival in a shady park on a very hot Saturday afternoon, and the wide variety of different sorts of food available. The UN Conference centre itself always has thought provoking exhibitions and displays.

*13^th session of the United Nations Group of experts on Geographic Information Management

Peter Parslow, 5^th August 2023
Chair, ISO/TC 211