At its fifteenth session, UN-GGIM, through decision 15/111, noted the establishment of the UN-GGIM–IHO Joint Working Group on Marine Geospatial Information, consolidating the UN-GGIM Working Group on Marine Geospatial Information and the IHO Marine Spatial Data Infrastructure Working Group, and noted its terms of reference and working modalities. The Committee recognized that the consolidation would optimize resources and strengthen global coordination.
The Committee also noted the Working Group’s workplan, compilation report and future priorities, including the integration of terrestrial, maritime, built and cadastral domains, with a focus on the land–sea interface and integrated national strategies. It highlighted the importance of integrated geodetic information and unified reference systems (horizontal and vertical datums) to support climate resilience, the blue economy, coastal development, biodiversity and disaster risk management.
Marine geospatial information is essential to improve the availability and interoperability of high-quality, timely and reliable geospatial information for inland waters, seas and oceans, supporting governance, planning and sustainable development. Building on adopted standards and good practices, the Joint Working Group promotes integrated marine and terrestrial spatial data infrastructures within national geospatial information infrastructures, including standards and guidance for mapping the seas and oceans and integrating marine observations.
1st Co-Chair:
Singapore
Parry Oei
Maritime and Port Authority
2nd Co-Chair:
United States of America
Caitlin Boatright
National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency
Member States
- Australia
- Brazil
- Burkina Faso
- Canada
- Chile
- China
- Colombia
- Croatia
- Denmark
- Germany
- Honduras
- India
- Indonesia
- Iran (Islamic Republic of)
- Italy
- Jamaica
- Malaysia
- Mexico
- Morocco
- Netherlands
- New Zealand
- Norway
- Papua New Guinea
- Portugal
- Republic of Korea
- Romania
- Saudi Arabia
- Singapore
- Slovenia
- Tonga (Kingdom of)
- Tunisia
- United Kingdom
- United States of America
Non-Member State
- HARTIS Integrated Nautical Services Ltd.
- IIC Technologies Inc.
- NAVTOR
- Open Geospatial Consortium
- Teledyne CARIS
- UN Division for Ocean Affairs and Law of the Sea (OLA)
- UN-GGIM: Private Sector Network (Esri, OceanWise)
Meetings
First expert meeting of the Working Group, Republic of Korea (7-9 March 2019 )Second expert meeting of the Working Group, Rostock-Warnemünde, Germany (24 - 28 February 2020)
Third expert meeting of the Working Group, Singapore (9 - 13 May 2022)
Fourth expert meeting of the Working Group, Genoa, Italy (30 January - 3 February 2023)
Sixth expert meeting of the Working Group, Bali, Indonesia (4 - 9 March 2024)
Resources
White Paper - Readily Available and Accessible Marine Geospatial InformationOperational Framework for Integrated Marine Geospatial Information Management Part One - The Strategic Overview
Operational Framework for Integrated Marine Geospatial Information Management Part Two - The Strategic Pathways
Integration of terrestrial, maritime and cadastral domains - Questionnaire