President Teo attends JBGIS Ad hoc Meeting

25 - 26 October 2011, Seoul, Republic of Korea


Mr LEEM, Seong-An, President of National Geographic Information Institute, Korea and Chair of the United Nations 1st High Level Forum on Global Geospatial Information Management [seventh from L-R] and Mr EOM, Kyoung-Soo, Chief of Cartographic Section, United Nations [first from L-R] with members of the Joint Board present at the Forum. The current Chair of the Joint Board, Profession William Cartwright is third from R-L

The Joint Board of Geospatial Information Societies had an ad hoc meeting over two sessions on the sideline of the United Nations First High Level Forum on Global Geospatial Information Management hosted by the Government of the Republic of Korea in Seoul, held between 23rd and 27th October 2011.

The meeting was attended by eight of the ten member organizations of the Joint Board chaired by Professor William Cartwright from the International Cartographic Association. Others who attended were Mark Cygan (IMTA), Professor Abbas Rajabifard (GSDI), Robert Ward (IHO), Professor Fraser Taylor (ISCGM), Professor Ian Dowman (ISPRS), Georg Gartner (ICA), Professor Lee (IGU) and TEO CheeHai (FIG).

The Joint Board was heartened by the profile given by the United Nations to international professional geospatial societies at this inaugural High Level Forum and in particular noted that the Chair of the Joint Board, Professor William Cartwright, gave the keynote presentation for Session #3 of the High Level Forum that had the theme “International Coordination and Cooperation in Meeting Global Needs”. The presentation was a collaborative effort of the members of the Joint Board and presented as a joint presentation. The presentation was proceeded by a number of presentations by panellist who are national delegates to the Forum, all stressing the importance and necessity of international cooperation and collaboration to meet global challenges. The Joint Board is held up as a good example.

At the end of the Forum and the first meeting of the United Nations Committee of Experts, the Chair of the Joint Board, Professor William Cartwright, was included as a member of the “extended” Bureau for the United Nations Committee of Experts on Global Geospatial Information Management, underlying the necessity for international professional geospatial societies to work collaboratively and to have a collective voice within the United Nations system. The Bureau has the Republic of Korea and the United Kingdom as Co-chair and Chile as the Rapportuer. The “extended” Bureau will include chairs from the United Nations regional cartographic structures and the European Union.

The Joint Board resolved to have its next face-to-face meeting at the XXII Congress of the International Society of Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing in Melbourne, Australia (25th August – 1st September 2012) hosted by ISPRS as well as convening a Joint Board session at the Congress. The Joint Board also agreed to have another Ad hoc meeting on the sideline of the second meeting of the United Nations Committee of Experts on Global Geospatial Information Management in New York (13 – 15 August 2012).

The ten Members of the Joint Board of Geospatial Information Societies are:

  • Global Spatial Data Infrastructure (GSDI) Association
  • IEEE Geoscience and Remote Sensing Society (IEEE-GRSS)
  • International Association of Geodesy (IAG)
  • International Cartographic Association (ICA)
  • International Federation of Surveyors (FIG)
  • International Geographic Union (IGU)
  • International Hydrographic Organization (IHO)
  • International Map Trade Association (IMTA)
  • International Society of Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing (ISPRS)
  • International Steering Committee for Global Mapping (ISCGM)

CheeHai TEO
President
October 2011

11 November 2011

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