Making Marine Geodata fit for purpose

Dr Mike Osborne and John Pepper look at the aims and objectives of the UK Working group on Marine Geospatial Information and reflect on the need for a marine geoinformation community that is forward-thinking, inclusive and responsive.

The inaugural meeting of the United Nations Working Group on Marine Geospatial Information (UN-WGMGI) took place between 4-9 March 2019 in Busan, Republic of Korea. The terms of reference of the newly formed UN-WGMGI are focussed at a policy level, raising awareness and highlighting the importance of reliable, timely and fit for purpose marine geospatial information to support the administration, management, governance of the marine environment. To deliver this, the working group is encouraging the use of internationally agreed frameworks, systems and standards to improve the relationships between people and the marine environment. It will also support the committee of experts to develop high quality and reliable regional capacity building initiatives under the UN-GGIM’s wider mantra of ‘nobody left behind’. The objectives of the UN-WGMGI mirror those exactly of the International Hydrographic Office’s Marine Strategic Development Goal (IHO-MSDI) Working Group.

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