The United Nations Geographic Information Working Group (UNGIWG) held its 8th annual meeting from 28-30 November 2007 in Bangkok, Thailand. The meeting was organized by the UNGIWG Co-Chairs - United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).

Fifty-one experts attended the meeting, representing UN agencies, academia as well as public and private sector organizations at the local and regional level involved in geo-information. During the open sessions, the participants heard from the UNGIWG Secretariat and the Task Group Managers who reported on past year’s activities and shared their 2008 plans. Innovative and challenging projects related to Geospatial Information Management and Spatial Data Infrastructure (SDI) in Asia and the Pacific Region were presented in a number of modalities including a poster session. Proposals for the UNSDI Institutional and Technical Governance Frameworks were introduced by the Co-Chairs and an UNGIWG consultant, respectively.

During the UNGIWG-8 closed sessions, UNGIWG members deliberated on the adoption of a UNSDI Institutional Governance Framework and advanced the consultative process on the list of UNSDI deliverables.

The main outcomes of UNGIWG-8 were the following:

	Endorsement of the UNSDI Institutional Governance Framework as proposed by the Co-Chairs;
	Agreement to implement the UNSDI Project in reference to specific deliverables and to revise the Provisional UNSDI Deliverables List at a workshop in early 2008;
	Acknowledgement of the interplay between the institutional and the technical dimensions of the UNSDI governance framework and the role of the Technical Advisory Body in bridging the potential gap between the two dimensions of UNSDI;
	Rethinking of the roles and responsibilities of UNGIWG Co-Chairs, Secretariat and Task Groups in reference to the implementation of the UNSDI Project; and
	Decision to hold UNGIWG-9 in Beirut, Lebanon unless security concerns force UNGIWG to hold its annual meeting in Vienna, Austria.

The final report of eighth UNGIWG Plenary Meeting can be downloaded here

Meeting Material (Presentations)

Session 4 - UNGIWG Task Group Progress Reports Presentations
TG1: Core Geo-Database - Steeve Ebener, WHO download (pdf) 2.4MB
TG2: Remote Sensing - Einar Bjorgo, UNOSAT download (pdf) 325KB
TG3: Interoperable Services - Jeroen Ticheler, FAO download (pdf) 68KB
TG4: Map Production Guidelines - Carrie Howard, OCHA download (pdf) 199KB

Session 5 - Presentation of UNSDI Deliverables and Governance Structure
UNSDI Forward version 1 - Karl Steinacker, UNHCR download (pdf) 81KB

Session 9 - Keynote Address
Sentinel Asia - Kazuya Kaku, JAXA download (pdf) 2.5MB

Session 11 - Report on the status of the UNSDI Initiative
UNSDI Forward version 2 - Karl Steinacker, UNHCR download (pdf) 153KB

Session 12 - Premiminary discussions on UNSDI Deliverables
Some Plausible Deliverables - Mick Wilson, UNEP download (pdf) 42KB
Thoughts on Deliverables - Steeve Ebener, WHO download (pdf) 45KB
Proposed 2008/2009 OCHA Activities in Support of UNSDI - Brendan McDonald, OCHA
download (pdf) 19KB

Session 14 - Discussion on the Status of the Institutional Governance Framework
UNSDI Institutional Governance - Karl Steinacker, UNHCR download (pdf) 105KB

Session 16 - Keynote Address
Geo-Informatics to Enhance Collaboration Through Space and Time; Case Study of Living Angkor Road; Khmer-Thai Collaboration - Col. Surat Lertlum, Chulachomklao Royal Military Academy, Thailand download (pdf) 4MB

Session 17 - Case Studies
WFP-SDI - Giorgio Sartori, WFP download (pdf) 1.4MB
UNSDI-T - Nicolas Chavent, UNJLC download (pdf) 839KB
Relief Web Humanitarian Profile Map - Akiko Harayama, OCHA download (pdf) 2.2MB
"When Health drives the SDI process: the example of Zambia and Malawi” - Steeve Ebener, WHO download (pdf) 1.1MB

Session 18 - Introduction and Discussion of the Technical Governance Framework Proposal
UNSDI Technical Governance Framework - Rob Atkinson, UNGIWG Consultant
download (pdf) 387KB

Luncheon Lightning Talks
Proposed Terms of Reference of UNSDI National Coordination Offices - Jelle Hielkema, FAO
download (pdf) 510KB
SDIs: Delivering Information as one - Emanuele Gennai, ESRI download (pdf) 3MB
DevInfo - Kris Oswald download (pdf) 3.4MB
Solutions for Interoperable Geospatial Services - Shanmugam Ganeshkumar, LEICA
download (pdf) 1.2MB