The United Nations Spatial Data Infrastructure Global Partners Meeting (UGPM), convened by the United Nations Geospatial Information Working Group (UNGIWG), took place at the European Space Agency (ESA) Centre for Earth Observation (ESRIN) in Frascati, Italy on 1 and 2 March 2007.

The objectives of the meeting were to brief representatives from Member States on the UNSDI development process and its current status and to engage in a structured dialogue on the institutional, technical and coordination issues facing the development and implementation of a proposed UNSDI in coordination and cooperation with similar developments at national, regional and global level. This gathering built upon the UNSDI discussions held internally within UNGIWG and was meant to explore how a UNSDI would be situated in the context of non-UN SDI initiatives."

82 Participants attended the meeting representing UN Member States, United Nations Agencies, Programmes and Missions, global, regional and national spatial data infrastructure initiatives, a variety of scientific establishments and the private sector.

Numerous and informative “tone setting” presentations related to the UNSDI context: applications context; national and regional SDI initiatives; capacities and tools for geospatial information access and analysis; UNSDI vision, strategy and implementation plan; UNSDI coordination offices mandate and activities and possible UNSDI support mechanisms provided a clear understanding of the main potential stakeholders contributions and roles in the UNSDI development and implementation process.

Based on these presentations and participants’ own experiences, suitably composed breakout groups and a Panel Session, comprising selected representatives from UN agencies, Member States, Regional Organizations and potential Partner Programmes identified a series of key issues on:

	Institutional and technical aspects related to UNSDI development and implementation process and;
	“the joys and responsibilities of partnering and coordination”.

Following lively and fruitful exchanges of views, experiences and expertises, a set of recommendations for the UNSDI development process of UNGIWG have been outlined.

Meeting Report

The draft report of the UGPM meeting can be downloaded here

Meeting Material (Presentations)

Opening
Opening address - Volker Liebig download (pdf)
Opening Statement (English) - H.E. Ms Romy Schmidt download (pdf) (English) download (pdf) (Spanish)
UGPM Dialog Meeting cover download (pdf)
Opening statement - Jeff Tschirley download (pdf)
Housekeeping - Jelle Hielkema download (pdf)
Keynote Speech - Harlan Onsrud download (pdf)

Session 1 - The Application Context for Geospatial Information Management and Interoperability Services
Humanitarian Emergencies - Luc StPierre-Suha Ulgen download (pdf)
Global Food Security Information and Analysis - Mark Smulders-Henri-Josserand download (pdf)
Global Forest Resources Assessment - Orjan Jonsson download (pdf)
Global Environment Monitoring and Management - Mick Wilson download (pdf)
Global Logistics and Transport - Olivier Cottray download (pdf)
ESA Activities in Support of Geospatial Information in the United Nations - Olivier Arino download (pdf)

Session 2 - Regional and national reporting on SDI development status
Latin America and Caribbean (Cuba) - Tatiana Delgado download (pdf)
Europe (INSPIRE-EC-JRC SDI Unit) - Alessandro Annoni download (pdf)
Chile - H.E. Ms Romy Schmidt download (pdf) (English) download (pdf) (Spanish)
Nigeria - Ganiy Agbaje download (pdf)
Spain - Mr. José Alonso Jimenez download (pdf)
Sardinia - Italy - Mauro Salvemini download (pdf)

Session 3 - Capacities and Tools for Geospatial Information Access, Management and Analysis
The ESA Heterogeneous Missions Accessibility (HMA) Capacity - Pier Giorgio Marchetti download (pdf)
Interoperability capacities and developments (UNGIWG-TG4) - Jeroen Ticheler download (pdf)
The ESA-FAO GEO Portal - Frederique Berenbach download (pdf)
DevInfo: Standards for Digital Maps Used for Monitoring Human Development - Nicolas Pron-Kris Oswalt download (pdf)
UNOSAT Operational Satellite Applications Programme - Olivier Senegas download (pdf)
Integrated Data Analysis Capacities in Open Source - Salvador Bayarri download (pdf)
ESA Emerging Technologies to support E-collaboration in Geo-applications: From GRID to Living Labs - Luigi Fusco download (pdf)

Session 4 - UNSDI Vision, Strategy and Implementation Plan
UNSDI Impementation Strategy - Barry L.Henricksen download (pdf)

Session 5 - Breakout Groups
Review and formulation of institutional issues for UNSDI download (pdf)
Review and formulation of technical issues for UNSDI download (pdf)
Conclusions download (pdf)

Session 6 - Activities and experiences of national UNSDI Coordination Offices
Netherlands - Jan Cees Venema download (pdf)
Czech Republic - Karel Charvat download (pdf)
Hungary - Gabor Remetey download (pdf)
The INSPIRE-UNSDI Connection - Alessandro Annoni download (pdf)
The role of the National Coordination Offices in INSPIRE-UNSDI  - Jan Cees Venema download (pdf)

Session 7 - UNSDI Partner Programmes, Institutions and Support Mechanisms
Global Spatial Data Infrastructure (GSDI) Association - Jarmo Ratia download (pdf)
Group on Earth Observations (GEO) - Giovanni Rum download (pdf)
Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) - Mike Jackson download (pdf)
European Umbrella Organization for Geographic Information (EUROGI) - Mauro Salvemini download (pdf)
Consortium for Geospatial Information (CSI) - Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR) - Enrica Porcari download (pdf)
International Institute for Geo-Information Science and Earth Observation (ITC) - Martien Molenaar download (pdf)
Environmental Systems Research Institute (ESRI) - Carmelle J. Terborgh download (pdf)
Centre for Earth Information Science (CIESIN) - Greg Yetman download (pdf)
Open Grid Forum (OGF) - Craig Lee download (pdf)
International Steering Committee for Global Mapping (ISCGM) - Chris Higgins download (pdf)
The Office for Outer Space Affairs (UNOOSA) - Werner Balogh download (pdf)

Panel discussion on “The Joys and Responsibilities of Partnering and Coordination”
Panel discussion background - Jackson - Marschatz download (pdf)
Summary download (pdf)

Session 8 - Country case study presentation and discussion
NIMAC-Liberia (UNDP-Liberia) - Margaret Hall download (pdf)