Governance Structure
The UN Open GIS Initiative's governance structure comprises a Strategic Board, Co-Chairs, a Secretariat, and Domain Working Groups organized as follows:
The Founders
The UN Open GIS Initiative was founded through a
collaborative effort, bringing together open-source GIS experts from various
countries, organizations, and academic institutions to leverage open-source GIS
technology in support of UN operations:
§
Austria: Institute for Military Geography
§
Germany: Bundeswehr Geoinformation Center,
Multinational Geospatial Support Group
§
Italy: Italian Military Geographic Institute, Italian
Army General Staff, Italian National Research Council
§
Norway: Norwegian Military Geographic Service
§
Sri
Lanka: Sri Lankan Army
§
Republic
of Korea: Korea Research Institute for Human Settlement,
OpenGDS
§
United
States of America: US National
Geospatial-Intelligence Agency, US South Command
§
United
Nations: UNHQ /UNGIS, UNGSC, UNISFA,
UNMISS, UNSOS
§ UN University
§
World
Food Programme
§
Open-Source
Geospatial Foundation (OSGeo)
§ Geo4All
§
Pusan
National University, Republic of Korea
§
Politecnico
di Milano, Italy
The Major Contributors
Since its establishment, the UN Open GIS Initiative has seen
significant contributions from various countries, organizations, institutions,
and the private sector, providing technical expertise, tools, and resources to
advance the initiative’s goals:
§ Finland, The
Ministry for Foreign Affairs
§
Japan, Geospatial Information Authority
§
Republic
of Korea, Korea Research Institute for
Human Settlement, OpenGDS
§ United States of America, US South Command
§
United
Nations, UN Headquarters/UNGIS, UNGSC,
MINUSCA, MONUSCO, MINUSMA, UNISFA, UNMISS, UNSOS, UNVMC
§ World Food Programme
§ Open-Source Geospatial Foundation (OSGeo)
§ OSGeo Japan Chapter
§ Geo4All
§ OpenDroneMap
§ Pusan National University, Republic of Korea
§ Politecnico di Milano, Italy
§ GeoSolutions, Italy/USA
§
Gispo, Finland
The Strategic Board
The Strategic Board (SB)
sets the initiative's goals, oversees strategic planning, and manages the
creation and termination of working and advisory groups. It guides the election
of co-chairs and appointment of the members of the Technical Advisory Group (TAG). It is comprised of representatives from the contributors:
§
Alphonse
Aka Attron, UNSOS
§
Akbar
Amini, UNMISS
§ Anandavel Kannan, MINUSCA
§ HaeKyong
Kang, KRIHS, Open GDS-Korea
§ Hidenori Fujimura, GSI-Japan,
OSGeo Japan Chapter
§ Kais Zouabi, UNGSC
§ Ki-Joune Li, Pusan National University, OpenGDS-Korea
§ Josep Parareda Masnou, UNHQ/UNGIS
§ Maria Antonia
Brovelli, Politecnico Di Milano, OSGeo
§
Serena Coetzee, University of Pretoria, Geo4All
§ Zahurul Islam, UNMISS
The Co-Chairs
The initiative has three Co-Chairs;
one Co-Chair is appointed from the United Nations OICT (Office for Information
and Communications Technology), and the other two are elected from the
Strategic Board. The three Co-chairs and the Strategic Board are responsible for
leading UN Open GIS Initiative activities:
§ Ki-Joune Li, since 11 March 2016
§ Maria
A. Brovelli, since 11 Dec 2019
§ Josep Parareda Masnou, since 1 January 2024
The Secretariat
The Secretariat is
elected by the Strategic Board among personnel from contributing entities. The
Secretariat is responsible for supporting the Co-Chairs and the Strategic Board
and activities of the UN Open GIS Initiative:
§ HaeKyong Kang, Secretary, Korea Research Institute for Human Settlements
§ Timur Obukhov, Assistant Secretary, UNHQ/UNGIS
Domain Working Groups
The Domain Working Groups
are established by the Strategic Board to conduct the activities related to
specific areas of operations of the Open GIS Initiative and include experts in
the subject matter. The SB appoints the leader (or co-leaders) for each DWG
among the members of the DWG. DWG Leaders are responsible for coordinating the
work of the DWG to achieve the objectives of the DWG as assigned by the SB:
§ DWG 1 – Hybrid GIS Infrastructure, Timur Obukhov, HaeKyong Kang
§
DWG
2 – Capacity Building, Ivan Henrico, Susan Henrico,
Diego Gonzalez
§ DWG
5 – Geo-AI & Analysis, Maria
Antonia Brovelli, Zhongxin Chen, Andrea Manara, Cung Thang
§ DWG 6 –
OpenDroneMap & 3D, Catalina Ramos, Davide
Barbiero
§ DWG 7 – Smart
Maps, Hidenori Fujimura, Diego
Gonzalez