Future Trends Report THIRD EDITION Digital Accessible

UN-GGIM
U N I T E D N AT I O N S
COMMITTEE OF EXPERTS ON
GLOBAL GEOSPATIAL
INFORMATION MANAGEMENT
Future trends in geospatial

information management:
the five to ten year vision
THIRD EDITION
UN-GGIM | United Nations Committee of Experts on
Global Geospatial Information Management
UN-GGIM
U N I T E D N AT I O N S
COMMITTEE OF EXPERTS ON
GLOBAL GEOSPATIAL
INFORMATION MANAGEMENT
Future trends in geospatial

information management:
the five to ten year vision
THIRD EDITION

This document was produced by Ordnance Survey
of Great Britain at the request of the United Nations
Committee of Experts on Global Geospatial
Information Management.
Lead author: Christin Walter, Ordnance Survey of

Great Britain
All parts of the report may be reproduced provided

the source ‘Future Trends in geospatial information
management: the five to ten year vision – Third
Edition, August 2020’ is cited.
Images © Adobestock and Istock

Contents
Contents
Foreword4
Executive Summary 5
Introduction8
The role of geospatial information in achieving the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development 8
Delivering value through geospatial information 9
1. Drivers and trends in geospatial information management 13
1.1 Setting the scene: The geospatial industry in the global economy 13
1.2 Top geospatial drivers and trends: Assessing the five to ten year vision 15
1.3 Technological advancements 18
1.4 Rise of new data sources & analytical methods 18
1.5 Industry structural shift 18
1.6 Evolution of user requirements 19
1.7 Legislative environment 19
1.8 The impact of the trends on the Integrated Geospatial Information Framework 19
2. The digital infrastructure of the future 23
2.1 Ubiquitous connectivity 23
2.2 Conceptualisation and realisation of Digital Twins 24
2.3 Intelligent transport systems and edge computing 25
2.4 Visualisation technology and immersive experience 26
2.5 Building collaboration with standards 27
3. The rise of Artificial Intelligence, Big Data and data analytics 29
3.1 Realising value through Big Data and data analytics 29
3.2 The potential of Artificial Intelligence in geospatial production 30
4. Trends in technology and the future direction of data creation, maintenance and management 33
4.1 The new wave of data creation 33
4.2 Managing a world of data 34
4.3 Integrating statistical and geospatial information 35
4.4 Linked data 36
4.5 Cloud computing 37
4.6 Developing fit-for-purpose open standards 37
4.7 Trends in ‘professional’ data creation and maintenance 38
4.8 Positioning ourselves in the next five to ten years 41

Global Geospatial Information Management 1
5. Legal, policy, and ethical developments 44
5.1 Growing awareness within government 44
5.2 Funding in a changing world 45
5.3 Open Data 45
5.4 Licensing, pricing and data ‘ownership’ 46
5.5 Data privacy, data ethics and cyber security 47
5.6 Disparities between technological advances and the legal and policy frameworks 48
6. Skills requirements and training mechanisms 51
6.1 Skills and capabilities for effective organisations 51

6.2 Education and advocacy 52
6.3 Open science and collaboration 53
6.4 Enabling diversity at work 54
7. The role of the private and non-governmental sectors 56
7.1 Making mapping available to the masses 56
7.2 The future role of the Private Sector 57
7.3 Regenerating the business ecosystems 57
7.4 The future role of social media data, VGI, and crowdsourced geospatial data 58
7.5 Coordination and collaboration 59
8. The demands of the future users 61

8.1 Rise of innovation-based incubation 61
8.2 Digital Natives: The future user of geospatial information 61
9. The future role of governments in geospatial data provision and managementnd management 64
9.1 Beyond NSDI 64
9.2 Mapping the Ocean: Marine geospatial information 65
9.3 Maintaining an accurate, detailed and trusted geospatial information base 66
9.4 The impact of change: Adapting to alternative sources for data collection 67
Presenting the true value of GI 69
The third Future Trends report: Reviewing progress 69
List of abbreviations 73
Suggested further reading 75

Full list of contributors 76

Acknowledgements
and disclaimers
This report has been authored on behalf of the United The report, which was written before the global
Nations Committee of Experts on Global Geospatial COVID-19 pandemic, was updated where possible
Information Management (UN-GGIM) by Christin to reflect the impact and consequences of this
Walter of Ordnance Survey, Great Britain’s national unprecedented crisis. As we continue to experience
mapping agency. However, the content is based this ongoing public health emergency, the report
primarily on the First and Second Editions of the does not aim to draw conclusions about the potential
Future Trends report, contributions received in written long-term effects on global geospatial information
form and the views expressed during the discussion management.
fora held in June and August 2019. Hence the
content does not necessarily reflect the views of the This paper contains information that is covered by
author or the employer. While different, and at times copyright and other intellectual property rights. All or
conflicting, views were expressed by contributors, and part of the report may be reproduced provided
consensus on a number of major trends and themes the source ‘Future Trends in geospatial information
were forthcoming. management: the five to ten year vision – Third
Edition, August 2020’ is cited.
A full list of those who have contributed can be
found at the end of the report. We are grateful to
every person and organisation for giving their time,
either to provide written contributions, attending the
discussion fora, or taking part in individual evidence
gathering sessions, and allowing us to use their
collective inputs in this report.

Foreword
In these days of global pandemic the value of experiences, policy contexts, digital technology
geospatial is more apparent than ever. development, and levels of geospatial maturity. The
use and affordability of technology, as well as analytical
The Covid-19 pandemic has reinforced that, as methods, have the potential to reduce the geospatial
with the SDGs, many countries continue to face digital divide over the next decade, with discontinuous
challenges in collecting, managing, and using change creating opportunities for many nations to
timely and reliable data with the required enabling leapfrog into the future and make rapid progress.
geospatial technologies to measure and track what is
happening where, when, and how. But this is not a futurology report or an inspection
of market forces. Instead, this Future Trends report
Our geospatial infrastructure has been called provides a consensus view from across the entire
on to help understand the economic, social and geospatial community landscape. The strength of our
environmental impacts of the global response community is in its collective discussion and debate.
to Covid-19. Spatial data analytics, geographic We enthusiastically share insight for the benefit of
visualisation, and machine learning techniques using all, and hope that through sharing best practice, we
aerial and satellite data have proved to be critical reach a deeper understanding ourselves.
in supporting the essential components of disease
prediction, spread, prevention, and response. Covid-19 has accelerated many of the trends
highlighted in the report, such as the critical role
This report looks in-depth at the challenges and that data analytics will play in our public and
opportunities that will impact how we collect, private sectors, and has illustrated the critical
manage and use geospatial information over the role that we, as geospatial leaders, will play in the
next five to ten years. Commissioned by the United global conversation around trust and ethics. As a
Nations Committee of Experts on Global Geospatial community, we must consider the implications of the
Information Management (UN-GGIM), this third proliferation of location data on the global market,
edition of the Future Trends complements the our countries, and our citizens.
Integrated Geospatial Information Framework (IGIF).
Overall, 124 UN Member States, organisations and
The IGIF is intended to be dynamic, responding to relevant expert stakeholders from all over the world
changes in the external environment, and this Future have contributed to this revision. We thank you all for
Trends report helps to show where those changes are your contributions to this third edition of the Future
most likely to occur, enabling the Framework to keep Trends report, and hope that you will recognise your
pace and adapt. words and your wisdom enclosed. We look forward
to tackling future global challenges and realising our
But the events of 2020 have made it clear that shared opportunities over the coming years as we
our global community is more complex and consider our common geospatial future.
interconnected than ever. None of the trends identified
in this report should be considered in isolation.
Digital transformation, disruption and change in
the geospatial industry are a given, but we must be
prepared for the reality that our challenges will be
shaped by multiple trends acting and interacting Stefan Schweinfest David Henderson
across our societies, economies and environment. Director of the UN Chief Geospatial Officer
Statistics Division Ordnance Survey of
Every nation will experience a transformation in their United Nations Great Britain
response; the report tries to recognise that every Department of Economic
nation is starting from a different place; with different and Social Affairs

Executive Summary
This 2020 edition of the Future Trends report Like never before, the geospatial industry is affected
marks the beginning of a highly important decade by a variety of outside influences that determine
for both sustainable development and geospatial how and in what direction the industry is likely to
information management. It is characterised by three develop. Climate change, a shift in people’s values
significant global milestones, namely the beginning and attitudes, public health concerns, and population
of the ‘decade of action’ for the 2030 Agenda for change related to urbanisation are topics of concern
Sustainable Development, the start of the Decade to all nations. Balancing situation-appropriate
of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development, and responses to these issues shows the important role
the 10th anniversary of the United Nations Committee the geospatial industry plays in providing data-driven
of Experts on Global Geospatial Information analysis to support decision-making.
Management (UN-GGIM).
For the past three decades, digital data has
The effects of climate change have become the increasingly become the basis on which governments,
‘defining issue of our time’.1 Today, the way in which organisations and businesses alike base their
our society is organised amplifies the structural decisions. Today, the volume, size, speed, diversity
threats that climate change and the emergence of and complexity in which geospatial data is generated
new infectious diseases have upon the world. The requires change: to the processes currently used by
COVID-19 pandemic is a striking example of this. governments and businesses across the world, and to
Over the last two decades, outbreaks of infectious workforces that are capable of searching, analysing,
disease have emerged every two to three years. merging and harmonising these large amounts of data.
While the resilience of society overall has decreased,
and our dependency on globalisation has increased, Technology, in particular, plays a prime role in
the potential disruptions caused to society and the disrupting the geospatial industry. Ranging from
economy are resulting in unprecedented impacts. increasing levels of automation to the Internet of
It is often impossible to predict the next incident Things, Big Data, Artificial Intelligence, immersive
but understanding the pattern of recurring risks and technology and the rise of Digital Twins, the speed
investing in the capabilities (infrastructure, skills, at which innovation occurs represents great
and technology) to mitigate and respond to these opportunities and challenges to those trying to
perceived events increases our level of preparedness. prioritise efforts. The private sector and national
Governments and institutions can make the agencies alike are impacted by this unprecedented
necessary investments in the many components of level of disruption. Among the variety of technological
preparedness - of which geospatial information is key. trends, there is general consensus across the
industry that automation, Artificial Intelligence,
In the 1990s, Bill Gates reflected that and connectivity through 5G will have the greatest
disruptive impact over the short to medium-term.
“we always overestimate the change that will
occur in the next two years and underestimate Geospatial information and technologies have
the change that will occur in the next ten.” become a ubiquitous part of everyday services and is
central to the business models of many of the digital
Although still valid, little did anyone suspect that the disruptors that have become prominent in the 2010s.
pace of change experienced today would challenge The rise of smartphones, tablets, and other mobile
our ability to adapt. Even though this report aims to devices has contributed significantly to people’s
anticipate the trends that will influence geospatial expectation of the use of geospatial applications.
information management over the next five to ten years, User demand for increasing accuracy, currency, and
it also recognises that this goal will be increasingly detail is growing and processing will require more
unrealistic to achieve as the lifecycle of technology and automated data capture and feature extraction to
business practice innovation becomes even shorter. keep pace with those requirements.

Technological developments, the nature of machine- The first chapter of the report provides a high-
led decision-making in autonomous mobility, and level analysis of the top global geospatial drivers
other applications that require multi-stakeholder and trends that are predicted to have the greatest
partnerships are creating new challenges in a world impact on geospatial information management
that will increasingly be managed virtually. In the over the next five to ten years. Recognising that
context of trends, cybersecurity, data privacy, ethics, change in the industry is driven by a set of diverse
trust and licensing will increase in relevance as drivers and trends, the report sets out five top
interdisciplinary collaborations, and are now at the forces: Technological advances, the rise of new data
forefront. Government-led geospatial infrastructures sources, the changing user requirements, industry
will need to take account of and consider responses changes, and the regulatory and policy environment.
to these emerging legal and policy top trends. The chapters that follow provide updates, where
relevant, on the trends identified in the previous two
Governments continue to remain highly relevant editions. It concludes by producing a brief overview
in the geospatial industry by providing high of the topics covered by all Future Trends reports
quality, reliable, trusted and maintained geospatial since the publication of the first edition in 2013.
information for a wide range of applications from
national resilience to the effective administration of
property, resources and land use extended to other
relevant areas such as health, education, urban
planning, and others.
The next five to ten years will see significant

developments in the maturity and application
of already well-established technologies across
the geospatial industry. Among others, Artificial
Intelligence, sensor technology, and the Internet of
Things will drastically change how data is collected,
managed and maintained. Developed nations,
developing nations, and small island developing
states alike will reap the benefits of more affordable
drone and satellite technologies equipped with image
classification capabilities as valid alternative data
sources. This will address the incredible inequality
observed today in nations around the world. The
use of technology and analytical methods has the
potential to reduce the geospatial digital divide over
the decade to come.2
The report provides a consensus view of the

developments and future direction for geospatial
information management over the next decade.
We wish to thank all those who have contributed to
the development of this report and provided their
expertise and professional insights.

Introduction
The first and second editions of the report Future sustainability and resilience by applying geospatial
trends in geospatial information management: the thinking and adopting geospatial data and technology
five to ten year vision have proved to be important innovatively at the local and national level.
reference documents for the global geospatial
community. They are considered an important output
for the UN-GGIM Committee of Experts and have The role of geospatial information in achieving
provided a consensus view for the professional the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development
geospatial community to keep abreast of new trends
in geospatial information, particularly in assessing the The year 2030 marks a milestone in the evolution
impact of geospatial technologies.3 of the global effort to steward the progress towards
economic, environmental and social dimensions of
This third edition Future Trends report, prepared sustainability. One of the most critical conditions for
through a global consensus process is expected the fulfilment of the ambitions expressed in the 2030
to be presented to the Committee of Experts for Agenda for Sustainable Development is the effective
adoption at its tenth session in August 2020. and efficient use of dynamic and disaggregated data
for decision-making, the delivery of services, citizen
As well as exploring emerging themes, this third empowerment, entrepreneurship, competitiveness
edition highlights changes to the trends identified in and innovation, and to contribute to the achievement
the previous two reports, showing how geospatial and monitoring of the Sustainable Development
information and technology underpin national Goals (SDGs) and their objectives.
governments, and documenting the increasing role
that geospatial information will play as part of the Most notably, the 2030 Agenda recognises the
2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. value that geospatial information provides to
enable informed, data-driven decision-making. The
Many of the chapters in this report touch on the importance of geographic information is clearly
‘state of the art’ developments in geospatial highlighted by SDG Goal 17 on ‘Strengthen the
information management that are mainly of interest means of implementation and revitalise the global
to developed nations and major economic centres partnership for sustainable development’. It states
including topics like Big Data analytics, Artificial that “by 2020, enhance capacity building support to
Intelligence, automated feature extraction and developing countries, including for Least Developed
change detection. The report aims, wherever Countries (LDCs) and Small Island Developing States
possible, to highlight exceptions and challenges (SIDS), to increase significantly the availability of
faced by developing nations and rural populations high-quality, timely and reliable data disaggregated
as well as show the opportunities related to by income, gender, age, race, ethnicity, migratory
technological advances and analytical methods to status, disability, geographic location and other
ensure no one will be left behind. characteristics relevant in national contexts.” It
recognises the importance of geospatial information
The report seeks to achieve two aims, to highlight the for sustainable development monitoring and
latest trends in geospatial information management, accountability, and highlights the need for timely and
and to provide a high-level overview of how these reliable information to build accountable actions and
trends have developed since the publication of the evidenced-based decisions.
first and second editions of the Future Trends report.
It includes a separate chapter illustrating the top In the recent past a ‘spatial data infrastructure’
global drivers and trends likely to impact the industry (SDI) has been considered to be a helpful way of
over the coming five to ten years. It aims to show organising data to support activities such as those
how evidence-based decision-making benefits and required to deliver the 2030 Agenda. However,
promotes economic development and increases there is now a paradigm shift from a Spatial Data

Infrastructure (SDI) to ‘knowledge infrastructure’. Delivering value through geospatial
that can be used for data integration, analysis, information
modeling, aggregation, fusion, communication, and
for organising and delivering data across disciplines Geospatial information and Earth observation data
and organisations. combined with environmental, socio-economic
and other statistical data provide a unique input to
As we undergo almost continuous digital governments in their policy preparation, monitoring
transformation and disruption, three key factors now and evaluation. This data, along with digital
challenge the limitations of a traditional SDI. The first developments and industry innovations, mentioned
is the recent and growing availability of more diverse elsewhere in this report, will play a large role in
data and data types and needs that are now more global stewardship, enabling timely, more accurate
relevant and dependent on geospatial data than and trustworthy information to be made available
were originally considered. The second limitation is to decision makers to inform decisions, monitor
the growing demand for data integration, fusion and progress and assess the impact of interventions as
analysis. The third is that the main focus of SDIs has well as for future planning.
just been geospatial data.
Since the publication of the last Future Trends
Together with the World Bank, the Committee of report, a significant increase in the use of geospatial
Experts has launched the Integrated Geospatial information and technologies has been observed
Information Framework (IGIF) to help support across a variety of sectors, especially in the health
governments to develop and enhance their own sector. For instance, geospatial information plays
geospatial information management. A ‘knowledge a vital role in the ‘Framework for a Public Health
infrastructure’, the IGIF builds on previous efforts Emergency Operations Centre’ as published by the
in planning and implementing SDI and NSDIs. World Health Organization.4 As such, geospatial
These implementations have historically focused data and technologies are seen as the backbone in
on the collection of data and the implementation response to and recovery from emergency incidents,
of technologies. In contrast, the IGIF additionally and also as part of the process for spatial risk
focuses on the governance, policy, financial, capacity assessments. Similarly, UNICEF has published a
and engagement processes necessary to collect, guidance document on the use of geospatial data
maintain, integrate and share geospatial information, and technologies in immunisation programmes
through all levels of government and society, in a with specific implementation guidance for countries
modern and enabling technology environment. such as Kenya and Myanmar.5 These examples
clearly highlight that geospatial information not only
The Framework will assist countries to move supports the development, implementation and
towards e-economies, improve services to citizens, monitoring of programmes across the world, but
build capacity for using geospatial technology, sits at the heart of achieving the 2030 Agenda for
enhance informed government decision-making Sustainable Development.
processes, and take practical actions to achieve
a digital transformation in the implementation of Recent emergency incidents, such as the Ebola
national strategic priorities and the 2030 Agenda outbreak in Western Africa and the global Covid-19
for Sustainable Development. The Framework can pandemic, have significantly prompted large
be understood as a foundation for bridging the scale projects aiming to improve the opportunity,
geospatial digital divide, securing socio-economic availability, quality and accessibility of geospatial
prosperity, and to leaving no one behind. The third data in support of sustainable development. For
edition of Future Trends will complement the IGIF example, the Geo-Referenced Infrastructure and
helping to ensure that the Framework integrates Demographic Data for Development (GRID3) project
and takes advantage of the latest innovation and funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation
trends. An indication of where the trends will impact and UK Aid which is being implemented in the
on the Framework Pathways is provided in Section Democratic Republic of Congo, Mozambique, Nigeria
1.8, noting that at the time of writing, the IGIF and Zambia.
Implementation Guide has yet to be approved and
endorsed by the Committee of Experts.

In the digital age, geospatial information and
technologies play a crucial role in leveraging the
potential of the ‘Fourth Industrial Revolution’ to help
solve global challenges. A recent UN report found
that the world’s LDCs are narrowing the digital
divide by enabling access to mobile-cellular network
and mobile broadband coverage.6 However, what
remains unclear is whether the development and
adoption of digital technologies is evenly distributed
within countries or whether parts of the population
are excluded from these advances based on their
geographic, socio-demographic and socio-economic
status. Persistent digital divides impact on a nation’s
economic development, educational capacity,
employment opportunities and social inclusion.
Digital transformation has been instrumental

in democratising mapping information, making
geospatial technology available to the individual by
way of location-enabled devices. In an increasingly
interconnected world, geospatial information has
become integrated into everyday life. This can
be seen through the daily use of smartphones
and location-based services, to the growth in
developments in self-driving cars, the Internet of
Things, and satellite sensors. Taking advantage of
this growing volume of location-based information,
geospatial has become a game changer for local and
national governments alike.
However, many developing nations continue to lack

the infrastructure and trusted data to make informed
business and government decisions. Governments
at all levels require authoritative sources of fit-for-
purpose data on the nation, its environment, assets,
people, and its physical and social infrastructure to
inform robust evidence-based decision-making and
to encourage economic development, entrepreneurial
activity, transparency, protection of privacy or
national security.

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1. Drivers and trends in geospatial information
management
The advent of the Fourth Industrial Revolution, digital transformation, and the disruptions that have come with them
have changed many business practices, provided new technological applications, and have brought about a data
revolution, impacting both the cultural, social and economic realm. Ultimately, creating a world that is becoming
increasingly interconnected.7
As the data ecosystem becomes more complex, the notion that 80 per cent of information has a spatial component
increases the relevance of the ‘where’.8 The geospatial industry is as much influenced by these developments as
any other sector which shows that operating in an industry ‘bubble’ will erode the competitive advantage of the
organisations functioning within it.
The view of ‘everything happens somewhere’ will drive many of the changes in the global economy as geospatial
enters the mainstream. Developments in location-based applications offered by non-geospatial businesses have
transformed how services are consumed, and the rise of autonomous systems has shaped the increasing need for
near real-time information. The next five to ten years will see an unprecedented change in the way in which geospatial
information will shape and be shaped by the global economy.
1.1 Setting the scene: The geospatial 1.1.4 Political realities – Geopolitical uncertainty
industry in the global economy is on the rise and is anticipated to remain
a source of risk for large and emerging
1.1.1 The pace of change and the vastly dynamic, economies alike. One of the main factors that
global environment in which the geospatial has arisen over the past five years has been
industry operates has a significant impact on the re-emergence of country-level economic
the need for current high-quality geospatial policies towards increased protectionism
information for national resilience and effective which primarily affects trade and the financial
administration, to name but a few. markets. Considering the already existing
public finance pressures, government
1.1.2 Assessing the trends that are likely to have organisations across the world will continue
the greatest impact on geospatial information to have to demonstrate value for money to
management, the report sets out several safeguard their funding arrangements.
patterns of political, economic, social, cultural,
technological, and environmental change that 1.1.5 Taking account of the upsurge in platform
will influence the state of the global geospatial business models, the evolution of sensor
industry in the coming years. networks and the social media boom,
regulators seek to balance innovation and
1.1.3 Global pandemic – The COVID-19 pandemic consumer protection in the digital era.
has emerged as an unprecedented crisis National governments and supranational
that has gradually affected all people organisations are projected to put in place
in all countries with global impacts and policies and guidance to secure the personal
consequences. The effects of the crisis privacy of the individual without hampering
highlight the interconnectedness between innovation over the long-term.
public health, society, economy, and
environment. National governments around 1.1.6 Economic outlook – Global economic
the world are utilising geospatial information growth had slowed in 2019, and collapsed in
to manage this unprecedented public health 2020 as a result of the substantial negative
emergency. impact of the COVID-19 crisis. It will take
years to recover from the current economic

recession. This economic downturn has been 1.1.10 Technological developments – Digital
accelerated due to the COVID-19 pandemic connectivity underpins most of the
and predictions show that this development technological advances today, and mobile
will have a long-lasting impact around the internet access has enabled many emerging
world. Nonetheless, the changing dynamics economies to leapfrog fixed-line network
in global economic growth towards emerging infrastructure. Reliable digital connectivity
and frontier markets are expected to fuel the enables advancements in Artificial
global economy in the longer term. Intelligence, immersive technologies, and
the Internet of Things to transform how
1.1.7 It is expected that large cities will continue to the geospatial industry captures, creates,
be the major drivers of any growth in national maintains, manages and offers data over
GDP. The speed of urbanisation and the the next decade and beyond. Moreover,
recognition that managing the consequences future business opportunities around Big
and realising the opportunities requires Data, analytics, machine learning, platform
disaggregated geospatial data is leading to economies, digital ecosystems and
a propensity of city municipalities to buy in smart cities are significant and geospatial
high-quality geospatial services and insights information are the underpinning component
rather than develop the capability in-house of these offers.
from scratch.
1.1.11 As the number of digital devices increases
1.1.8 Population change and shift in values – - from smartphones and watches to
Populations across the globe continue to autonomous vehicles connected to the
become more urbanised with an estimated Internet of Things - the volume, value,
730 million people living in cities by 2030, variability, variety, velocity, and veracity of
leading towards requirements for improved data will continue to grow exponentially.
physical, economic, social, and environmental However, the exact impact of technological
infrastructure both within cities and between developments, integrated applications, and
cities.9 It is projected that by 2030, there will data abundance on the geospatial industry
be 38 megacities with populations of over and the global economy remains unclear;
10 million and rising. This new infrastructure it can be expected that data collection and
will need to be capable of handling a society data analysis will drive capacity-building and
that continues to age with estimations evidence-based decision-making over the
showing that the number of people aged 60 next decade.
years or over is projected to grow globally.10
Population trends relating to urbanisation, 1.1.12 Environmental pressures – The impacts of
ageing and migration – combined with climate change continue to devastate lives,
economic and technological changes – have communities and economies all over the
led to a demographic shift that reshapes the world, as international migration becomes
values, attitudes and necessities of future increasingly linked to climate-induced factors.
generations. However, with population growth, rapid
urbanisation and further industrialisation,
1.1.9 Today, the smartphone has become a the demand for natural resources especially
ubiquitous part of people’s daily lives with water and food production continue to
two-thirds of the world’s households owning grow and increase environmental problems
a smartphone device. Improvements in such as air pollution and waste; ultimately,
connectivity have promoted the use of Apps creating further environmental pressures
and increased the amount of data produced and threatening resource security. The most
and consumed. Speed, convenience, and visible effects include changing weather
instant access to information are driving patterns, sea-level increase and water
expectations around seamless and integrated stress, deforestation, reduced crop yield and
user experiences. biodiversity loss. Geospatial information and
technology have been applied to all these
scenarios to combat, monitor and mitigate
the impact of those factors and may receive

a boost due to the upcoming negotiation of a developments are highlighted in the chapters
post-2020 Biodiversity framework. that follow.
1.1.13 Many governments and businesses, in 1.2.3 This assessment of drivers and trends enables
particular the insurance sector, are already countries to choose the trends that are likely
investing significantly in mitigating and to have the greatest impact on their future
preparing for the effects of climate change. development. This prioritisation of trends will
Insurance businesses are attempting to allow for the development of national strategies
account for climate change in their financial that focus on the successful implementation
risk portfolios, and it is anticipated that of the trends. Each trend will have a different
national and local governments as well level of impact on geospatial information
as international donor community will management as some trends will not affect
increasingly invest in the preparation for and every geographic region or industry segment
planning of disaster mitigation and response. equally. Thus, the trends have been mapped on
Both geospatial data and analytics capabilities a matrix to highlight the level of predictability
will be required on a greater scale to support on one axis and the potential impact on
these efforts.11 the other. The matrix intends to provide an
overview of the effect each of the top trends
is likely to have on the industry (Graphic 1).
1.2 Top geospatial drivers and trends: The impact and level of predictability is based
Assessing the five to ten year vision on the analysis of the expert contributions
received and documents provided.
1.2.1 In light of the Fourth Industrial Revolution,
geospatial information management is 1.2.4 Overall, this high-level analysis shows
increasingly influenced by global mega- that despite being driven by technological
trends like urbanisation, population growth, developments and the availability of new
and digitisation that are contributing to the data sources and analytical methods, the
long-lasting impact of these developments. industry is influenced by a much broader set
Many aspects of geospatial information of drivers. It appears certain that a data-
have become mainstream. As technological driven society will fuel innovation which is
developments break down barriers, many of central to growth within organisations and
the specialised skills are no longer industry- nations. Such innovation will be underpinned
specific; and, the emergence of vast data by developments in the areas of connectivity,
ecosystems provide opportunities to develop interoperability of data and metadata, sensor
new solutions to engage with users. To keep networks, data processing and analytics, and
abreast of trends in geospatial information, cloud computing.
the regular revision and assessment of their
implications remain relevant. 1.2.5 Other trends highlight the wider impact on
society, business, and policy. Nonetheless,
1.2.2 Drawing on the information received in terms of impact and predictability, no one
throughout the consultation process and the single geospatial driver is advancing change in
views expressed during the discussion fora, the global geospatial information management
the report has identified the top trends that landscape. It is the combination of all the
are likely to affect geospatial information trends across the five industry drivers that
management over the upcoming decade. The are shaping the transformation of the industry
trends have been divided into five overarching over the next five to ten years.
industry drivers as shown below in Table 1.
The report provides a consensus view for
the professional geospatial community with
the aim to forecast how these drivers are
expected to evolve over the next five to ten
years. However, the table is not exhaustive
and more detail on the trends discussed
in this section as well as further industry

Table 1. Geospatial Drivers and Trends
• Relevance of data
integration and
interoperability increase • Ubiquitous connectivity
enables deployment of
• Products and solutions new tech
produced from multiple
data sources becoming • Digital infrastructure
the norm through sensors and IoT
• New opportunities for • Interconnecting modes

data gathering, i.e. of transport through
autonomous vehicles intelligent mobility
• Crowdsourcing and VGI • Digital Twins for
UN-GGIM |
become established ways modelling, simulation
of data collection and prediction • Rise of products and
services specifically
• High-resolution high- • Wide uptake of edge designed for the • Increased diversity at • Digital ethics and
revisit Earth computing to enable urban environment work in technology, privacy addressed by
Observation data intelligent mobility, the science, and innovation national and
become valid alternative IoT, and smart cities • Demand for real-time international initiatives
Trends
to aerial imagery information provision • Talent and consumer
• Visualisations and shift - changing values • Cybersecurity
• Big Data processing immersive technology • Digital divide and and attitudes conversations increase
has become a normal widely used to enhance exclusion continue to in tandem with increase
path of geospatial data customer experience hold back universal • Incubator spaces in digital devices
processing and decision making digital transformation enable innovation to
enter markets swiftly • Pace of digital and
• Integration of multiple • Machine learning, deep • Seamless experience tech change puts
data sources requires learning, and AI disrupt between outdoor and • Regeneration of pressure on national

licensing harmonisation geospatial production indoor mapping business ecosystem institutions to address

becomes an through the rise of non- policy and legislative
• Digital platforms • Data cubes can deliver expectation geospatial start-ups shortcomings
provide access to data at analysis ready data
scale • Viable integrated • New collaboration • Pressure on
• Quantum computing Smart City solutions agreements with government
• Linked Data enables enables intensive becoming wide industries outside of institutions to be more
knowledge-on-demand processing spread geospatial emerge tech and digital savvy
Drivers Rise of new data sources Technological Evolution of user Industry Legislative
& analytical methods advancements requirements structural shift environment
16
Graphic 1.
Five drivers will advance change in the global geospatial information management landscape over the next 5 to 10 years
Machine learning, deep learning, AI

New opportunities for data gathering
Digital intrastructure Ubiquitous connectivity
HIGH
Talent & consumer shift High-resolution high-
revisit Earth Observation
Immersive technology Real-time information
Licensing harmonisation
and visualisation
Big Data processing Digital platforms
Quantum computing Digital twins
Incubator spaces Pace of digital change Urban environment Data cubes
UN-GGIM |
Regeneration of business ecosystem Multiple data sources
Data integration
Edge computing
& interoperability Digital ethics & privacy
Intelligent mobility Cybersecurity
Smart cities
Linked data Outdoor & indoor mapping Crowdsourcing & VGI
New collaboration agreements Digital divide & exclusion
Pressure on government institutions

Diversity at work
Impact on the global geospatial industry

LOW
LOW Predictability of the trend’s medium and long-term trajectory HIGH
Five prevailing drivers and an underlying set of trends Technological advancements Evolution of user requirements
Rise of new data sources & analytical methods Legislative environment
Industry structural shift
17
1.3 Technological advancements information, facilities, infrastructure, and indoor
environment to enable seamless indoor-outdoor
1.3.1 Innovation has driven many technological mapping, modeling, and data handling.
developments in recent years. In particular,
disruption in geospatial information 1.3.5 Although quantum computing is still in the
management is driven by automation, Artificial research and development (R&D) stage of
Intelligence, sensor technology, and the its development, geospatial industry experts
Internet of Things. In addition, advances anticipate the technology to have great impact
in technology such as high-performance on intensive processing. Early applications
cloud computing, ubiquitous high-speed show promising results in areas of connected
connectivity, new sensor networks and and autonomous vehicles (CAVs).
sensor platforms, geospatial analytics, and
autonomous smart machines have created a
shift towards a more machine-centric world. 1.4 Rise of new data sources & analytical
This machine-to-machine world is about methods
location-based computing and outcomes in
an essentially “mapless” environment. 1.4.1 It is anticipated that mobile data collection,
crowdsourcing, and social media are likely
1.3.2 These developments have fuelled and will to have the greatest impact over the coming
continue to fuel an explosion in the volume decade. These forms of data collection will
and currency of data, driving down the cost enable accurate, (near) real-time applications
of data capture. With new developments in that are increasingly demanded by various
intelligent transport systems (ITS) and the users of geospatial data.
growth of Big Data and Big Data mining, there
has been a significant increase in the demand 1.4.2 The availability of low-cost, high-quality, high-
for geospatial information, particularly frequency Earth observation satellite data has
highly detailed, (near) real-time data. Aside, contributed to the ever-increasing volumes of
developments in BIM enable urban planners data. Combined with Artificial Intelligence and
to monitor the building information, facilities, computational capabilities, developed and
infrastructure, and indoor environment to developing nations will witness productivity
enable seamless indoor-outdoor mapping, increases in the processes of data obtaining,
modeling, and data handling. maintenance, and management.
1.3.3 5G is seen to be one of the most influential 1.4.3 This variety of data licences represent a
changes in recent years. It is expected that real barrier to interoperability and solution
5G will bring about an increase in the capacity development based on different data sources.
for information exchange. This includes higher Integrating different datasets when the terms
data exchange speed in latency time or time of the licences differ remains a significant
required to establish the connection between challenge. Over the next decade, the industry
user and server, in addition to the frequency anticipates the developments in licensing
allowing broadband to be about 1000 times harmonisations towards a set of simple,
faster per unit. standard and concise licences.
1.3.4 In the last few years, a substantial rise in

Digital Twin projects across North America, 1.5 Industry structural shift
Asia, Australia and Europe has been
observed. Aiming to improve the efficiency of 1.5.1 Geospatial information management has
urban planning and management, enabling undergone significant disruptive change
informed decision-making, and gaining in terms of map generation technologies,
insight from multiple datasets are central use cases, business models, and user
drivers for city municipalities, the application requirements. Expertise in consolidating large
of this technology will continue to spread numbers of data sources, understanding of
across the world. Aside, developments in BIM mapping requirements, and new toolsets
enable urban planners to monitor the building developed to automate map creation will be

critical for the future. In addition, on-demand 1.7 Legislative environment
mapping, generalisation and topological
reconstruction will be more focused. 1.7.1 The increasing number of connected devices
and data volumes have also started to
1.5.2 Driven by the automotive industry and raise questions around data privacy and
telecommunication, high-definition maps are cybersecurity which may lead to calls for
crucial for the introduction of widespread changes to the legislative or regulatory
ITS. Developments show that GPS-assisted environment to be addressed in some way.
tracking systems may be used for car
tracking, traffic control and monitoring for 1.7.2 The Cambridge Analytica and Facebook data
alternative road selection on demand. This scandal in 2018, has led to calls for tighter
technology can assist moving object modeling data privacy regulations and data ethics
and mitigate the number or severity of car frameworks. National governments and
accident and fatalities. Consequently, the international institutions alike have created
automotive industry has been identified as guidelines on ethical considerations when
one of the future markets of choice for many using geospatial data and technologies.
geospatial businesses that are offering data
and solutions through partnerships and R&D 1.7.3 There is evidence that the immediate reaction
collaborations with vehicle manufacturers and to disruption is often to introduce legislation
academia. Car-generated data offers much to address perceived risk before the potential
opportunity and is predicted to be one of the benefits are understood and a balanced
fastest growing markets of the future. approach to the legislation can be developed.
1.5.3 In terms of skillsets, automation and Artificial

Intelligence applications will enable employees 1.8 The impact of the trends on the
to be freed up from monotonous tasks that Integrated Geospatial Information
machines take over enabling the workforce to Framework
upskill or reskill to perform higher value tasks.
1.8.1 The third edition of the Future Trends report
complements the IGIF. It helps to ensure that
1.6 Evolution of user requirements the Framework integrates and takes advantage
of the latest innovations and trends.
1.6.1 The internet, mobile devices and the growing
number of location-based services means that 1.8.2 Table 2 below cross-references the top
an increasing number of users have constant trends against the nine strategic pathways
and direct contact with geospatial information. of the IGIF. Based on the distribution and
Demand for near real-time data is driven by crossovers, it could be argued that priority
the expectation of instant and frictionless should be given to those pathways that are
access to information on mobile devices. likely to see the most amount of change.
1.6.2 City municipalities have emerged as a highly 1.8.3 Unsurprisingly, the Innovation and Data
engaged user of geospatial information, pathways, accompanied by the Standards
particularly since the rise of smart city pathway, received the most coverage in
solutions and Digital Twin technology have the impact assessment table (Table 2).
become available. Early examples of digital Nonetheless, it is notable that all trends
representations of city infrastructure have relate in some way to each of the individual
enabled municipalities to monitor and simulate pathways.
scenarios related to climate change and
flooding events while mitigating risks and 1.8.4 For instance, the Capacity and Education
increasing infrastructure resilience pathway will be impacted by all trends to
a greater or lesser extent. The geospatial
1.6.3 This focus on the urban environment will industry, in collaboration with academia, will
continue to drive the development of viable need to ensure that all trends are considered
integrated smart city solutions across the world. to develop capacity and improve education

programmes that will enable the industry to
remain relevant in the global economy.
1.8.5 Another pathway that will see significant

transformation is the Policy and Legal
pathway. In relation to technological
advances, developments such as edge
computing and machine learning are likely
to become legal issues and will be a new
area of concern for the geospatial sector. In
particular, the areas of cyber security, privacy
and data sensitivity will need to be addressed
as machine-to-machine processing will trigger
new intelligent data that has the potential to
expose sensitive information or assets. Recent
examples of fitness apps exposing patterns of
behaviours highlight the criticality of keeping
abreast of the impact of innovation.
1.8.6 Ultimately, decision makers, institutions, and

organisations working on a national approach
will inevitably be tracking and studying the
dynamic developments in the above. As
an integrated framework, the IGIF provides
strategic pathways and offers a new mechanism
for countries to build upon to further strengthen
geospatial information management and guide
their transformational change.

Table 2. Trends - IGIF Pathways impact assessment
IGIF Pathways
Communication
& Engagement
Policy & Legal
& Institutions
Partnerships
Governance
& Education
Innovation
Standards
Financial
Capacity
Key Trends
Data
Technological advancements
Ubiquitous connectivity enables deployment of new tech
Digital infrastructure through sensors and the IoT
Interconnecting transport through intelligent mobility
Digital Twins for modelling, simulation and prediction
Edge computing for intelligent mobility, IoT, smart cities
Immersive tech and visualisation for decision making
Machine & deep learning, AI disrupt geospatial production
Data cubes can deliver analysis ready data
Quantum computing enables intensive processing
Rise of new data sources & analytical methods
Relevance of data integration and interoperability increase
Products/solutions from multiple data sources the norm
New opportunities for data gathering; autonomous vehicles
Crowdsourcing and VGI become ways of data collection
High-res-revisit Earth Obs data valid alt to aerial imagery
Big Data processing normal for geospatial data processing
Integration multi data sources needs licensing harmonisation
Digital platforms provide access to data at scale
Linked Data enables knowledge-on-demand
Industry structural shift
Increased diversity at work in STEM
Talent and consumer shift - changing values and attitudes
Incubator spaces enable innovation to enter markets swiftly
Regen of business ecosystem; rise non-geospatial start-ups
New collab agreements industries non-geospatial emerge
Evolution of user requirements
Rise of products/services designed for urban environment
Demand for real-time information provision
Digital divide/exclusion slows universal digital transformation
Seamless experience between out/indoor mapping expected
Viable integrated Smart City solutions become widely spread
Legislative environment
Digital ethics/privacy fixed by nat/international initiatives
Cybersecurity/digital devices conversations increase in tandem
Digital/tech change; address policy/legislative shortcomings
Government institutions to be more tech/digital savvy
Major level of impact Minor level of impact

2. The digital infrastructure of the future
The digital data infrastructure is becoming as relevant as the features of the physical environment, but it is
the densely populated and resource intensive areas - cities - where the greatest drive towards utilising this
infrastructure can be experienced.
Highlights:
• Advances in next-generation mobile communication technology allow for speeds of up to one gigabyte per
second, revolutionising data exchange;
• Digital Twins and data exchange enhance and optimise the real-world by monitoring and simulating scenarios
to mitigate risks and increase resilience, and may also allow real-time information intervention;
• Visualisations and immersive technology enhance the way in which people interact with the environment and
will increasingly inform decision-making alongside other use cases;
• Edge computing enables reliability, mitigates risk and facilitates situational awareness of autonomous systems; and,
• Data and semantic interoperability are key challenges that need to be overcome through the application of
common standards.
2.1 Ubiquitous connectivity in this chapter – and incorporating additional

high-resolution features such as street
2.1.1 Connectivity has been described as the most furniture, building material, vegetation and
critical enabler of digital transformation over the weather conditions, spatial planning can be
next 10 years. The advent of fifth generation conducted effectively allowing for 5G small
(5G) mobile communication and its ability cell technology to be deployed economically.
for large amounts of data to be transmitted
at higher speed is likely to change how the 2.1.3 Nonetheless, one of the biggest remaining
geospatial industry operates and would enable barriers to the implementation of 5G
a raft of emerging technologies to reach is the speed of its deployment. Due to
maturity. These include the ever-increasing high investment requirements, Return on
number of connected devices, CAVs, Artificial Investment (ROI) uncertainties, and ongoing
Intelligence, immersive technologies, as well as standardisation, the timeframe for wide-scale
Digital Twins. It is the ubiquitous connectivity, 5G deployment falls some time into the 2020s
through ultra-fast speeds and low latency, but will largely depend on the willingness of
which will facilitate near real-time massive national governments and telecommunication
machine-type communication between providers to deliver the necessary infrastructure.
intelligent machines without human input. It
is expected that as deployment reaches its 2.1.4 Despite its benefits, connectivity is unlikely
technological and commercial maturity, the to spread equally around the world. The
impact of 5G will improve the productivity, digital divide and digital exclusion remain
efficiency and effectiveness of companies and key factors in holding back ubiquitous global
public administrations. digital transformation. Although the capability
of existing digital technology has improved
2.1.2 Interestingly, the deployment of 5G is and the number of connected devices have
also a prime example of the relevance of grown exponentially over the last decade,
location intelligence in enabling emerging remote communities continue to lack access
technologies. By creating a dynamic 3D to digital devices, reliable Information and
digital map of the physical environment – the Communication Technology (ICT) and/or the
‘Digital Twin’ concept will be discussed later digital skills to reap the benefits of this digital

transformation. This trend can be observed are limitation of sensor networks regarding
in high, middle, and low-income countries the energy required, their coverage, and
as funding is mostly linked to the urbanised the sensors localisation optimisation. As
economic centres of a nation. Those living on digitalisation improves, real-time information
the periphery will continue to experience the will assist more organisations in their everyday
impact of lacking access to digital means on processes, particularly those responding to
public services, economic and employment emergency events, such as disasters and
opportunities, and political empowerment. disease outbreaks, such as the COVID-19
pandemic. The ability for smart city services
to be built upon high-quality geospatial base
2.2 Conceptualisation and realisation of data which is required to plan, build, operate
Digital Twins and maintain assets will enable many future
high-value services to be developed to enable
2.2.1 The last edition of the Future Trends report smart cities.
thoroughly introduced the concept of smart
cities and the Internet of Things as a result of 2.2.4 The concept of the city Digital Twin is
the increasing pace of urbanisation. Although progressing rapidly, and it is almost
the meaning of ‘smart’ still comes in various impossible for effective urban planning to
guises, it can be viewed as a proxy for several take place without the availability of sensors,
elements described throughout this report image capture and processing, and data
namely as a data-driven society, citizen analysis technology. Essentially, a Digital
centricity, technology enablement, digital Twin is a digital representation of a physical
ecosystems, place-based decision making, asset that enables users to visualise it,
economic growth, sustainability, resilience and check the asset’s status, perform analysis
public security. and generate insights in order to predict and
optimise its performance. In comparison to
2.2.2 Ongoing urbanisation is likely to have a static 3D models, Digital Twins are directly
major impact on cities across the world. linked to multiple data sources and receive
These include, the need to plan and build updates continuously. Early examples of
new infrastructure or to effectively manage digital representations of city infrastructure
the existing infrastructure to support an have enabled municipalities to monitor and
expanding population; the need to utilise simulate scenarios related to climate change
existing resources, infrastructure, and services and flooding events while mitigating risks and
in a more resilient and sustainable way to increasing infrastructure resilience.
support increased demand and maximise
ROI; and, the need to apply authoritative 2.2.5 Digital Twins are set to enable an asset-centric
data to support effective decision-making. approach helping to model, simulate and
As noted earlier in the report, data-driven predict the performance of assets, systems
societies, data-driven innovation, and and processes within the urban environment
data-driven decision-making will be central and when fully integrated should provide
to the operational overhaul of the urban autonomous operations and maintenance.
environment. Described as the highest form of Digital Twin
maturity, the technology will enable complete
2.2.3 Today, sensor networks are increasingly self-governance and offer transparency by
common in cities providing near real-time minimising cost, improving productivity, lowering
information on temperature, moisture, noise environmental impact, reducing operational
and pollution levels, enhancing efficiencies risk and improving operational reliability.
and enabling data-driven decision-making by
both public and private stakeholders. Real- 2.2.6 Although belonging to different domains,
time information applications already assist Geographic Information System (GIS) and
many municipalities in their decision-making Building Information Modeling (BIM) will
processes and there is an ever-growing need likely converge as users are increasingly
for status updates on one or more devices expecting a seamless experience between
to be as timely as possible. However, there indoor and outdoor mapping. The Second

edition of the Future Trends report touched Arguably, the geospatial industry needs to
upon the integration between outdoor and answer three significant questions: (1) How
indoor positioning. It referred to the issue will this development change the mapping
of traditional mapping providers stopping requirements that users of ITS are likely
mapping and several industries are likely to experience?; (2) How can geospatial
to be impacted by developing a seamless technologies enable ITS?; and, (3) How can
indoor-outdoor experience. Nonetheless, the the geospatial industry consume and use the
challenges in bringing those different domains data that is collected by ITS? Over the long-
together continues and are described later in term it is likely that mobility plans based on
this chapter. geospatial information may be implemented.
2.2.7 Over the long-term, advances to Digital Twin 2.3.2 There are opposing views on the requirements
technology is expected to enable machines for the development of ITS and automated
to design, build and operate its real-world driving. While the automotive industry
equivalent in a highly efficient and effective conducts extensive trails of automated
way. Machines will be able to process and navigation based on the built-in car sensors,
analyse vast quantities of data gaining some argue that a digitally connected
insight and understanding that goes beyond navigable road network that holds information
the human capability. Thus, machines will on street-level features like lamp posts,
automatically run unlimited diagnostics and pedestrian crossings and road markings with
models against the Digital Twin to enhance resolution better than 5cm will be required.
and optimise the real world. Looking beyond Due to the predicted mixture of vehicles
the next five to ten years, humans and operating at different autonomy levels, it is
machines are likely to co-exist, interoperate, considered that real-time information updates
and collaborate to solve real world problems, will be crucial to allow CAVs to observe
such as flooding events, water shortage and temporary objects and obstacles in the road.
efficient agriculture.
2.3.3 Today, trusted geospatial data enables the
2.2.8 This will mean a paradigm shift in the way acceleration of the development, deployment
geospatial data and metadata are collected, and safety of CAVs. Location data for planning
managed, represented and exploited. It can and testing in a synthetic environment also
be expected that data capture will almost provides geo-references in places where full
exclusively be driven by interconnected connectivity and sensor feeds cannot be
devices, while smart software will dominate guaranteed. By the end of the 2020s, it is
the data exploitation space. Existing anticipated that the sensor technology inherent
examples of digital representations of urban in CAVs will be sufficient to fully operate
environments have shown that the future of independently. When fully connected to other
smart cities will be significantly less effective vehicles (V2V), to infrastructure (V2I), or to the
without the digital representation and related surrounding ‘smart’ environment (V2X), CAVs
context of geography, whether that is to may not require any additional location data to
support future domains such as BIM, digital safely navigate on public roads.12
asset management, 3D land and property
cadastre, utility services, intelligent transport 2.3.4 With many global players working on CAVs,
systems, integrated mobility, defence and several descriptions for routing and road
intelligence, public safety, or security. attributes have arisen which do not always
match. To ensure interoperability of systems
and designs, common terminology and
2.3 Intelligent transport systems and edge standards must be developed when modeling,
computing testing and ultimately vehicle-proving on
public roads and footpaths is to take place
2.3.1 One of the areas in the smart city and Digital safely. Consistent definitions for road
Twin domain that has received significant geometry are required. A simple but illustrative
attention and investment by public and linguistic example is the use of the term
private bodies is the enablement of ITS. sidewalk in the US and pavement in the UK.

The collaboration and involvement of relevant refers to a variety of algorithmically trained
national and international standards bodies computing models such as machine learning,
will be vital for defining and maintaining a set natural language processing, robotics, and
of common terms.13 computer vision that are being applied to
various geospatial applications ranging
2.3.5 But the CAV concept is not limited to land from object recognition to real-time motion
traffic. Autonomous sensor carrier help to detection. Although the next chapter will
survey the seas and oceans, to inspect address Artificial Intelligence and machine
underwater cables and pipelines and search learning more thoroughly, it is notable that
for underwater obstacles. It can be foreseen in the case of CAVs navigation and object
that autonomous short track shipping along recognition data need to be processed locally
coasts will be introduced within this decade. as latency, distance and the unpredictability
The requirements in density, accuracy and up- of connectivity would prohibit safety and
to-dateness of information are not as strict as autonomous decision-making if conducted in
for land operations. However, to maintain the the cloud.
required quality level of geospatial information
under the harsh marine conditions and the 2.3.8 To enable reliability and efficient data
sole reliance on satellite-based communication processing, a cloud-edge feedback loop has
needs further improvement along the whole been proposed to consistently feed data
chain of information gathering, processing captured by sensors about the physical world
and dissemination. Special regard is to be into the digital model. As the data is analysed
placed to the crossover from marine-based and insight is gained, immediate data-driven
charting and land-based Mapping as one actions can be taken reducing the time and
continuous surface. Automatic berthing, improving outcomes which are at the heart of
charging and discharging of cargo depends enabling smart change.15
on smart combination of sensor technologies
and geospatial information such as mapping
requirements for seabed topography and 2.4 Visualisation technology and immersive
machine interpretable quality indicators. experience
2.3.6 The emergence of CAVs has brought about 2.4.1 Geospatial technology has always been
a focus on the so-called mission-critical able to visualise complex data relationships.
environments in which the inherent latency in Yet, new immersive technologies are
connecting to a centralised cloud computing revolutionising how users interact with
system would render any ITS unsafe. Overall, digital information by enabling real-time 3D
this is leading to a shift from a centralised representations and immersing the user in
structure to distributed systems – or short, digitally generated or enhanced realities.
a shift from the cloud to the edge. This The two most widely used immersive
means that real-time data processing and the technologies are virtual reality (VR) – a fully
execution of the service will happen locally on computer-generated simulation of a 3D
the device (and for CAVs and other applications environment – and augmented reality (AR) – a
on nearby edge nodes/servers to reduce reality-based environment that is overlayered
latency), while the different variations of Artificial with computer-generated effects, display
Intelligence will continue to run in the cloud.14 or text that enhances the users’ real-world
experience. These technologies enable the
2.3.7 Applications that extract moving objects user to interact with simulations and visually
in street view for navigation, autonomous relate to the information sensors provide.
decision-making and safety will have the Examples include the merging of the real
ability to perceive the environment around world and computer-generated virtual layers
itself. Therefore, any autonomous system which can be used to visualise existing
will require to process the data it captures structures alongside planned ones.
locally which makes edge computing a
mission-critical enabling technology for 2.4.2 The combination of geospatial data, virtual
successful ITS. Put simply, Artificial Intelligence reality software and other datasets makes it

possible to experience a built environment challenges faced by municipalities working
before it has been constructed. As advances towards smart cities and Digital Twins and
towards creating Digital Twins are made, this other contexts where collaboration, trust and
new functionality would be likely to enable a transparency are necessary for removing
virtual representation of a place or building the boundaries and fragmentation we see
that can be navigated via a VR headset. between domains today.
2.4.3 The application of AR has seen the most 2.5.3 One example relates to enabling the
progress in recent years as the likes of Google sharing and exchange of information
and Microsoft are extensively investing in the between the AEC domain with geospatial
AR headset technology. It is anticipated that professionals supporting several of different
from the early 2020s this type of eyewear functions such as city planning and land
will start to move into the mainstream as the management. The AEC domain creates
cost of the technology decreases and the first much data and information using the
application industries utilise these headsets. technology and processes of BIM, whereas
For instance, the Architecture, Construction geospatial typically combines GIS and other
and Engineering (AEC) industry are likely to technologies.18 There is significant research
be one of the first sectors to start visualising literature on the topic of data interoperability
building plans holographically on site. between AEC and GIS; specifically, between
the open 3D data standards of Building
Smart’s International Industry Foundation
2.5 Building collaboration with standards Class (IFC) for the AEC industry, and Open
Geospatial Consortium’s CityGML for
2.5.1 Enabling effective collaboration between geospatial. These two data formats, for the
the stakeholders responsible for different reasons described above, are still largely
aspects of the urban lifecycle will require incompatible. However, efforts are being
reworking how those stakeholder groups made to bring the two data formats closer
share data, exchange data, and build systems together, such as the Integrated Digital Built
together. Spatial visualisation and data Environment joint working group between
integration techniques are being developed OGC and buildingSMART to join technical
and combined with other technologies - such experts from BIM and geo-domains to
as Artificial Intelligence and machine learning address this challenge.
- so that systems are capable of ensuring
the right information gets to the right people, 2.5.4 Several projects and initiatives are supporting
at the right time, and crucially in the right this effort, including a recent research project
format. However, some key challenges in the in Singapore, where the primary focus was
development of such systems remain. the development of tools to enable the
data exchange between stakeholders from
2.5.2 The concepts and language used by the construction and geospatial domains.
stakeholders to describe the features and Such examples highlight how engaging
processes relevant to the domain has an domains together in the implementation and
impact on aspects such as the semantic development of common standards, can lead
structures – for instance ontologies and to new forms of value and outcomes being
taxonomies – used to give meaning achieved quickly
to the data, as well as the design and
implementation of the tools for creating and
storing data.16 Between different stakeholders
and especially between different domains,
even small differences can result in significant
difficulties making data sharing or exchanging
almost impossible or at best, not without
some loss of information or changes to the
structure or meaning of the data.17 This is
likely to become one of the most crucial

3. The rise of Artificial Intelligence, Big Data and data
analytics
Data Science is a growing profession within geospatial information management that combines statistical and
analytical techniques with computer programming and algorithm design to generate new and valuable insights
from data.
Highlights:
• Continued developments in image recognition and feature extraction, coupled with reduced storage costs, will
provide opportunities for faster data capture and maintenance of geospatial information, and will come closer
in quality and usability to that which can be achieved by traditional survey methods;
• Increased automation and improvements in machine learning free up time-consuming and resource-intensive
tasks leading to higher production efficiency;
• Big Data processing will be the norm as machine learning and deep learning mature and become established
functions in geospatial production; and,
• Beyond the next ten years, quantum computing will enable more intensive processing of the increasing volume
of location-related data.
3.1 Realising value through Big Data and is increasingly being added in the data
data analytics integration method that combines many types
of data from various sources - ETL (Extraction,
3.1.1 In the era of Big Data and with the increasing Transformation, Loading).
generation of real-time spatial data - including
social media, the Internet of Things, and other 3.1.4 Overall, there are three main types of
interactive media - an overwhelming flow of analytics: (1) descriptive analytics that uses
data in structured and unstructured formats data to describe, summarise and visualise
has emerged. Today, data is created at a rate information, as well as mining and aggregating
that is faster than our ability to exploit the data current and historic data to gain insight;
for analysis, decision-making or problem- (2) predictive analytics that uses machine
solving. learning with data to make predictions and
uses statistical and probabilistic techniques
3.1.2 Big Data is characterised by the so-called four to predict future trends and outcomes; and
V’s: volume, velocity, veracity and variety and (3) prescriptive analytics that recommends
may bring significant value (commonly referred courses of actions to achieve an outcome by
to as the fifth V) through its processing. making decisions.
Consequently, Big Data requires specialised
techniques for processing and analysis to 3.1.5 Predictive analytics is probably the most
extract knowledge. Data science as a discipline widely used modeling technique allowing
refers to the methods used to provide new decision makers to assess options, predict
insight from the analysis of Big Data. uncertainties, and assess the impact of one
factor over another. Predictions offer insights
3.1.3 Typically, data science is being used to into the likely outcome-based on the analysis
produce new insights as well as improving of trends, data or patterns. As a result,
operational efficiencies and enhancing decision makers will not only have access to
decision-making. While the field of data what is likely to happen but also information
science is proliferating, early results include on the impact of various decisions.
capabilities beyond heat maps and track
analysis. Nonetheless, the spatial dimension

3.2 The potential of Artificial Intelligence in an environment can develop strategies
geospatial production on its own to complete a goal or set of
goals. Applications of deep learning have
3.2.1 One of the biggest opportunities for geospatial predominantly focused on object recognition
information management over the next ten and imagery.
years is Artificial Intelligence - particularly,
image analysis and information extraction. 3.2.4 In terms of feature extraction and image
Geospatial Artificial Intelligence (GeoAI) is a recognition, machine learning operates in
sub-discipline of Artificial Intelligence that three main stages: (1) platforms ingest a
uses machine learning to extract knowledge variety of remote sensing data; (2) machine
from spatial data. With an exponentially learning capabilities are developed by
increasing volume of remote and Internet of training classifiers on sample data to develop
Things sensed data, automation is pivotal signatures for the target identification,
in enabling the effective processing of more classification and change detection; and, (3)
and more data and achieving the goal of these classifiers identify their targets and label
real-time data. Over the long-term, machine them using high-resolution data.
learning will be essential to deal with the
growing requirements of an interconnected 3.2.5 As big volumes of satellite imagery are
world. Automation is one of the initial steps in made available in the cloud, providing global
implementing Artificial Intelligence solutions. spatial coverage with increasing granularity
level (spatial and temporal resolution), both
3.2.2 Early adoption examples of data-intensive automatic change detection and feature
machine learning methods have shown extraction procedures can be performed
the potential for more evidence-based through neural network algorithms applied to
decision-making across many industries and historic time series of images. The Open Data
applications including health care, utilities, Cube described later in this report supports
manufacturing, insurance, finance, and public this kind of temporal analysis. As cloud
services. Undoubtedly, Artificial Intelligence processing services become increasingly
and machine learning will increase rapidly cost-effective and accessible, it is expected
over the next ten years and its presence will that NMGAs will experience efficiency savings
be felt across the geospatial industry and and productivity improvements over the next
application sectors. It will speed up processes, five to ten years.
improve productivity and enhance decision-
making procedures but at the same time will 3.2.6 Machine learning is an assistive technology
require careful adoption and quality assurance that allows humans to harness automation
measures to ensure tractable decisions. improving speed and scale of formerly
Quality assurance and standards for Artificial manual tasks. Developments in machine
Intelligence and machine learning are likely learning programmes are due to the
to see increased activities in this area as increasing availability of data linked with high-
government bodies and businesses move away performance computing power that enables
from feasibility studies and adopt machine the training of the algorithms in more realistic
learning into the geospatial production cycle. time frames, and with more data making them
higher quality predictors. However, challenges
3.2.3 Global companies like Google, Facebook and remain around the availability and ratio of
Microsoft are making significant investments labelled training datasets and algorithms
in Artificial Intelligence. The areas receiving versus testing datasets in AI analysis of
most interest is reasoning, knowledge, geospatial data.
representation, perception, natural language
processing, robotics and machine learning. 3.2.7 There have been marked improvements in
In recent years, machine learning has gone computer vision functions such as image
through significant development cycles classification and object recognition. Early
developing new algorithms that enables applications include disaster risk response
reinforcement learning – a branch of deep scenarios. Providing timely, dynamic and
learning that focuses of how an agent in accurate mapping solutions are crucial in

preparation, response and recovery phase that the application of quantum computers
of disasters; yet, the nature of disasters due could reduce the time it takes to search large
to their scale and volatility have proven a unsorted datasets.
challenge. Initiatives like the Humanitarian
OpenStreetMap Team increasingly apply 3.2.12 While useful GeoAI applications are
computer vision techniques to speed up increasingly being implemented, AI is still
and improve the accuracy of mapping data in a developmental stage. The level of
generation and dissemination delivering up- interoperability and trust behind machine
to-date maps for vast geographic territories.19 learning algorithms prediction remains a
grey area. The overall confidence across
3.2.8 While industry organisations already provide the geospatial community in the results of
these capabilities in the market, many NMGAs machine learning remains moderate due to
have been training models to classify objects a lack of understanding in the algorithms
in aerial imagery such as buildings, roof tops, applied and the extent to which the findings
roof types, solar panels, street furniture and can be generalised. More so, concerns around
further data at street level, to achieve fully data integrity persist due to the reliance on
automatic change detection of all changes the cloud and data storage. Fully automated
in the built and natural environment over change detection and pattern recognition
the long-term. The wholesale collection and within geospatial production is predicted to be
maintenance of geospatial data themes achieved in the next five to ten years.
via Artificial Intelligence by industry for
government is likely to grow over the next 3.2.13 Although current applications of machine
decade. As society progresses toward learning for geospatial data focuses on object
real-time observations from sensor grids, extraction and change detection, a wider
technologies like edge analytics and fog range of geospatial applications will benefit
computing will enable pattern recognition and from the potential of the technology in the
interpretation from Big Data. future. Application areas include Digital Twins,
autonomous mobility, sustainable smart city
3.2.9 When trained thoroughly, algorithms offer management, augmented building and energy
scalability, speed and increasing accuracy management.
freeing up the workforce to focus on high-
value tasks as machines can search more 3.2.14 Currently in development, international
datasets using more variables to discover standards will ensure wide-spread
patterns in a shorter timeframe than humans. interoperability and security among those
The next five years will see government disciplines that work with Artificial Intelligence
agencies and commercial businesses leading to the ethical and responsible use
reassess their technical workforce capabilities of Artificial Intelligence technologies in
and harness automation by educating their geospatial applications.21
workforce on data science.
3.2.10 Ultimately, the technology drivers enabling

advances in GeoAI can be summarised by
three factors: increases in low-cost cloud
computing; the availability of cheap sensor
technology and the ongoing expansion of
geospatial information; and, the development
of new algorithms capable of leveraging
multiple data sources.20
3.2.11 Developments in computing technologies,

particularly quantum computing, are promising
and provide significant opportunities for
processing the increasing abundance of data.
Still in the development phase, it is expected

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4. Trends in technology and the future direction of data
creation, maintenance and management
Data and metadata capture, maintenance, management and data integration have been accelerated and improved
through the emergence of new technological tools and the use of a greater variety of data sources.
Highlights:
• Satellites, Remotely Operated Aerial Systems (ROAS), Autonomous Underwater Vehicles (AUVs), Autonomous
Surface Vehicles (ASVs) at sea, and sensor technology are being invested in by leading tech giants, existing
providers of sensed imagery and governments;
• Earth observation technology such as satellites, data cubes, high altitude or vehicle-based sensors are providing
a greater variety and volume of data about the earth to higher resolution and temporal frequency for lower costs;
• Provision of web service infrastructures enters the mainstream, making it easier to create new technology-
based products quickly and more cheaply than before and to outsource costs;
• Applications of sensors, robotics, cameras, encryption, cloud computing and other software, and hardware intelligence
are converging, enabling new ways for organisations and their equipment to perceive and capture reality; and,
• Artificial Intelligence-driven solutions and machine learning will drive cost efficiency, accuracy and speed in
GNSS and Positioning, spatial analytics and Earth observation.
4.1 The new wave of data creation the growing sensor network will generate a
continuous flow of geo-referenced data - pre-
4.1.1 Over the next decade, the technologies and processed on the spot - and will provide a
data creation methods that will have the source for dynamic infrastructure data.
greatest impact on geospatial information
management are mobile data collection 4.1.3 Data creation is both active and passive.
methods; crowdsourcing for real-time data Modern smartphones have roughly between
collection; and, social media platforms. These eight and eleven sensors that capture
new forms of data collection will enable information on the location of the device
real-time applications that are increasingly through GPS, the speed at which the device
demanded by various users of geospatial data. is moving, and whether the device is being
Across the private and public sector, vehicles held to the ear. As social media and other
with driver assist systems are already a source online platforms become increasingly used,
of detailed 3D mapping data. their disruptive potential in imagery capture
is starting to rival traditional collection
4.1.2 The sensor systems and collection platforms methods. Users of social media are creating
are not just collecting the location and the ever increasing amounts of spatially located
properties of that location, but also the time information, without it being a conscious
that the information was collected, providing decision. The volumes of unstructured data
an important and foundation variable for so are multiplying daily through geo-tagged
many applications and services. The value of photos and raw telemetry information from
the Internet of Things lies in the vast quantities smartphones. Images of buildings, streets,
of data collected by connected sensors that and other city facilities may be used to build
are designed into products and increasingly 3D models of cities.
into the physical infrastructure around the
world. By leveraging and integrating this 4.1.4 In relation to data integration, a growing
data, which is inherently spatial, organisations number of businesses are merging geospatial
can scale appropriately, make data-driven data, such as satellite imagery, with other
decisions, and improve operational efficiencies data sources including social media to
and overall performance. It is expected that contextualised location-enabled insights. The

information generated through social media are imperative. ISO 19157 on data quality is
and other everyday devices will further reveal currently being revised. There are suggestions
patterns and predict behaviour. Although from the project to put a data quality register
not a new trend, the use of social media to in place. Displaying data quality indicators
provide realtime information on top of other will enable the user to consider the level of
functionalities increases new opportunities for confidence they should have in the underlying
location-based services. information.
4.2.5 Interoperability, accessibility, and

4.2 Managing a world of data discoverability of data – via data portals,
application programming interfaces
4.2.1 The size and complexity of existing information (APIs), and linked identifiers – will enable
resources as well as the constantly growing effective data use. Providing geospatial
number of new data sources cause problems information that is discoverable via search,
with the ability to search and discover the right documented with metadata to assess the
data and services. Users often face the problem appropriate use of the data, and easy to
of finding and using the right and best data for access and use can be described as the
their applications. It is necessary to improve the most significant developments in geospatial
methods and tools for identifying and searching data management. The ease of access has
databases and related services by streamlining evolved from being able to download entire
and standardising the process of creating data files at a moderate speed, to being
metadata or access to available metadata able to access a subset of data via a web
through appropriate catalogue services in a service as a “stream”, on to a demand-driven
spatial data infrastructure (SDI) framework, geoprocessing service that “streams” only
developing data directories and the development the result to the consumer. Over the coming
of popular search engine search tools. years, advancements regarding “ease of
use” and “user-preferred” will aim to achieve
4.2.2 Discovery of geospatial data on the web the objective of data services that are
remains a challenge that hampers its effective “mission-ready”. As such, the use of cloud
use. Currently, geospatial data is invisible infrastructure for hosting APIs, web services,
to the mainstream web, which means that and applications will continue to improve ease
search engines are unable to discover spatial of use by providing highly reliable and very
resources without explicit directions to access responsive services.
the catalogue. There are developments in the
delivery of persistently identified catalogue 4.2.6 With the ever-increasing generation and use of
information to the web through the Catalogue geospatial data in a diverse range of domains,
Services for Web (CSW) in multiple formats, awareness of the standards developed by
such as ISO19115, schema.org, Geo-DCAT, or the geospatial community needs to be raised
Dublin Core. constantly. There will be a continued demand
for open standard data file formats to ensure
4.2.3 Another problem relates to metadata which, the open market can provide a variety of
in most cases, are insufficient by either software tools and applications that can use
being missing or in a format not suitable the data. Also, these open standard data
for automated consumption. Moreover, file formats need to be flexible and simple
traditionally spatial metadata is often enough to be used and expanded for other
detached from the spatial resource in that they domains. Rather than custom-API’s, there
are stored in separate documents and derived will be developments towards the creation of
manually resulting in an ambiguous free-form more standards-based protocols and APIs
text in a closed-community jargon without to support ease of use by enabling several
navigable links to the actual resource these different applications to share a common
metadata describe. source code library, thus reducing the need for
limited-use custom source code.
4.2.4 To ensure consistent accurate data good
metrics about data quality, trust, and reliability

4.2.7 Data integration provides support in the local, national, regional or global level.23 Put
developing new streams of information and simply, linking data about people, businesses
new opportunities for organisations. The and environment to a place or geographic
rapid integration of simulation models and location, and its integration with geospatial
geospatial data increases the effectiveness information through the medium of location,
in the decision-making processes and the can result in an improved understanding
credibility in the application or service being of social, economic, and environmental
offered. It can be used as implicit validation issues – the key three pillars of sustainable
in many cases. For instance, New Zealand development, and by extension, the SDGs.
is putting increasing emphasis on data
integration to make optimal use of geographic 4.3.2 Key advancements have been achieved
and property data. Initiatives underway in since the last publication of the Future Trends
this area include services linking disparate Report; amongst which is the adoption of
datasets related to a property and a joint land the Global Statistical Geospatial Framework
and sea project enabling the consistent linking (GSGF) by UN-GGIM in August 2019. As a
of sea and land datasets and coastal mapping. Framework for the world, the GSGF enables
a range of data to be integrated from both
4.2.8 Another topic of interest is the capturing statistical and geospatial communities and,
and maintaining of historic data for insight through the application of its five Principles
analysis. The development of Big Data has and supporting key elements, permits the
raised questions about the cost of storage production of harmonised and standardised
and the long-term maintenance that will need geospatially enabled statistical data.
to be addressed.22 Some initiatives preserve
historical information by using tools to digitise, 4.3.3 With the adoption of the GSGF, future work
locate and navigate through this digitised data. turns towards developing guidance and
Others keep “alive” the access to old versions recommendations to facilitate geocoding
of products and produce new digital products to link statistical data to a location;
based on old data or documents. interoperability improved efficiency and
simplification in the creation, discovery,
4.2.9 The digitisation and proper archiving of all integration, and analysis of geospatially
geospatial related maps is a crucial concern enabled statistics and geospatial data;
for many LDCs and SIDS as data has been privacy and confidentiality to ensure that
lost due to inappropriate handling and storing. data custodians can store and release data
Trends in data collection and Big Data can in accordance with prevailing privacy and
only be addressed once effective ways to confidentiality norms; and, the use of common
digitise and archive current data holdings have geographies to enable the integration and
been achieved. dissemination of data.
4.2.10 Data preservation is a growing issue, 4.3.4 The ongoing digital transformation agenda will
particularly where it is software or sensor start to transform and influence the production
dependent. Standards for fully self-describing of geospatially enabled statistics. Leveraging
information about geospatial data allows a new and innovative opportunities from Earth
future reconstruction of the dataset without observations with non-traditional data sources
external documentation (ISO 19165-1). such as Call Data Records and crowdsourcing
will provide new insights and possibilities to
use data for decision making. The future of
4.3 Integrating statistical and geospatial statistical and geospatial integration will lead
information to enhanced knowledge and understanding of
geospatially enabled statistics and by that of
4.3.1 The integration of statistical and geospatial social, economic, and environmental issues,
information and the resulting geospatially support the data demands of national and
enabled statistics are a critical component global developmental priorities, and ultimately
towards meeting the data demands that strengthen the statistical and geospatial
informed decision-making required at either capacity of countries.

4.3.5 Nonetheless, challenges in the process practice. However, it is expected that, in the
of integrating statistical and geospatial next five to ten years, the primary function of
information remain. Several nations have an SDI will extend beyond providing access to
identified that the lack of alignment between data and will evolve to delivering knowledge-
their NMGAs and national statistical agencies on-demand by combining the Semantic Web,
are hindering the sharing of information. Artificial Intelligence, machine learning and
As a result, they have started to look at Linked Data in knowledge apps for real-time,
implementing a collaborative working reliable question-and-answer responses. As
arrangement and sharing of geospatial data governments are increasingly making their
infrastructures. It is anticipated that over data available in machine-readable Linked
the next ten years, national geostatistical Data formats, this trend is set to take off.
frameworks will be established as part of the
more comprehensive national geospatial data 4.4.4 As the trend to develop richer ontologies
infrastructures. continues, the benefits extend beyond
human-driven queries and enable machine-
driven queries. Semantic and ontology Linked
4.4 Linked data Data will become essential to support the
next generation of autonomous systems as a
4.4.1 As shown in the first edition of the Future critical source of information to connect with
Trends report, the interest in the use of their direct sensors for improved situational
semantics and ontologies to move the World decision-making, monitoring, alerting, and
Wide Web from human-centric to be more even forecasting.24 For instance, edge
readily consumed by machines continues as computing is set to provide faster access
the most promising way to handle the massive to information with the Internet of Things
volumes and variety of data. Linked Data is enabled devices, such as autonomous
seen as the key enabler for data integration. vehicles, ROAS and sensors. When combined
with the Semantic Web, edge computing will
4.4.2 The integration of Linked Data and Spatial interconnect the physical and information
Data Infrastructures (SDIs) is considered a technology world by simultaneously
promising alternative to overcome issues generating and harvesting spatial data, and
concerning the discovery, access, exploration producing this data in a format that can be
and use of spatial data through the Web queried by both humans and computers
that impair the full development of SDIs. If to deliver new information; thus, providing
successful, it is considered a relevant trend knowledge-on-demand.
that may lead to the unfolding of the third
generation of SDIs over the next five to 4.4.5 More recently, landform ontologies have been
ten years. OGC and the World Wide Web created for scenarios where feature extraction
Consortium (W3C) are working together to might be needed to answer a query. An
advise on best practices for the publication ontology approach has the potential benefit of
of spatial data on the Web, based on the not needing to pre-compute or to pre-extract
Semantic Web´s concept of Linked Data, and a feature, so the process can be reactive to
its counterpart in the public Open Data realm the situation by taking advantage of real-time
(Linked Open Data). data sources where pre-processing is not an
option. Aiding search, rescue, or recovery
4.4.3 With changing consumer behaviour leaning situations, landform feature extraction can
towards personalised and immediate access be performed using ontologies to search for
to information needs, the ability to derive peaks, valleys, plateaus using a variety of
knowledge from information whenever and imagery, elevation, lidar data or other remotely
wherever will become the new norm. While sensed data to quickly map the terrain of an
Semantic Web technologies and Linked Open area from the latest sources.
Data have been available for some time,
the geospatial industry has been hesitant
to assume its use, and the publication of
Semantic Web formats is not yet common

4.5 Cloud computing However, one of the main drawbacks of
using cloud computing services is the lack of
4.5.1 As mentioned previously, the increasing volume interoperability, meaning the user must decide
of data generates challenges on how this between flexibility and ease of use.
data is stored, maintained, and used. Cloud
computing and the internet have transformed 4.5.5 Despite the increasing use of cloud
the way in which organisations manage data. computing, certain issues around the uneven
It has been designed to treat IT as a scalable global distribution of available technology
service that can increase or decrease capacity as well as the challenge for some regions to
to match user demands, leverage shared meet the needs of basic electricity and high-
technologies and hardware, and ultimately speed internet connectivity for accessing,
realise economies of scale. A service- sharing, and processing large quantities of
orientated architecture is adopted in cloud data need to be addressed. Thus, software
computing and enables a reduction in up-front developers are challenged to factor in the
business investment in hardware, through requirement to function offline along with the
the development of a range of facilitating capacity to download the required data sets,
services, including Data as a Service (DaaS), so that models can be run locally. The SDO
Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS), Platform as community is focused on intra and inter cloud
a Service (PaaS) and Software as a Service interoperability with multiple OGC testbeds
(SaaS). The success of DaaS is based on addressing this challenge.25
the delivery of geospatial data for search and
download through simple APIs.
4.6 Developing fit-for-purpose open
4.5.2 The cloud computing model is rapidly standards
becoming the established model for those
working with medium and large-scale 4.6.1 There are a number of organisations, both at
data sets. All enterprises are increasingly the national and international level, who are
dependent on the data and data infrastructure responsible for the development of standards
provided by third party providers that offer for acquiring, implementing, maintaining
software, platforms and infrastructures directly and using geospatial information. At an
connected to a cloudbased environment. international level, the Open Geospatial
As cloud computing services mature, more Consortium (OGC), the International
tools, platforms and applications will become Organization for Standardization (ISO) and
available. Among others, these include Google the International Hydrographic Organisation
Earth Engine, Amazon Web Services (AWS), (IHO), in partnership with broader technology
and Esri’s ArcGIS Online. standards organisations to ensure
interoperability, lead on those matters.
4.5.3 Today, an increasing amount of data is
stored in cloud services. There are several 4.6.2 Since the publication of the last Future Trends
advantages, including the opportunity to report, the three Standards Development
access, adjust and share information more Organisations (SDOs) have contributed
efficiently. This means that multiple users/ to the draft IGIF Strategic Pathway on
services can rely on the same physical Standards. The chapter provides information
stored representation of data, reducing the on best practice standards and compliance
risk of old/corrupted local versions of data mechanisms that enable legal, data, semantic
being used in data analysis processes, and and technical interoperability to allow different
increasing economies in data storage. information systems to communicate and
exchange data, enable knowledge discovery
4.5.4 Users need to be aware that each cloud service and inferencing between systems, and
has different benefits and that the usage should provide users with lawful access to and reuse
inform which service to choose from. Some of information.
benefit from the way data is ingested (this
can include preloaded data), others provide 4.6.3 An increasing effort has been made
scripting language (for data processing). to respond to new expectations in the

development of standards for the future graphics processing units, small satellites,
application of technology. The OGC has crowdsourcing and a wider variety of sources
established a Technology Strategy that tracks of high-resolution terrain data from ROAS26,
technology trends providing quarterly updates have reduced the time and cost necessary
on the impact and horizon of the emerging to generate terrain models. Those functions
trends affecting the geospatial industry as automated include polygon generation, linking
well as inform the development of new work of data sets, and adding attributions.
programmes. By categorising a subset of
these trends as highest and second priority, 4.7.3 Important trends in data collection and
OGC can anticipate and address issues that sources utilised by the geospatial community
can be resolved through standardisation. and its consumers encompass new methods
of Earth observation including ROAS, small
4.6.4 Over the medium-term, the approach to satellites, sensor networks, and point clouds.
standards is expected to shift from a focus An Earth observation system with high
on providing data to enabling real-time data temporal resolution, high spatial resolution
streaming. As the Internet of Things and sensor and high spectral resolution will be built
networks mature, standards for V2V and V2I up, which will enable it to identify features
communication will become crucial. Although better. Accordingly, with the launch of high
standards for real-time data streaming exist, temporal, spatial, spectral resolution remote
the standardisation of streaming of geospatial sensing satellites, the proliferation of low‑cost
data has still to be achieved. Thinking beyond launch systems and affordable satellites, the
the timeframe of the report, it is expected increase of powerful multi‑band sensors, and
that R&D related topics such as quantum the increasing use of ROAS, the quantity and
computing will be addressed by the standards quality of global remote sensing data will be
community. However, it remains unclear what greatly increased while costs reduce.
these standards will look like.
4.7.4 Developments in laser scanning and point
4.6.5 There is also increasingly a need for machine cloud processing through ground-based,
readable standards and some have already airborne and spaceborne platforms can
been published by ISO/TC211. In addition, provide improved data quality. In combination
after establishing the ISO geodetic register, with automation, increased measuring
the need of other Authoritative Registries has frequency and point cloud density can deliver
become evident – among others, for data improved detail in mapping. The efficiency
quality and addresses. brought by automation has led to programmes
of national laser scanning in Sweden, Finland,
the Netherlands, and the United States.
4.7 Trends in ‘professional’ data creation
and maintenance 4.7.5 Space – Technological advances in Earth
observation have created a step-change in
4.7.1 The remote sensing industry is becoming the quality, accuracy and precision available
increasingly dynamic in terms of global which makes it possible to map from space at
coverage, rapid revisit rates, diverse spectral resolutions less than five meters worldwide.
content, and analytic capabilities. This has
stimulated improvements in quality, quantity 4.7.6 Emerging low-cost satellite constellations
and timeliness of imagery and other forms of have altered data collection techniques by
remote sensing available, as well as advances providing imagery that can be produced in
in accessing data and communicating volume which has democratised access to
observations and findings. satellite data. Small satellite and nano satellite
technology have made significant advances
4.7.2 Overall, many organisations have been in recent years and have found strong uptake
focusing on automating the workflow by developing countries. As a low-cost
from collection to application. Over the application, it enables nations with limited
past five to ten years, with the emergence budgets to develop geospatial capabilities
of cloud computing, better processors, that can support a variety of sectors. In

addition to small satellite technology, the sources are expected to become more widely
accessibility of space-based data is another used and have the potential to become a
enabler for LDCs and SIDS to access and use valid alternative to aerial imagery. Yet, at the
the data. Not least, because the existence of moment, there are only few globally consistent
national Space Agencies is limited to those sources of high-resolution high-revisit data.
nations that can afford them. For nations to see the benefits of these
developments, the cost of purchasing will
4.7.7 The space industry has seen further have to decrease and/or access will need to
disruption with the emergence of the CubeSat be broadened.
concept. Particularly popular with academic
researchers and space agencies, CubeSats 4.7.10 Another trend that has been observed is the
have made space more accessible to a establishment of a community of individuals
wider group of stakeholders. Overall, these and organisations aiming to build capability
developments will lower barriers to entry for for working with global satellite data. The
potential new market entrants. Open Data Cube (ODC) is an open source
technology that allows for structured
4.7.8 The last five years have seen significant geospatial data - time-series of satellite
developments in space-based ground images - to be ingested, stored, and analysed.
deformation monitoring. In particular, Essentially, the ODC seeks to increase the
advances in new sensors for Synthetic value and impact of open satellite data by
Aperture Radar Interferometry (InSAR) are providing a free and open data architecture.
accelerating. Combined with open data policy Since its inception, the approach has been
developments, this will significantly increase used by the Australian Geoscience Data Cube
the potential of InSAR to be used for initiatives serving as the basis for Digital Earth Australia
in climate change adaptation, geo-hazard and the Africa Regional Data Cube serving
risk assessment, infrastructure management, as the foundation for Digital Earth Africa
and natural resource extraction. Programmes – including five countries in central Africa:
for continuous deformation monitoring on Kenya, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Ghana and
a regional- or nationwide scale are already Tanzania. Both implementation programmes
ongoing in Norway, Denmark, Germany, deliver analysis-ready satellite data that
Belgium and the Netherlands. The European have been processed to a minimum set of
Union’s programme for Earth observation requirements and organised into a way that
(Copernicus) makes deformation rate data allows immediate analysis with a minimum
fully available, free and open; thus, sparking of additional user effort and interoperability.
the development of products and services The ODC builds the capacity of users in those
in both the public and private sector. With countries involved to apply satellite data to
the upcoming launches of additional SAR address local and national needs as well as
satellites by space agencies and small SAR SDGs.27
satellite businesses around the world, global
land monitoring datasets are expected to 4.7.11 Aerial mapping – Traditionally, aerial imagery
become available within the next decade. has been captured by manned aircraft
equipped with large format aerial survey
4.7.9 The increasing availability of high-resolution cameras which continue to play an important
satellite imagery has transformed remote part in national aerial survey programmes in
sensing by improving accessibility and the foreseeable future. Since the publication
frequency of updates; thus, enabling better of the Second Edition, ROAS technology
evidence-based decision-making and has seen two main trends. Firstly, due to the
service delivery. In several countries, the decreasing costs and increasing demands for
seasonality of water features plays a crucial timely, accurate, high-resolution data, ROAS
role. Enhanced with the combined use of SAR have become an integral part of the geospatial
data, high-resolution imagery that provides industry. Secondly, the miniaturisation of
insight into water flows and water levels are sensors continues, ROAS will become a
increasingly utilised. The currently under- primary source of geospatial data capture in
exploited high-resolution high-revisit imagery high-income economies, LDCs, and SIDS.

4.7.12 ROAS can be described as the most critical The lack of information regarding the location
technology to revolutionise the aerial mapping of buried assets increases the cost of its
industry. As ROAS become commercially management and maintenance and, therefore,
affordable and combined with oblique camera has a direct impact on a nation’s economy.28
systems, highly detailed maps at lower cost Quantum sensing is said to revolutionise how
than conventional mapping can be created. surveys are performed, by using sensitive
Projects like urban asset mapping and 3D city sensors that can detect even the slightest
models or mine and quarry site surveys are fluctuation in gravity speeding up survey times
the main application area. Yet, legal aspects of and increasing accuracy. Nonetheless, it should
ROAS projects in terms of the height limitation be noted that, whilst quantum sensors exist,
of drones to safeguard the people privacy they only do so within a laboratory environment
will need to be considered. Over the next five and the resolution required to meet the
years, ROAS will establish themselves as a expectations of underground assets surveys are
viable alternative to conventional mapping for yet to be developed.
small area surveys.
4.7.17 Under water surveying - Although not often
4.7.13 Although a prototype that can provide imagery associated with emerging technologies, the
for extended periods of time is yet to be marine geospatial industry has been an early
showcased, new sources of imagery could adopter of autonomous systems on and under
increasingly be available from High Altitude the water to increase efficiency, accuracy
Pseudo Satellites (HAPS). HAPS are solar- and data resolution. Autonomous underwater
powered ROAS with massive wingspans that vehicles (AUVs) and autonomous surface
fly higher than traditional ROAS and/or aircraft vehicles (ASVs) have disrupted the way in
and have the ability to stay airborne for time which marine geospatial data is captured.
spans ranging from weeks to months collecting
sensor data. Combined with automated feature 4.7.18 As autonomous survey techniques mature and
extraction, HAPS have the potential to reduce become more widely adopted, the application
the cost of geospatial information. of AUVs and ASVs will optimise coverage and
fill gaps in the survey. Over the next ten years,
4.7.14 Terrain mapping – Mobile laser scanning AUVs and ASVs are likely to become the norm in
(MLS), particularly vehicle-mounted laser hydrographic surveys providing high-resolution
scanning systems, are in the process of information about the seabed that had previously
becoming a newly established way in not been surveyed. This new technology
measuring road and urban environments. represents an effective way to support the aims
Further, with the development of algorithms of the UN Seabed 2030 programme.
that enable simultaneous localisation and
mapping, MLS has progressed to deliver 3D 4.7.19 Emerging opportunities for LDCs and
data from environments not covered by Global SIDS – There are different levels of maturity
Navigation Satellite System (GNSS), such as in technology uptake in different geographic
tunnels and indoor environment. regions. Historically, Europe and North
America have been proactive adopters of new
4.7.15 Sub-surface surveying – Until recently, technology and processes. While, emerging
the sub-surface infrastructure was hardly economies have benefited from the learning
considered by those developing utility networks and have been able to leapfrog enabling those
and urban underground transportation nations to mature their geospatial capabilities
systems. The little data that does exist is often more quickly.
fragmented and outdated. More so, studies
have shown that uncertainty in the location of 4.7.20 As a previous chapter has shown, Artificial
underground assets can have serious knock Intelligence is expected to make significant
on effects on the economy as missing or contributions to the way in which geospatial
inaccurate data can cause construction delays. production will evolve over the next five to
ten years. Advances in geospatial processes
4.7.16 Economic development is a key driver for the such as image classification, object detection,
application of geospatial technology in this field. feature extraction and resolution enhancement

will become increasingly more powerful. When with 5G mobile communication signals, global
coupled with the increasing affordability of positioning is likely to deliver higher accuracy
ROAS technologies and low orbiting satellite over the next decade.
cube technology, it is conceivable that costs
of data acquisition will decrease and the 4.8.2 Developments in satellite positioning are
availability of high-quality data will increase, advancing rapidly, and once the European
benefitting LDCs and SIDS. satellite programme Galileo, the GPS Block III,
the modernised Russian GLONASS and the
4.7.21 Developing nations are more vulnerable to Chinese Beidou are fully operational, product
the impact of climate change and naturally development based on positioning services
occurring hazards but often find themselves will become more accessible. For instance,
unable to afford high-quality data. Today, data Galileo’s High Accuracy Service (HAS) is
sources freely available to developing nations expected to be freely accessible from 2020
are often provided at a resolution too low to and will provide an accuracy of 20 centimetres
monitor, study and model the characteristics or better.
and impacts of events such as flooding,
landslides and other phenomena. The ability 4.8.3 Positioning services are crucial to many
to collect data at higher resolutions and/or governments; among other activities, Brazil
enhance the resolution of data through Artificial has set out to develop functions in GNSS
Intelligence processes will benefit developing multi-constellation data processing and
nations due to relieving the cost pressures of analysis, tide gauge data analysis, and
acquiring high-resolution satellite imagery. multi-constellation orbit computation over
the next five to ten years. As an example,
4.7.22 Beyond the timeframe of this report, more the Australian and New Zealand government
affordable ROAS and satellite technologies announced joint funding to support the
equipped with advanced Artificial Intelligence development of a regional satellite-based
image classification capabilities will reduce the augmentation system (SBAS) to improve
degree to which experts with advanced image GPS accuracy significantly. The system will
processing skills are required. This will benefit enable innovation related to position-based
nations in disaster risk simulation and modeling, applications in a diverse range of areas
the quantification and quality of post-disaster including aviation, forestry, agriculture and
impact analyses through automated change cadastral boundary definition.
detection and other areas of application.
4.8.4 Over the long-term, 5G could be used to
4.7.23 Despite the advances in the application of augment positioning services as low latency
Artificial Intelligence, operational forecasting may use the time difference of arrival between
requires fast processing and computational sending and receiving antennas. Using the
capabilities which are often limited. New geometry of the antennas will make it possible
techniques and partnerships will need to to calculate the angle from which the signal
be established to allow LDCs and SIDS to arrives and as the number of measurements
benefit from the advances in data creation and increase an accuracy of 5 centimetres or
maintenance. better can be expected. GNSS and 5G in
combination may also prove effective for
transitioning between indoor and outdoor
4.8 Positioning ourselves in the next five to positioning, as with all emerging technologies
ten years there are challenges that need to be identified
and addressed.
4.8.1 Satellite positioning technology is expected
to improve due to a new generation of 4.8.5 The use of systems and services that
navigation satellites and receivers. This have utilised GNSS data and/or Artificial
is possible because of the continued Intelligence raises questions of data integrity
investments in hardware and international and provenance. While it may offer access
cooperation between national governments to capable services and systems, the data
and international agencies. In combination that is produced has the potential to present

additional hazards that will require mitigation
and/or establishment of integrity/provenance
assurance.
4.8.6 Development in ITS is undergoing strong

growth and will clearly place demands on
continuously connected users of positioning
services. The quality of positioning services
will need to be ensured so that information
and services are accessible and correct at
the point of use. Accurate positioning will
also be expected by service users at low
cost within a few years. Although, GNSS is
not expected to be the primary positioning
service for CAVs - since GNSS is not available
everywhere - sensor networks in collaboration
with GNSS are expected to be part of a
solution. Yet, different approaches exist,
indicating a need for standardisation and
possible regulation as some businesses in the
automotive industry rely upon GNSS, which
has been demonstrated to be affected by GPS
interference and spoofing trials.
4.8.7 The continued rise in use and reliance upon

GNSS-based services and systems is causing
concern for government bodies as society
expects an always available service that is
subject to numerous threats and vulnerabilities.
The threats and vulnerabilities to GNSS services
and systems are widely understood and include
space weather, constellation issues, non-
intentional and intentional interference, and user
error. The impact of regional or global GNSS
outage has the potential to cause catastrophic
impact. At a local level, denial of service or
attempted denial of service (often associated
with mobile phone denial) continues to rise
using systems designed to deny and/or spoof
GNSS. The need to develop and incorporate
safeguards into GNSS reliant infrastructure
and services requires significant work.

5. Legal, policy, and ethical developments
In the legal and policy domain, a one-size-fits-all approach cannot be applied due to differences in national legal
systems and varying levels of maturity of national geospatial information management. However, several common
trends have been identified.
Highlights:
• National governments are increasingly developing national geospatial strategies or master plans to access the
social and economic benefits that geospatial information can deliver;
• Technologies continue to generate more data, raising further questions over who controls, who owns and who
benefits from the value of the data;
• The ever-increasing generation and use of geospatial data, geolocation and data integration raise questions
relating to the responsible use of data and has advanced the dialogue on developing ethical principles and
solutions; and,
• The pace of technological and digital advances continues to outpace the legislative development process
leading to an increase in concerns around privacy and cyber security.
5.1 Growing awareness within government policies increasingly focus on data sharing,
collaboration, privacy, security and interaction
5.1.1 Since the publication of the last edition of between different public bodies.
the report, there have been several positive
developments regarding the awareness of 5.1.4 One of the common denominators of most of
the potential social and economic value that these plans is the quantification of the potential
geospatial information can unlock. value which the use of geospatial data can
unlock for an economy. Although different in
5.1.2 Nations and Regions29 around the world have size, many nations have calculated the potential
put significant effort into the development of economic value to be in the US$ billions.
National Geospatial Strategies or National
Geospatial Master Plans to foster economic 5.1.5 Similar to this report, most national geospatial
growth, employment opportunities and to plans have a wide remit and provide a
combat societal challenges related to climate platform for public bodies, private sector
change, urbanisation, disaster resilience and businesses, and academia to shape and
resource management. In tandem with the implement the future of the initiatives
development of these plans, some countries undertaken. Despite differing national
have put in place a national geospatial body priorities, most geospatial plans have set
with oversight of the national geospatial out initiatives relating to improving data and
policy and strategic plan development that semantic interoperability, data accessibility,
coordinates the activities of all NMGAs. It is and data quality metrics. Given the significant
expected that a growing number of national increase in national geospatial strategies,
geospatial bodies will be set up throughout the there is a likelihood that more national
next 10 years. governments will take the lead and set out
their own national geospatial priorities.
5.1.3 Overall, increasingly national geospatial plans Regional initiatives like Europe’s INSPIRE
are part of the wider digital and data agenda Directive aim to create a European Union
and often mark a transformation process of a spatial data infrastructure for the purposes
nation. This rise in digitisation provides new of EU environmental policies and policies
opportunities for knowledge creation, and or activities which may have an impact on

the environment. This European Spatial with partner agencies and legislators. Since
Data Infrastructure enables the sharing of its inception, investments in data acquisition
environmental spatial information among by federal government agencies and state/
public sector organisations, facilitate local government and other entities have been
public access to spatial information across growing every year, and it is likely that further
Europe and assist in policy-making across partnerships will be developed over the years
boundaries. The publication of the IGIF to come. The private sector mapping firms
Strategic Pathways will further fuel a globally who collect the data on contract and other
coordinated approach to the development stakeholder organisations also play a role in
of national geospatial strategies and the educating legislators about the programme.
prioritisation of geospatial initiatives. For example, the 3DEP Coalition includes
more than 40 organisations that support the
programme and communicate on its behalf.
5.2 Funding in a changing world This mix of stakeholder support and pooling
funding by partners to invest in consistent
5.2.1 Historically, it has been the role of government (specification-based), freely available, highly
to invest in consistent and trustworthy accurate, detailed, maintained, and trusted
geospatial data. However, as the demand fundamental geospatial information has the
for current and more detailed information potential to spear to other nations as national
increases, growing constraints on fixed budgets are increasingly cut.
or declining budgets are becoming more
apparent. There have been expectations that 5.2.4 Particularly, SIDS are operating on limited
in the future, governments will increasingly budget allocations and staffing. One option
create partnerships to fund data acquisition considered is the increasing use of PPP; while
and will encourage the national geospatial PPP are applied across a variety of sectors
industry to adopt common specifications to in developed countries, the concept is only
promote widespread data reuse. just emerging in SIDS. Meanwhile, concerns
remain as the private sector is seen to boldly
5.2.2 There are several examples of how different seek to expand into the SIDS market raising
nations aim to overcome shortcomings in misapprehensions and lack of trust by the
funding allocations. Some governments SIDS in relation to being primarily viewed as
consider granting tax advantages to data a customer only. The challenge for SIDS is to
owners for release of their relevant data develop legal and regulatory structures that
stocks for public use under open terms. Other can guide PPP engagement.
suggestions include pooled funds and Public
Private Partnerships (PPP). Both examples are
described in more detail below. 5.3 Open Data
5.2.3 The US Geological Survey topographic 5.3.1 It is widely recognised that open data is an
mapping programme has a long history with essential part of a transparent, innovative
partnering, and most recently embarked and effective government, that enables the
on a goal to acquire the first-ever national better and more varied provision of services
baseline of consistent high-resolution and products for citizens and other sectors.
elevation data – both bare earth and 3D point Enhancing the economic standing of a nation,
clouds – collected in a timeframe of less it has been proven that the value created with
than a decade. On the back of a cost-benefit open data outperforms its initial value many
analysis that estimated the cost of the data times over through larger ROI for governments
alone to be US$1 billion, it was determined as tax revenues for the services and products
that the same data could potentially generate created rise.
US$13 billion in new benefits through
applications that span the breadth of the 5.3.2 The lack of a consistent universal open
US economy. Having a comprehensive, data definition has led to the creation of
documented business case has been many differing open data licences within
foundational for building programme support the geospatial community, making it

challenging to combine different datasets improved access to and quality of geospatial data
from a variety of public sector organisations. and metadata may ensure that these datasets will
As part of a European Union public open not be replaced by external data of lower quality
data initiative, the Open European Location and accuracy by government bodies.
Services (OpenELS) project sought to set
up a framework of principles that will guide 5.3.6 In terms of satellite data, the industry
the users in accessing and reusing data.30 experiences an increasing volume of available
The project also provides a framework for open source data. The two most prominent
establishing a licensing model that will clearly open data examples include the US Geological
describe the user’s rights and obligations Survey’s Landsat and the European Union’s
resulting from the reuse of the data. In return, Copernicus programme. While Landsat
the project offers harmonised pan-European provides the longest temporal records of
public and open datasets available under an moderate resolution data, Copernicus offers
open licence and made available to the users global high-resolution imagery leading to an
that can be accessed, searched, viewed increased activity in scientific research based on
and reused free of charge and restrictions. satellite data. The data has been used in various
The project follows the latest trends in good hazard models, ocean forecasting systems, and
geospatial data management by providing environmental and climate monitoring.35
the data in machine-readable form, so that
it can be processed by computers using the
semantics of the data via its metadata. 5.4 Licensing, pricing and data ‘ownership’
5.3.3 Open data policies affect how NMGAs sustain 5.4.1 Ownership of data is becoming an
their operational costs while continuing to increasingly important issue; perhaps even
deliver on their open data commitments. more important than the curation of the
Concerns around the long-term open data data. With the increasing number of sensors
funding arrangements remain. It is assumed collecting information, ownership and
that without compensation to cover the extra licensing become more complicated when
costs, the continuous publication of high- data is aggregated from different sources to
value open data will be challenging.31 produce new products, solutions, or insight.
Geospatial experts as well as law makers will
5.3.4 Although, the argument that data created need to address this emerging issue to ensure
with public funds should be ‘open by default’ licensing harmonisation in the future.
continues, it has been acknowledged that
there are several reasons for some data to 5.4.2 The wide variety of data and service licensing
remain more proprietary.32 Those include represent a real barrier to interoperability and
exceptions around national security, law data sharing. Integrating different datasets
enforcement and personal privacy, as well when the terms of the licences differ remains
as the protection of indigenous people’s a significant challenge. Over the next decade,
knowledge and rights around the location of the industry anticipates the development of a
cultural artefacts and endangered species.33 set of simple, standard and clear licences.
Concerns within the EU over slow progress in
releasing open data has seen the ‘Re-use of 5.4.3 While there is a desire to have more data
Public Sector Information’ legislation reviewed available under open terms, there are
and renewed as the ‘Open Data Directive’. incidences where data cannot be made open.
Licensing provides a gateway to encourage
5.3.5 New open data principles around open and organisations to share more of the data
exchangeable knowledge have become they hold. One potential example is the
widely acknowledged, recognising that data development of harmonised data exploration
can be closed if necessary. Following the FAIR licences that enable the free access to data
approach, it has become recognised that data for research, development and innovation
should be Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, purposes. Other options include improved
and Reusable.34 Given the growing number of accessibility to and use of data via APIs.
alternative geospatial sources of information,

5.4.4 It is expected that there will be an increasing 5.4.7 Another emerging topic of interest to a variety
move towards business licensing providing of geospatial individuals relates to the legal
a more customer-like experience, such as rights and intellectual property of indigenous
a move towards “transactional purchase” and local knowledge. The traditional
rather than “rental”. This development is seen knowledge of indigenous people relating to
as a natural progression as geospatial data location and environmental-related topics are
becomes more ubiquitous in its use moving not protected in law and as a result this group
away from being used GIS professional form is in danger of losing control of their valuable
analysis to gain greater insight into a particular environmental knowledge. Developing
issue. There will be an increasing expectation countries as well as advanced economies
that geospatial data is almost an invisible part with significant indigenous populations such
of that process. as Canada, New Zealand, and Australia, may
increasingly develop methods to safeguard
5.4.5 As a result of the increase in machine-to- this knowledge asset for the future.
machine communication, machine-to-machine
licensing/machine-readable licensing will 5.4.8 In many countries, the protection and
increasingly need to be considered. Many ownership of data belonging to groups
licensing specialists foresee changes or nations, such as indigenous people, is
towards a more sophisticated type of digital recognised by the United Nations Declaration
rights management. This may mean that on Indigenous Peoples (UN-DRIP). The right
the transactional price is set by the value- to self-determination also comes with a
to-customer of the activity that is being right of sovereignty over data that belongs
undertaken by the user. In so far, the use to the Nation. Therefore, it is a crucial topic
of value-based pricing will require a degree to be considered when setting up the legal
of pricing sophistication that is currently and political context for the management of
not widely used by businesses and can be geospatial data.36
analysis heavy.
5.4.6 In terms of pricing, developments in areas 5.5 Data privacy, data ethics and cyber
such as data science and analytics have security
brought about several new pricing models.
These may include (1) consultancy-type 5.5.1 In 1930, Edmond Locard - the French pioneer
hourly billing; (2) value-based pricing; and, in forensic science – determined that 12
(3) revenue sharing. Consultancy type pricing points of a fingerprint are enough to uniquely
is the simplest pricing model by charging an identify an individual. A 2013 study of human
hourly or a day rate with a margin added. mobility data established that human mobility
This is a relatively easy pricing model and traces are vastly unique, highlighting that
offers low risk to both the supplier and the four spatio-temporal points are sufficient
customer. On the other hand, a value-based to uniquely identify roughly 95 per cent of
pricing model provides a precise value to a individuals that move within an average
customer for a specific, specialist piece of radius of less than 100 km.37 Accordingly,
work that can be determined with confidence. the findings of this study show the significant
However, this approach requires the need for implications for an individual’s privacy and for
additional pre-sales work, which must often those institutions designing frameworks to
be undertaken free of charge in order to obtain protect the privacy of the individual.
the evidence upon which to make a sale. Last,
a revenue share contract, whereby instead of 5.5.2 The study mentioned above has revealed
charging up-front, the supplier can share in a that mobility data is one of the most sensitive
percentage of the profits on an ongoing basis. data currently collected. Even an anonymised
As the geospatial industry moves towards dataset that does not contain the name, home
the provision of solutions and continues to address, phone number or another identifier
adopt new technologies, an increasing variety can be used to reconstruct movements across
of pricing models is likely to emerge over the space and time identifying the individual by
coming years. triangulating other information. Thus, modern

information technologies and the advances in 5.5.6 In light of the COVID-19 pandemic,
digital infrastructure shows the uniqueness of governments are increasingly collecting
individuals. information about individuals with limited
information about how governments will
5.5.3 Inevitably, with unlimited connectivity, the control personal data. This dialogue will
adoption of the Internet of Things, and the increasingly be prioritised.
rise of the algorithm-driven economy, comes
the increased risk of data breaches. In an 5.5.7 Governments, business and individuals can
increasingly transparent world, security and equally be affected by cyber-attacks leading
privacy are key concerns relating to data to infringements of privacy, disruption of
ownership, data access, and data usage. services, and national security risks. The
This implies that improvements in how the advent of autonomous vehicles represents
digital data infrastructure is secured and a significant source for cyber threats as the
how ethically this mixture of historic and vehicles will be connected to networks such
live-streaming data can be accessed are as the internet. Without cybersecurity, the
increasingly necessary. ability to exploit the increasing availability
of data and the rapid technological
5.5.4 Within the legislative environment, the General advancements will be at increased risk.
Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) of the
European Union can be described as the
most comprehensive and most restrictive 5.6 Disparities between technological
law on data protection and privacy. Its advances and the legal and policy
implementation in May 2018, addressed frameworks
the main privacy concerns of the digital
age ensuring anonymity. The regulation 5.6.1 The relationship between regulation and
acknowledges location as an identifier, but innovation can be complex and contradictory:
traditional geospatial data is not considered existing regulatory frameworks can constrain
personal data as it identifies a physical innovation; regulatory interventions can be
feature rather than an individual. In many used to facilitate innovation; and, innovation
cases, technology creates new challenges can be the result of regulatory arrangements.
for location privacy. For instance, an app
developed in one country may infringe on 5.6.2 Although it is widely recognised that digital
the privacy legislation of the country where has become the new normal, the collection
the app is used. In such cases, questions are and use of geospatial information through
raised regarding how the developers of the mobile devices and ITS has raised concerns
app from another country can be prosecuted. around privacy and data sensitivity by
regulators and law makers. With increases
5.5.5 Advances in how data is used and the in machine-to-machine processing, new
deployment of emerging technology puts insightful data is generated, and sensitive
increasing pressure on understanding, knowledge exposed - creating new legal
anticipating and responding to emerging and regulatory issues. Particularly in
ethical issues. The use of geospatial areas of technological innovation, such
information poses serious ethical questions as advancements in Artificial Intelligence,
related to privacy, accuracy, and accessibility. regulatory caution is often exercised.
Ethics related to geospatial information
management focuses on the relationship 5.6.3 In recent years, regulatory frameworks had
between the creation, organisation, to be reactive by default as new products
dissemination, integration and use of or services emerged across industries.
geospatial data and services, and the ethical In addition to establishing ethical codes,
standards and moral codes governing human governments often revert to ‘sandboxing’
conduct in society. innovation to establish expertise about the
potential risk and opportunities presented by
certain innovations. As described in an earlier
chapter, developments in change detection

and feature extraction highlight the potential
of Artificial Intelligence in autonomous
decision-making, as such governments are
testing the biases of Artificial Intelligence
based on which regulatory requirements will
be made.
5.6.4 Over the next decade, an increase in

‘sandbox’ activities regarding the impact of the
increased collection of geospatial information
through a variety of data sources is likely. Due
to the diversity of national legislation, different
approaches to dealing with privacy and data
sensitivity will emerge globally.
5.6.5 The ability to adapt and respond to

technological and digital change especially
in terms of governance, regulation, and
policy will be slower; yet, pressure remains to
address any shortcomings.

6. Skills requirements and training mechanisms
The rate of change in the skills required across all disciplines in geospatial information management is
accelerating. This requires changes in the education and training systems as well as the re-skilling of the
workforce to retain knowledge.
Highlights:
• The skillsets required by the geospatial industry are refocusing towards disciplines such as data science and
analytics, computer science, and data visualisation;
• The acceleration of technological developments and the of increased automation makes regular workforce
reskilling and upskilling necessary;
• A sector skills strategy is likely to become a critical tool to meet the future skills requirements of the geospatial
community;
• Knowledge transfer and capture in an aging workforce will expand as a new generation of professionals enters
the workforce; and,
• The value of workforce diversity around learning difficulty or disability, age, gender, and ethnicity is increasingly
recognised within the industry.
6.1 Skills and capabilities for effective and analytics, computer science, and data
organisations visualisation.
6.1.1 The skill needs of businesses and nations 6.1.3 The changing nature of work due to
are constantly evolving as economic and the increase in automation offers great
technological innovation, growth, productivity opportunities despite the challenges
and competitiveness are dependent on the associated with it. The rapid pace of changes
skillsets of its workforce. It is estimated that and the ongoing automation of collection
around 50 percent of the working population in processes, basic data interpretation and
many parts of the world will need reskilling in elements of Artificial Intelligence are in many
the next five years due to the impact of digital ways replacing the human factor in repetitive
transformation. Given the fast pace of the tasks. This requires greater emphasis on the
digital revolution, this is a serious challenge for development of lifelong training, reskilling and
companies and national governments alike as upskilling of employees for more higher-value
the lack of effective intervention could create a tasks in the use, creation, and maintenance of
bottleneck in economic growth. spatial information and related services. The
next five years will see significant changes in
6.1.2 The disciplines associated with geospatial the geospatial production process and, while
information management have diversified the ability to restructure, reprocess, retain
significantly over the last decade. While and potentially downsize functions will cause
geographers, cartographers, GIS analysts, friction over the short-term, productivity,
remote sensing scientist, surveyors, accuracy and efficiency are projected to
photogrammetrists, and Earth observation increase over the medium to long-term.
scientists still make up a large part of the
workforce, the range of geospatial career 6.1.4 For instance, developments in ROAS
paths has diversified and incorporates expert technology have lowered the barriers of
groups previously not covered. Among entry through the increasing availability
others, the increased use of computers in of commercial off-the-shelf ROAS and
imaging and geospatial technology has seen affordable cloud processing options. One
a growth in disciplines such as data science of the key benefits identified by developed

and developing countries is the ability to 6.1.7 While some parts of the world lack qualified
map certain geographic areas in minutes people to effectively manage and utilise
and to process the data captured within geospatial information, others continue to
hours saving both money and time. Using struggle with retention rates of professionals.
ROAS technology for national mapping, In particular, national governments are at risk
development, resilience building, emergency of losing top Artificial Intelligence and data
preparedness, planning and research have science talent as the private sector can pay
enabled countries and institutions around better and often offers more attractive career
the world to provide updated maps at paths. Over the long-term, this represents a
reasonable costs. Its ability to carry cameras major challenge to the public sector who is
for topographical survey data, multispectral already competing with an increasing number
sensors for assessing vegetation health of private sector businesses that are entering
or thermal sensors for asset inspection the geospatial value chain.
and search and rescue, has made ROAS a
universal tool for terrestrial surveying projects. 6.1.8 Despite the hype around the increased
As with most new technologies there is a skills recruitment of data scientists and visualisation
shortage in surveyors qualified to conduct experts, industry bodies have voiced the
a survey using the flight parameters and concern that this has led to a hold on hiring
associated survey methods, as well as the people with expertise in using insights to
type of equipment and processing software make decisions.
to ensure reliable and usable survey data
is produced. It is anticipated that over the
upcoming five years, training in the use of 6.2 Education and advocacy
ROAS for mapping purposes will increase and
be established as a component in the national 6.2.1 Currently, geospatial training and education
mapping efforts. appear to be mainly focused at the tertiary
level (graduate/post-graduates) or in the
6.1.5 Visualisation skills to enhance the user and upskilling of current workforces. With the
decision-maker experience will increasingly increasing exposure of geospatial data through
be required. If data is presented in “bite-size” smartphone devices and wider integration
visualisations it can make the information within the gaming industry, geospatial experts
more accessible and easier to understand. are advocating for the inclusion of geospatial
For example, being able to visually represent concepts at primary and secondary levels.
the effect of different levels of a storm surge, These concepts and technologies include topics
or increasing wind velocity, may increase the such as standard data sharing, data integration,
number of citizens adhering to evacuation data quality, data usability as well as aspects of
notices in the event of an extreme weather data privacy and personal privacy.
event. Early warning systems and emergency
response agencies will see a rise in the 6.2.2 Spatial thinking in younger people has
demand for such information in emergency greatly been enhanced by the opportunities
situations as well as for the development of brought about by digital technologies.
policy and regulation. Smartphone devices make location-based
services like Uber and Tag Your Ride as well
6.1.6 It is expected that in the coming years, as applications such as Google Maps, Apple
investment in the domain of data science will Maps and OpenStreetMap easily accessible,
increase. As mentioned elsewhere in this report, and it can be expected that the next
the understanding of location and geography generation will be fluent in the use of dynamic
within the data science community remains maps as part of multimodal interfaces.38
relatively immature; however, data science will
become a vital component for the exploitation 6.2.3 Since the publication of the Second Edition
of disruptive technologies that can be linked of the report, machine learning, deep learning
to data science, namely Artificial Intelligence, and Artificial Intelligence have established
machine learning and deep learning, cloud themselves as disruptive forces within the
computing, sensor networks, or blockchain. geospatial domain. Although pure Artificial

Intelligence is still in the research stage, expected to lead to a long-term change
several sources have highlighted that coding in how skills development, education, and
has a level of bias, because of which Artificial collaboration are delivered by geospatial
Intelligence systems need to be built by a societies, industry bodies, the private sector,
diverse team. Given that Artificial Intelligence, and educational institutions. Prior to the
statistics and geospatial are coming together outbreak of the pandemic, long and short
rapidly and being promoted as the next ‘big courses offered by tertiary educational
thing’ to enable evidence-based decision- institutions were gradually increasing.
making and policy delivery, it is crucial that Particularly, the younger generations are
diversity within all types of teams is high on seeking ways to complete certification and
the technology agenda. skill development programmes through online
platforms. Among others, these include
6.2.4 As highlighted earlier in this report, all the certificate level courses in Digital Twins, Digital
identified geospatial trends whether they Earth Visualisation, and Artificial Intelligence/
cover technological, data or legislative Machine Learning ethics.
developments, need to be increasingly
considered by those reviewing education
curricula and training programmes. Taking 6.3 Open science and collaboration
account of the fast pace of change, it is
crucial for the geospatial industry to consider 6.3.1 Open principles in education are a big enabler
the variety of drivers, trends and their impact in making geographic literacy, geo-education
in order to build capacity and develop and entrepreneurship opportunities accessible
professionals who are equipped to respond to to all. Outreach programmes, such as Geo
the new challenges as they arise. for All, have been initiated by scientists and
academics as a means of providing a strong
6.2.5 There have been concerted efforts by foundation for Open Geospatial Science.
several sectors to develop industry-specific Today, the initiative has dedicated research labs
skills strategies, these are aimed at future- worldwide and dedicated journals to advance
proofing the industry and developing the the discipline of Open Geospatial Science.40
skills needed. In many cases the industries
are developing national and cross-regional 6.3.2 In relation to open access to research
education and training curricula. A Sector publications, the reproducible research and
Skills Strategy has been proposed by groups openness in data analysis and scholarly
in the geospatial industry. It aims to bridge the communication will be more and more
skills gap between the supply and demand accepted as requirements for transparency
of education and training and addresses the and evidence-based decision-making. The
short- and medium-term skills needs of the real knowledge does not lie in the published
geo-information sector ensuring a workforce article, but in the combination of the textual
with the right skills enters the labour market. workflow description with the underlying code
For instance, EO4GEO is designing a series and data. This is also the case for geospatial
of curricula directly linked to the occupational sciences, where challenges in communicating
skills required by the industry focusing on the spatial information and making results
tasks and duties needed by the workforce.39 reproducible and conclusions replicable are
The programme takes into account the fast different from other communities.41
changing developments in the sector by
engaging with the academic, public, and 6.3.3 The need for higher reproducibility and
private sectors. It is anticipated that more transparency will have a significant impact
sector strategies will emerge through national on the format of scientific manuscripts
and cross-regional initiatives over the coming and scholarly journals, including the
five to ten years. review process and accreditation of merit.
Independent journals run by universities or
6.2.6 Driven by the COVID-19 pandemic, the academic societies on open source platforms
significant rise in virtual learning opportunities, and open infrastructure will revolutionise the
eLearning portals, and online webinars are transparency in science communication.

The continued success of the open access 6.4.2 There has been a tendency to focus
movement will soon point to the next steps predominantly on graduate skills and
after opening the results, namely open apprenticeships while underplaying the need
science and reproducibility. The realisation of reskilling, skills transfer, and knowledge
that ‘Open is not enough’ will impact the capture from more experienced colleagues.
way researchers learn, work, collaborate, Institutions are beginning to create
and communicate, because transparency programmes and strategies to capture tacit
and evidence-based reproducible workflows knowledge from employees and to manage
cannot be an afterthought in research. workforce transitions in an environment of in-
This realisation will spark innovative new person and increasingly remote engagement.
collaboration and publication infrastructures, Activities that have proven successful include
and lessons learned by other communities will mentorship programmes, professional
be adopted and enhanced to suit geospatial networks, and informal communities of
data and geospatial infrastructures. practice with common interests.
6.3.4 There is an increasing trend in trans- 6.4.3 Particular attention has been paid
disciplinary research that includes to increasing the visibility of women
collaboration across disciplines and with non- in the industry due to the continued
academic sectors. Trans-disciplinary research underrepresentation of women in science,
moves beyond the bridging of divides within technology, engineering and mathematics
academia to engaging directly with the (STEM). Building capacity has led to the
production and use of knowledge outside of creation of female networking groups both
academia. Societal impact is a central aim and within organisations and across the industry.
solutions that emerge from the research may Advocacy groups like ‘Women in Geospatial’
be put into place through an action-oriented and ‘Women in GIS’ are likely to see continued
process built on direct collaboration with the growth in their networks.42
groups involved.
6.3.5 The next ten years are likely to see greater

collaborative working between government
and academia. Often government departments
and public bodies do not have the internal
capacity to perform regional analysis,
develop predictive models and other types
of processing that add value to the data and
create knowledge having the potential to inform
both academic research and decision-making.
The challenge is in generating sustainable
alliances between government and academia.
6.4 Enabling diversity at work
6.4.1 Greater diversity in the workplace and across

the industry has become more prominent,
including a mix of ages and experience,
cultural background, gender, and neuro-
diverse skillsets. The procedure for the
election of the co-Chairs and a Rapporteur for
the United Nations Committee of Experts on
from among its Member State delegations
highlights the effectiveness of a truly diverse
global representation.

7. The role of the private and non-governmental sectors
Over the past decade, business models have emerged that show how geospatial data and technologies are
increasingly used across a variety of industries. Technological advances and the advent of digital platforms have
drastically reduced the barrier to entry making it easier for new players to enter the geospatial markets.
Highlights:
• The geospatial industry continues to become more mainstream as a wide variety of traditional industry players,
mainstream technology companies, internet giants and tech start-ups develop new types of platform business
models;
• The increasing affordability and ubiquity of mobile devices trigger new growth opportunities in ‘As-A-Service’
products;
• Product and service offers for the urban environment will be the primary focus for many in the private sector;
and,
• The quality and quantity of crowd-sourced location-based content grows. The willingness of ‘crowds’ to provide
data or content for free, which is then monetised by the collectors of the data, continues mostly unchallenged.
7.1 Making mapping available to the investment in mapping capability as a result

masses of car manufacturers developing autonomous
vehicles and self-healing maps.
7.1.1 Historically, national governments have
been predominant producers of geospatial 7.1.4 Devices and the increase in spatially related
data. However, advancements in geospatial services have ushered in an era where public
technology and data capture techniques have users are not only consumers of geospatial
changed the landscape of data producers. information, but also act as producers of
In tandem with the rapidly growing demand enriched geospatial data. It has been global
for data from traditional and non-traditional businesses like Google who have made digital
geospatial data users, the diversity of geospatial mapping accessible to the masses.
data producers has increased as well.
7.1.5 Although public bodies cannot be described
7.1.2 As the private sector develops new data as technology averse, it has mainly been the
collection technologies that outperform the private sector that provides and develops
in-house capabilities of the NMGAs in terms technologies to enable the production and
of producing the volume and the types of collection of vast quantities of data. The
data consumers demand, PPP is becoming management of geospatial information and
instrumental in facilitating cross-sector the provision of analysis tools for decision-
collaborations to access data and technologies, making are often provided through the private
and establish new relationships. This trend sector, although often enabled by government
highlights a shift away from the historic pattern investment or an environment that empowers
of agencies storing and maintaining data in innovation. The value of government-backed
silos to the development of system-of-systems. innovation in space programmes, satellites,
grants, basic and applied research, and
7.1.3 The reduction in the barriers to entry, the many other funding mechanisms have,
growth of web and mobile mapping has and do, enable the geospatial industry. In
massively increased the role of the private addition, many governments have invested
sector and the crowdsourcing community over in research labs and centres to conduct their
the last decade. There has been significant own R&D which have resulted in technology
advancements outside of the private sector.

7.2 The future role of the Private Sector information, it appears that public sector
bodies are lagging behind the private sector in
7.2.1 There are numerous examples of how the utilising these new business models.
private sector has developed which provides
the opportunity to predict how it may evolve in 7.2.5 Early research-led developments in Artificial
the years to come; this section will specifically Intelligence-based geospatial analytics
focus on the platform business model, Artificial and machine learning have opened new
Intelligence-based geospatial analytics, and business opportunities and market niches for
smart city product and service offers. established businesses as well as start-ups.
Although the private sector will continue to
7.2.2 In the 2000s, the user experience of Google offer off-the shelf products and solutions,
Maps changed how people expect to interact technological advances have enabled
and use geospatial applications. Today, companies to move towards responding to
the emergence of smartphones and other specific customer challenge. Technology
digital devices has set new standards for will increasingly enable businesses to run
mobile applications that challenge traditional purpose-specific queries that do not require
GIS products. Yet, desktop applications the creation of bespoke solutions.
still dominate the portfolio of traditional
vendors. The short to medium-term, will see a 7.2.6 Other trends include the demand for the
dramatic increase in the availability of mobile development of 3D models of the urban and
applications. built environment has surged dramatically.
This sharp rise in the need for 3D geospatial
7.2.3 Over the last five years, the power of platform data has driven an increased focus on
business models has gained significantly by the AEC industry by the private sector.
simply connecting producers and consumers. Infrastructure and construction projects –
This shift from physical to digital is providing and smart city operation as mentioned in a
opportunities to digital platform companies previous chapter - all around the world have
such as Amazon, Apple and Microsoft as led to the increasing availability of products,
well as start-ups including Uber, Airbnb and services and solutions specifically designed
Uber Eats to dominate. Although Uber does for the urban environment.
not own any cars it has built the largest
transportation business in the world; while 7.2.7 As cities increasingly base their planning,
Facebook does not create content it is the operation and maintenance functions on 3D
largest global content business; similarly, representations and Digital Twins of the built
Airbnb does not own property but it offers environment, geospatial data will be both the
more rooms than any other hotel business. backbone of the digital replica and the force
Other than that, the emergence of platforms behind bringing together diverse data. The
has blurred the lines between the traditional geospatial private sector is likely to continue
notion of producers and consumers. its focuses on delivering advanced geospatial
tools that offer 3D models that solve the
7.2.4 In the same vein, the industry has seen an specific needs and challenges of the urban
exponential rise in the number of private environment.
sector companies from outside the geospatial
industry utilising geospatial technologies
and its data to provide services to users. 7.3 Regenerating the business ecosystems
By utilising the platform business model,
companies like Uber, combine geospatial 7.3.1 With the commercialisation of many
analytics, location data, route networks, and technologies and data being readily available,
other information to offer a simple data-driven the last decade has seen the transformation
service solution. The same business model of start-ups into global multi US$ billion
has been applied successfully numerous businesses. For example, businesses such as
times for similar service offers. While the Uber, Ola, Didi, Booking.com, and WebChat
private sector is continuously exploiting the are is a combination of technologies that
potential of geospatial technologies and were once considered disruptive—smart

phones, GNSS positioning and navigation, 7.4 The future role of social media data,
online payments, cloud computing, sharing of VGI, and crowdsourced geospatial data
personal assets, accurate street and address
data, and more—that are now commonly 7.4.1 The increase in crowdsourced and user-
accepted. It can be anticipated that in the produced data has significantly enhanced
future use of spatial data in empowering the availability of geospatial data globally.
Artificial Intelligence, machine learning, and More so, it has blurred the lines between
predictive analytics will be commonplace. the authoritative data and non-authoritative
data. As innovation advances and technology
7.3.2 Numerous examples highlight the ability of capabilities increase, devices have become
geospatial start-ups and university spin-off more widely available and prices have
companies to use the potential of emerging dropped which has enabled users to collect
technologies and new business models in data ‘on demand’ for their specific needs.
building business concepts that venture
capital firms invest US$ millions in. 7.4.2 Further, crowdsourced content feeds are one
of the top geospatial trends identified earlier
7.3.3 For instance, Mapbox emerged as a mapping in this report. Despite technological advances,
platform that runs some of the biggest traditional cartographic products of NMGAs
applications in the world including Uber, go through an established production process
Snapchat, Tinder, and many more who rely on that currently does not allow for real-time
map accuracy and live location data. With 300 updates. Yet, OpenStreetMap enables access
million users of apps with embedded Mapbox to data as the content is created allowing
software development kit (SDK), it collects over users to use, enrich, or evaluate the content
220 million miles of anonymous data every whenever and wherever.
single day which is fed back into their map. It
may be argued that the inherent agility of start- 7.4.3 In a recent publication the International
up businesses remains with businesses as they Federation of Surveyors (FIG) concluded that
grow, enabling them to adjust more easily to the wider citizen science participation can
technological change and adapt more quickly successfully contribute to mapping-related
to emerging business models. projects. The publication specified that land
administration in developing countries could
7.3.4 Skillsets not as readily found in established benefit from crowdsourcing and volunteered
private and public bodies are employees geographic information (VGI) as missing
described as ‘creative problem-solvers’. and outdated authoritative land and tenure
Flat hierarchies, informed risk-taking, and information is often due to the lack of human,
unbureaucratic management styles enable budgetary or other resources. However,
these companies to act more agile to user and questions around correctness (authenticity)
industry demands. This allows them to scale and quality continue to hold back the wider
up rapidly and drive international business uptake of crowdsourced information by public
expansion. bodies of developed countries. Still, as the
technology matures and new possibilities
7.3.5 It can be expected that over the coming arise, new processes and algorithms continue
decade, geospatial start-ups and university to be developed with the aim that data sources
spin-offs will reshape the geospatial industry will comply with the same standards and
and put pressure on NMGAs, and established quality that is expected of authoritative data.43
private sector businesses, to retain their
competitive edge. 7.4.4 Using VGI also creates new challenges for
privacy. Both, Google and Twitter monetise
the information they gathered - a trend that
has spread to the geospatial industry. Private
geospatial companies use passively sensed
data to help law enforcement with the location
of speed cameras.44

7.4.5 Stakeholders in the VGI community have developments that draw on the specific
suggested changes of the cartographic capabilities of the individual stakeholders.
perspective towards a process of reflection
and production of knowledge with the direct 7.5.4 Mapping for CAVs is one of the great driving
participation of people, starting from an forces for more collaborative working
exercise of the virtual reconstruction of reality. arrangements between geospatial businesses
On account of new forms of multimedia and and expert groups from other domains. The
multisensory presentations, different ways automotive industry, geospatial experts and
to display results of geospatial analysis academia are the most notable example of
that people can readily understand are this drive to create strategic partnerships and
required. This approach is described as R&D collaborations to gain a competitive edge
cybercartography – a term for all kinds of in this competitive environment.
information both qualitative and quantitative
linked by location. These new forms of 7.5.5 On a different note, there has been a
communication mainly use small screens noticeable rise in the number of commercial
and mobile devices and aim to establish new firms and non-profit sector organisations
processes and results leading to interactive that facilitate free access to imagery, data,
cartography.45 analytical tools and expertise to respond to
humanitarian efforts and similar scenarios.
Given the developments in recent years it can
7.5 Coordination and collaboration be predicted that commercial companies and
charitable organisations will continue to support
7.5.1 Collaboration within the industry is an geographic areas that are in need of geospatial
integral part of today’s working practices. expertise to combat humanitarian crises.
Interoperability agreements between different
private sector companies have existed for
some time to ensure that data and capabilities
can be leveraged from other platforms. The
launch of the World Geospatial Industry
Council is a prime example of the increasing
drive of tech vendors to leverage each other’s
expertise while continuing to broaden the
visibility and contribution of the geospatial
industry across markets, the global economy
and society.
7.5.2 Recent developments have shown an increase

in the number of partnership and collaboration
agreements across the industry and with
businesses from outside geospatial. As the
awareness of the value of geospatial increases
across applications, so will the dominance of
this business model. Collaborations between
the private industry are well established and
it can be expected that the trend will continue
to involve a wide variety of stakeholders
including academia, public bodies, and
specialist institutions.
7.5.3 It has become apparent that these new types

of partnerships often consist of more than two
businesses or institutions that bring unique
know-how to a project. The development of
offers for 5G has shown product and solution

8. The demands of the future users
As producers and users of geospatial information, early-career professionals and entrepreneurs disrupt the
established way of doing business. Faced by similar challenges, both the public and the private sector aim to tap
into and understand the needs and expectations of this new generation of data users.
Highlights:
• Geospatial-enabled innovation programmes and hubs are set up by national bodies and private companies
alike in order to stimulate the disruptive potential of tech-start-ups;
• The reshaping of consumer behaviour and expectations towards an outcome-focused, personalised
experience that is instantly gratified will dominate the user experience of future products and services; and,
• ‘Digital natives’ expect their technology experience to equal their social media experience – mobile,
frictionless, and convenient.
8.1 Rise of innovation-based incubation innovation programmes providing tech-start-

ups with access to industry-expertise in
8.1.1 Geospatial innovation‐based incubation business management, marketing, funding,
centres are not a new concept but have product development, as well as mentorship.
seen a surge in interest in recent years. The Ignite programme, launched by Intel in Tel
Championed by national agencies, geospatial Aviv in 2019, has funded start-ups in Artificial
innovation is fuelled by the creation of Intelligence, autonomous systems and other
innovation hubs aiming to support new and data-centric technologies and business models.
emerging start-ups in the geospatial sector
through seed funding, mentorship and access 8.1.4 In the digital age, innovation hubs have
to national geospatial datasets solving become part of enterprise innovation
real-world challenges. NMGAs have set up strategies helping to self-disrupt the
national location innovation incubators to geospatial industry. To keep pace with
generate geospatial activity and grow their the ever-increasing user expectations
national geospatial industry. and technological advances, we will see
an increase in the number of geospatial
8.1.2 In 2015, the award-winning Geovation Hub innovation incubators set up and programmes
opened in London. Since its inception, the run both by NMGAs and private sector
Hub has supported over 100 businesses organisations throughout the next decade.
creating solutions for over 10 market sectors
while creating jobs and supporting economic
development in the process. Similarly, 8.2 Digital Natives: The future user of
Singapore’s GeoWorks actively brings geospatial information
together the private sector, users, academia
and government agencies to drive geospatial 8.2.1 The expectations and needs of a new
innovation developing new business and a generation – often referred to as ‘digital
dynamic geospatial community. natives’ – of geospatial information users
require different types of maps that can be
8.1.3 More recently, private sector organisations accessed in new ways;46 not least because
have started to embrace the notion of this emerging generation has grown up with

the internet, multimodal interfaces and are 8.2.5 Also, games like Minecraft have pioneered
used to dynamic maps. new ways to teach young generations
the skills required to interpret spatial
8.2.2 As producers and consumers of geospatial representations, code, share and select data
information, there is an expectation that the for given tasks. The notion of trust that has
user experience of technology is similar to been associated with authoritative data from
social media interfaces – mobile, frictionless, government organisations does no longer
and convenient. Driven by increases in global apply to the everyday user of location data.
smartphone possession, their technological Whether or not data is considered “good
capabilities and the improvements in the digital enough” will increasingly depend on the
infrastructure, users expect to receive products outcome the user has in mind. Customers of
and services directly to their mobile devices. paid for data and services are likely to expect
The adoption of apps will continue to drive the a more detailed, authoritative and bespoke,
way in which data is consumed as younger tailored offer.
users adapt more quickly to digital innovation
and are accustomed with using services 8.2.6 Driven by the rise and use of online platforms
through mobile apps. and/or location-based services (such as Uber,
TripAdvisor and Airbnb) maps have become
8.2.3 Further, a shift in customer needs relating everyday tools integrated into applications.
to - what the World Economic Forum calls Customers will expect to receive their data
- the ‘outcome economy’ can be identified through cloud access, to mobile devices and
highlighting a move away from the provision will expect these along with platforms and
of products, services and subscriptions to services that enable further insight and value
a marketplace in which the needs of the generation.
customer are addressed. This includes the
ability to deliver solutions that directly deliver 8.2.7 The next decade will see increasing
results answering the customer needs and/ expectation of instant knowledge. People
or questions. Overall, this will require a clear want answers they can trust, contextualised
understanding of the customer needs through for them and their situations, and available
proactive engagement and personalised in their time-frames and increasingly
interactions; a data-driven approach to from natural language queries rather than
analysis; and, a focus on outcome-driven through specialist software. This interface
results that align to the customer needs.47 between human and machine is increasingly
happening through natural language, and
8.2.4 Progressively, more users live in an step by step could eventually be through
environment where the lines between real and ‘brain-machine interfaces’. Timely, trusted
virtual are increasingly blurred. The gaming answers to complex questions, knowledge, is
industry has been one of the main enablers achievable from the powerful combination of
of the introduction of augmented reality and new semantic web, analytical and integrative
virtual reality and has mainstreamed the techniques including Artificial Intelligence/
technology to user communities. Disruptive Machine Learning deriving knowledge from
examples such as the mobile game Pokémon the vast repositories of information available
Go have emphasised the potential of and constantly being collected through
augmented reality. Since, geospatial data has global sensors. This report has highlighted
very much become part of AR development the technologies that are being considered to
as nearly all AR apps use spatial data. As bring geospatial into this environment.
AR technology matures further, users will be
able to manipulate space on a screen. Early
adopters are already planning to introduce AR
in training, shopping and business meetings
which is likely to translate into how digital
natives will expect to interact with maps in the
years to come.

9. The future role of governments in geospatial data
provision and managementnd management
Governments are undergoing rapid change, and the ability of public authorities to respond quickly and accurately
to emerging demands from within and outside of government will increasingly become necessary.
Highlights:
• The continuing pressures on public finances and accountability have put emphasis on demonstrating value for
money across all governments and for sharing services and working collaboratively;
• Spatial Data Infrastructures are moving towards Spatial, or Geospatial, Knowledge Infrastructures – the
development of the IGIF is one of these developments;
• The UN Seabed 2030 project will significantly advance the availability of marine geospatial information as it
progresses to map the entire ocean floor;
• Authoritative data remains a unique selling point for NMGAs and should form the basis of a strategy to ensure
their future relevance; and,
• NMGAs will continue to consider adopting alternative non-traditional data sources.
9.1 Beyond NSDI privacy concerns continue to be the main

barriers. While the technical means to address
9.1.1 For decades, SDI has been a trustworthy interoperability are developing rapidly,
foundation platform for facilitating the sharing the political and human issues related to
of geospatial data among numerous public breaking down silos remain. Also referred
authorities, private companies, and citizens. to as ‘human interoperability’, this desire
between and among government departments
9.1.2 Despite the advances in SDI at the global to protect their mandate and position, as
level and the implementation of national well as their budget allocations prohibit the
spatial data infrastructures (NSDIs), nations effective allocation of resources and sharing
around the world have struggled to witness mechanisms of geospatial information.48
tangible results. The lack of fundamental,
standardised, up-to-date, and accurate data 9.1.4 On a theoretical level, research suggests
is one of the challenges holding back further that the improvements in SDIs will require
advances. Many nations have experienced the transition from the notion of human
duplication as various stakeholders create readable SDI data supply approaches towards
data for their own purposes using different delivering machine readable knowledge on-
specifications and standards, data formats, demand capabilities, or ‘spatial knowledge
and data redundancy, as well as using a infrastructure’. A Spatial Knowledge
different base map or source for data capture. Infrastructure (SKI) is ‘a network of data,
Those involved in the implementation of analytics, expertise and policies that assist
NSDIs have experienced challenges aiming individuals or organisations to integrate real-
to avoid inefficient bureaucratic processes time spatial knowledge into everyday decision-
for the production, integration and sharing of making and problem-solving’.49
fundamental data.
9.1.5 Recognising that SDI is moving towards a
9.1.3 Access to and sharing of data between ‘knowledge infrastructure’, the IGIF builds
government departments remains one of on the achievements in planning and
the main challenges on a technical, policy implementing SDI and NSDIs but focuses
and legal level. Both, national security and on more than the collection of data and the

implementation of technology. As highlighted of Experts recognised the need to consider its
several times throughout this report, many of relevance and established the Working Group
the future trends are exposing the inherent on Marine Geospatial Information.
limitations of a traditional SDI. Firstly,
the emerging data ecosystem due to the 9.2.2 While most of the trends within this report
growing availability of more diverse data are from a land-based perspective, most
and the continuous digital and technological of these trends also apply to the marine
disruption that is more dependent on environment, albeit implemented with different
location and integration. Secondly, the technologies. In terms of connectivity the
increasing requirement for data to be more marine environment relies on satellites;
flexible, readable, timely and integrated instead of CAVs, autonomous vessels
with other data. Finally, the focus of SDI revolutionise navigation and data collection;
has predominately been on geospatial data and, legal concerns are supportive of safety.
rather than developing geospatial capacity
to support the diverse responsibilities of 9.2.3 As highlighted by the last report, the marine
government. Similar to the top geospatial element of established NSDI is often less
trends and drivers introduced earlier in the well developed and the overall need for
report, the IGIF addresses additional variables better integration of marine data is becoming
including governance, policy, financial, more apparent. As a component framework
education, and communication that have within a NSDI, national hydrographic offices
previously not been covered by the SDI.50 are mostly separate entities with somewhat
loose connections to the NMGAs. Integrating
9.1.6 Another emerging ‘knowledge infrastructure’ marine-based charting and land-based
concept is the Geospatial Knowledge mapping as one continuous surface continues
Infrastructure (GKI), which seeks to bring to be a constraint; for this to be achieved,
a geospatial dimension to the wider digital new tools, new data collection methods,
ecosystem. With geospatial information at data specification standardisation, and
the heart of the knowledge environment, GKI improved data management will be required.
leverages the new opportunities enabled by The Working Group on Marine Geospatial
the Fourth Industrial Revolution, cognition information is in the process of producing
as the path to knowledge, and location as a a best practise guide for working across
key element of analytics and data, including the land and sea interface in order to bring
geospatial information.51 terrestrial and marine data standards together.
9.1.7 It has been suggested that the following 9.2.4 Due to increasing coastal populations and a
areas will receive the most attention over the rise in the frequency and severity of extreme
short-term: (1) Improved exposure of spatial weather events, the demand for integrated
resources to the web and creating a national marine data and Big Data analytics has
framework to access open public data, become more prominent. Regular predictions
including geospatial data; and, (2) Redefining and forecasts of the ocean environment and
spatial resources’ metadata and their weather trends would allow for improved
production and their provenance. response measures to be taken in extreme
weather events.
9.2 Mapping the Ocean: Marine geospatial 9.2.5 With less than 20 per cent of the ocean
information being mapped, the Seabed 2030 project
aims to rectify this lack of marine geospatial
9.2.1 The Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable information and has set the goal to complete
Development and related international the mapping exercise by 2030. The output will
initiatives, including the Seabed 2030 project, be a definitive, high-resolution bathymetric
has emphasised that marine geospatial map of the entire ocean floor that provides
information is an integral part of global an authoritative picture of the global ocean’s
geospatial information management. At its depth and shape. Having access to this type of
Sixth Session in August 2016, the Committee data will drive a better understanding of ocean

circulation, tides and tsunami forecasting, as find themselves having to present use cases
well as environmental change and underwater and scenarios that highlight the value of
geo-hazards. To achieve this goal, a certified data as a backbone for critical
collaborative approach is needed that gathers national infrastructure. In 2018, the UN-GGIM
existing data sets from across governments, Working Group on Global Fundamental
the private sector and academia. Geospatial Data Themes produced a minimum
list of themes that have been identified as
fundamental to strengthening a country’s
9.3 Maintaining an accurate, detailed and geospatial information infrastructure and may
trusted geospatial information base be used as examples in illustrating the case
for authoritative data.
9.3.1 Even though the term ‘authoritative dataset’
is widely used, there is no universally 9.3.4 One of these examples is related to land and
agreed definition. The two factors that most property rights. The ability of governments
descriptions agree on state that the data to organise and integrate land and property
should be officially certified and provided by information can be greatly improved if
an authoritative source. A less common factor attributes relating to rights, restrictions, and
specifies that the source of authoritative data responsibilities - including spatial extent,
should be an officially mandated body. duration, people involved, and purpose - are
geospatially enabled, defined in a coherent
9.3.2 Capturing, aggregating, processing, ensuring fashion and stored as authoritative records.
quality, and delivering authoritative data is a Legislation should enable and not prohibit
core and critical role of NMGAs. Beyond these innovative use of technology and alternate tools
responsibilities, many NMGAs contribute to capture data and complete transactions.
to interoperable standards development, Legislation must consider data privacy and
conduct geospatial research, influence licensing issues, incluzding protecting and
policy, provide expertise and guidance to safeguarding indigenous and local knowledge.53
state and provincial governments making
NMGAs critical players in solving obstacles 9.3.5 However, critical authoritative data and
that are preventing geospatial advancements. geospatial infrastructure are not universal
Authoritative administrative systems based and still lacking in many developing countries
on international standards may signal a trend which brings about its own operational
toward standardising the authoritativeness of challenges. In many cases, the authoritative
data/information and may increasingly have geospatial base layers and census data are
a role in integrated geospatial information often not existent or outdated. For instance,
management.52 projects around recording place names
have revealed error rates in authoritative
9.3.3 As technology matures and becomes more data exceeding 50 per cent. Especially
widely available, the overall price of geospatial in humanitarian situations, this lack of
content appears to be falling. Providers geospatial capacity constraints the ability
of authoritative data find it increasingly to respond appropriately. In the absence of
challenging to articulate and place a monetary authoritative data and despite the limitations
value on these assets. Further, there is a trend of user-generated data, crowdsourcing
for governments to trust data from more agile platforms such as OpenStreetMap or Crisis
sources of geospatial information including Mappers provide the functions that support
crowdsourced information platforms and data aggregation, data curation and data
global private corporations. The last five years management.54
have witnessed crowdsourced information
becoming richer in detail and increasingly 9.3.6 As more geospatial data sources become
accurate, and in some circumstances the openly available and data analytics continue
quality of the data may be similar if not better to be widely used, NMGAs are in danger of
than those data provided by NMGAs or losing their competitive advantage when deep
commercial entities. As this trend progresses, learning allows anyone to mine new data.
providers of authoritative information may Suggestions have been made that NMGAs

may start to consider embracing the notion traditional mapping techniques. Collaboration
of owning a digital platform by predominately with alternative data providers will likely
acting as a connector rather than a producer become the norm for NMGAs.
of authoritative and trusted geospatial data.
9.4.4 Despite the potential for incorporating data
9.3.7 According to this suggestion, four separate from mobile devices, social media and mobile
categories of players would interact with each mapping, there are several implications that
other in a business ecosystem based on a will need to be explored. The management
digital platform for authoritative and trusted and storage of large volumes of structured
data: (1) the public authorities accountable for and unstructured data are likely to require
datasets; (2) the data maintainers represented additional funding which will put additional
by the private sector and government pressure on already tight public finances.
bodies; (3) the application suppliers through
the private sector, non-government and 9.4.5 As referred to in a previous chapter, adapting
government bodies; and, (4) the end-users to alternative sources of data will raise issues
that can be citizens, the private sector, as well around data quality, data currency, licensing,
as non-government and government bodies. privacy and cyber security. Effective standards
The digital platform business approach frameworks for data quality and assurance will
provides strong opportunities for mutually need to be put in place to ensure the level of
beneficial cooperation between government trust and ease the incorporation of the data
and the private sector. into the NMGA geospatial information base.55
In addition, integrating multiple data sources
will require changes to existing legal and
9.4 The impact of change: Adapting to ethical frameworks to ensure acceptable and
alternative sources for data collection effective levels of cybersecurity to lessen the
risk of data breaches.
9.4.1 Throughout this report, the rapid growth
of volumes of data and the increasing 9.4.6 If successful, alterations to the traditional data
digitisation of society have been highlighted collection methods of NMGAs will deliver
as a main influence on geospatial information increasing richness of the data available. Even
management. In tandem, the demand for so, questions around liability, data ownership,
higher accuracy and real-time information will licensing, and data management will need to
continue to drive change in the years to come. be addressed first.
The report has pointed out that authoritative
data will continue to remain a crucial data
source for many applications; yet, some areas
will see an increasing demand for data from
alternative data sources.
9.4.2 The first edition of the Future Trends report

identified the apparent challenge for NMGAs to
adapt to alternative sources of location-based
data. As more data sources become available
due to the commoditisation of data capture
technologies, alternative sources for collecting
data increase in relevance. Not least due to the
increasing pressure on government institutions
to be more technology and digital savvy.
9.4.3 As referred to throughout the report, low-

cost sensors in smart phones and tablets,
social media platforms, and mobile mapping
platforms in vehicles, airplanes and satellites
offer a variety of data unattainable through

Presenting the true value
of GI
The introduction of this report referred to the the unprecedented pace of change that the geospatial
geospatial digital divide – particularly the access industry experiences. More than ever, it has become
to data, tools and expertise. Despite numerous imperative to review how these trends and forces
development initiatives, the indirect dependence evolve and shape the future of the industry.
on a continuous flow of financial, technical and
human resources to narrow the gap in geospatial Graphic 2 is designed around the five geospatial
capacity between LDCs and SIDS with high income drivers identified earlier in this report. This breakdown
economies remains. Several recent public-private use highlights that two of the drivers have been prime
cases have aimed to developed sustainable long- areas of interest to the geospatial community
term propositions by illustrating the value of investing throughout the existence of the Future Trends
in and providing access to authoritative data, reports; namely, data sources, data collection,
geospatial knowledge, and technical resources. maintenance, and management, as well as policy and
legal developments. On the other hand, the focus on
The development of the IGIF has been a crucial the impact of technological advancements took off
milestone in enabling governments across the world significantly around 2015 when the second report
– but especially LDCs and SIDS – to establish the was published. Last, changes in the way in which
capabilities for geospatial-driven decision-making. the industry operates as well as the focal point on
Even more, integrating geospatial into a nation’s data emerging requirements of those using geospatial
strategy will need to consider the data, people, and information and technologies are increasing drastically.
technology requirements for building a sustainable
environment in which a country can function and By paying particular attention to all themes identified
develop efficiently on the back of geo-enabled throughout the three Future Trends reports, it becomes
processes. clear that this report does not simply focus on what is
‘new’ but provides a brief overview of how previous
Although the report has focused on many of the trends have developed over time and how the
latest technological and digital trends in geospatial direction of geospatial information management is
information management, their relevance will likely to evolve.
differ by country, industry segment, discipline, et
cetera. Not least because the degree of maturity of Overall, assessing what drives development in
technologies is influenced by a variety of factors. geospatial information management will enable the
Some technologies have been around for years community to reassess its outlook over the short,
and are only just starting to affect geospatial medium, and long-term. This report hopes to have
information management, while others are maturing established some clarity as the diverse influences on
rapidly. However, focusing on technology alone is geospatial information management continue to grow.
not the answer; the availability of 2D printed paper
maps will continue to help communicate with local
communities and those unfamiliar with digitally
displayed data and imagery.
The third Future Trends report: Reviewing

progress
Since the publication of the First edition of the

Future Trends report in 2013, the variety of topics
covered by each of the three editions have expanded
considerably. Graphic 2 below provides a hint about

Graphic 2. Increase of topics covered by each of the Future Trends reports, 2013-2020
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Endnotes
1 United Nations, Climate Change, accessed: 10 environmental conditions on land, in the air and at
March 2020. sea requires cross sectorial interoperability based
2 Greg Scott, The Integrated Geospatial Information on standards.
Framework Bridging the Geospatial Digital Divide, 17 An example of such challenges within the
presented at the First International Workshop ITS domain is currently being addressed by a
on Operationalizing the Integrated Geospatial technical report and a gap analysis that aims to
Information Framework, September 2019. map and describe the differences between the
3 The Future Trends reports are supplemented by current GDF and ISO/TC211 conceptual models
numerous UN-GGIM studies, such as the input to to suggest ways for harmonising and resolving
the Rio Summit 2012. conflicting issues (ISO 19169).
4 World Health Organization, Framework for a 18 Current work in ISO/TC 211 defines the
Public Health Emergency Operations Centre, conceptual framework and mechanisms for
2015. mapping of information elements from Building
5 UNICEF, Guidance on the Use of Geospatial Data Information Modeling (BIM) to Geographic
and Technologies in Immunization Programs, Information Systems (GIS) to access the needed
2018. information based on specific user requirements
6 United Nations, Achieving universal and - BIM to GIS conceptual mapping (B2GM) (ISO
affordable Internet in least developed countries, 19166).
2018. 19 United States Geospatial Intelligence Foundation,
7 “The Fourth Industrial Revolution represents State and Future of the GEOINT Report, 2019.
entirely new ways in which technology becomes 20 Cheap sensor technology includes MEMS, LoRa,
embedded within societies”. Cited in: World RFIDs, micro-satellites, IoT devices, to name but
Economic Forum, What is the Fourth Industrial a few.
Revolution?, accessed:14 December 2019. 21 OGC, Artificial Intelligence in Geoinformatics.
8 Franklin, C., ‘An introduction to Geographic 22 Both, the digitisation and geometric correction
Information Systems: Linking maps to databases’, and assembly are cost intensive.
Database: the magazine of database reference 23 However, statistical and spatial programmes are
and review, Vol. 15 (1992), pp. 10-22. not 100% linked, which makes such integration
9 United Nations, The World’s Cities in difficult. Therefore, thinking about integrating
2016. information from two or more countries is even
10 United Nations, Global issues – Ageing, more difficult because there is no standardisation
accessed: 14 December 2019. of concepts, processes, variables, or indicators.
11 The Geospatial Intelligence Center of the US 24 Terminology, common vocabulary and symbology
National Insurance Crime Bureau provides across countries will need to be resolved and
nationwide imagery over the US as well as mapped consistently.
coverage over Europe, Australia, and other 25 United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction,
regions (with rapid development of imaging for Global Assessment Report on Disaster Risk
disaster events) - all funded by the insurance Reduction, 2019.
industry. 26 Remotely Operated Aerial Systems covers
12 Zenzic, Geodata report, 2019. everything related to drones, unmanned aerial
13 Ibid. vehicles, unmanned aerial systems, and Remotely
14 Dold, Juergen, et al., ‘The future of geospatial Piloted Airborne Systems.
intelligence’, Geo-spatial Information Science, Vol. 27 Open Data Cube, accessed: 29th October 2019;
20 (2019), pp. 151-162. Digital Earth Africa, accessed: 29th October 2019.
15 Ibid. 28 Defence Geospatial Intelligence, Opening the
16 Nowcast and forecasts of global processes like door to geospatial innovation, 2019.
ocean circulation, weather and the monitoring of 29 For example the European Strategy for Data.

30 EuroGeographics led the Open ELS project. 42 Another example is “Geochicas” - a growing
31 EuroSDR, Adapting National Mapping & Cadastral community of women linked to the OpenStreetMap
Agencies business models in open data supply, project who are working on female empowerment
2017. aiming to reduce the gender gap in OpenStreetMap
32 More recent developments classify ‘fundamental’ communities and in communities associated with
or ‘foundational’ data as a good candidate for the world of free software and open data.
being open data, while ‘value added’, ‘theme 43 International Federation of Surveyors, New Trends
specific’, or ‘specialised use’ data are considered in Geospatial Information: The Land Surveyors
candidates for limited distribution either due to Role in the Era of Crowdsourcing and VGI, 2019.
security or commercial reasons. 44 United States Geospatial Intelligence Foundation,
33 United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction, State and Future of the GEOINT Report, 2018.
Global Assessment Report on Disaster Risk 45 Engler, Nate J., et al., ‘Cybercartography and
Reduction, 2019. Volunteered Geographic Information’, Modern
34 Ibid. Cartography Series, Vol. 9 (2019), pp. 69-83.
35 Ibid. 46 EuroSDR, Mapping places for digital natives and
36 For further information, see The Firelight Group other generations, 2018.
report for a review of the challenges associated 47 World Economic Forum, The Outcome Economy,
with the “Dissemination of open geospatial data accessed: 14 December 2019.
under the Open Government Licence-Canada 48 Fraser Taylor, Human interoperability is a big
through OCAP principles”. challenge, 2013.
37 Montjoye, Yves-Alexandre de, et al., ‘Unique 49 CRSCI, Spatial Knowledge Infrastructure, 2017.
in the Crowd: the privacy bounds of human 50 Greg Scott, Beyond SDI – Towards an
mobility’, Scientific Reports, Vol. 3 (1993), pp. 1-5. Integrated Geospatial Information Paradigm,
38 EuroSDR, Mapping places for digital natives and European Umbrella Organisation for Geographic
other generations, 2018. Information, accessed: 2nd March 2020; UN-
39 A European Sector Skills Alliance between GGIM, Solving the Puzzle: Understanding the
academia, public and private sector for skills Implementation Guide, IGIF – Global Consultation
development and capacity building in the EO/GI Draft, accessed: 2nd March 2020.
field. 51 Geospatial Knowledge Infrastructure discussion
40 Other industry examples include the FOSS4G paper, 2020.
International Conference that enables attendees 52 These models include ISO 19152 and IHO S-121.
to exchange knowledge and best practices while 53 UN-GGIM, Framework for Effective Land
having access to free and open source software Administration.
for geospatial data storage, processing and 54 United States Geospatial Intelligence Foundation,
visualisation. State and Future of the GEOINT Report, 2018.
41 The University Information System RUSSIA 55 EuroSDR, How should NMCAs adapt to
(UIS RUSSIA) is a mutual project of Research alternative sources for NMCA data?, 2016.
Computing Center and Economic Faculty at
Lomonosov Moscow State University. Starting
in 2003, the development team concentrated on
statistical databases to build an infrastructure
for educational courses to support social and
economic studies. Visualisation options include
cartography and advanced analytical tools to
enhance the educational and research value of
the system.

List of abbreviations
2D Two-dimensional GPS Global Positioning System
3D Three-dimensional GRID3 Geo-Referenced Infrastructure and

Demographic Data for Development
3DEP 3D Elevation Program
GSGF Global Statistical Geospatial Framework
5G Fifth generation technology standard for
cellular networks HAPS High Altitude Pseudo Satellites
AEC Architecture, Construction and HAS High Accuracy Service

Engineering
IaaS Infrastructure as a Service
AI Artificial Intelligence
ICT Information and Communication
API Application programming interface Technology
AR Augmented reality IFC Industry Foundation Class
ASV Autonomous surface vehicle IGIF Integrated Geospatial Information

Framework
AUV Autonomous underwater vehicle
IHO International Hydrographic Organisation
AWS Amazon Web Services
InSAR Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar
BIM Building Information Modelling
IoT Internet of Things
CAVs Connected and autonomous vehicles
ISO International Organization for
DaaS Data-as-a-Service Standardization
EFL Extraction, Transformation, Loading ITS Intelligent transport systems
EU European Union LDCs Least Developed Countries
FIG International Federation of Surveyors MLS Mobile laser scanning
GDP Gross domestic product NMGA National mapping and geospatial agency
GDPR General Data Protection Regulation NSDI National spatial data infrastructure
GeoAI Geospatial Artificial Intelligence ODC Open Data Cube
GIS Geographic Information System OGC Open Geospatial Consortium
GKI Geospatial Knowledge Infrastructure OpenELS Open European Location Services
GNSS Global Navigation Satellite System PaaS Platform as a Service

PPP Public Private Partnerships VGI Volunteered geospatial information
R&D Research and development VR Virtual reality
ROAS Remotely Operated Aerial Systems W3C World Wide Web Consortium
ROI Return on Investment WGIC World Geospatial Industry Council
SaaS Software as a Service
SAR Synthetic Aperture Radar
SBAS Satellite-based augmentation system
SDGs Sustainable Development Goals
SDI Spatial Data Infrastructure
SDK Software development kit
SDOs Standards Development Organisations
SIDS Small Island Developing States
SKI Spatial Knowledge Infrastructure
STEM Science, technology, engineering, and

mathematics
UN United Nations
UNICEF United Nations Children’s Fund
UN-DRIP United Nations Declaration on Indigenous

Peoples
UN-GGIM United Nations Committee of Experts

on Global Geospatial Information
Management
UX User experience
V2I Vehicle-to-infrastructure
V2V Vehicle-to-vehicle
V2X Vehicle-to-everything

Suggested further reading
We acknowledge that the report can only provide an McKinsey and Company, The Age of Analytics:
overview of the various topics covered. For a more Competing in a Data-driven World, 2016.
in depth understanding, we suggest the following
reports and online resources as useful follow up OECD, Measuring the Digital Transformation: A
reading. Roadmap for the Future, 2019.
Defence Geospatial Intelligence, A view from the OECD, Going Digital: Shaping Policies, Improving
cloud: Sourcing, storing and analysing imagery in the Lives, 2019.
digital era, 2018.
Open Geospatial Consortium, Technology Trends,
Defence Geospatial Intelligence, Opening the door to regularly updated.
geospatial innovation, 2019.
The Association for Geographic Information, AGI
Defence Geospatial Intelligence, The Future of Foresight Report 2020, 2015.
geospatial imagery collection, analysis, exploitation
and exchange, 2017. UNICEF, Guidance on the Use of Geospatial Data and
Technologies in Immunization Programs, 2018.
European GNSS Agency, GNSS Market Report, 2017.
UN-GGIM, Future trends in geospatial information
EuroSDR, Adapting National Mapping & Cadastral management: the five to ten year vision, 2013.
Agencies business models in open data supply, 2017.
UN-GGIM, Future trends in geospatial information
EuroSDR, Authoritative Data in a European Context, management: the five to ten year vision, Second
2019. Edition, 2015.
EuroSDR, Crowdsourcing in National Mapping, 2018. United Nations, Achieving universal and affordable
Internet in least developed countries, 2018.
EuroSDR Data Linking by Indirect spatial Referencing
Systems, 2019. United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction,
Global Assessment Report on Disaster Risk
EuroSDR, How should NMCAs adapt to alternative Reduction, 2019.
sources for NMCA data?, 2016.
United States Geospatial Intelligence Foundation,
EuroSDR, Mapping places for digital natives and State and Future of the GEOINT Report, various
other generations, 2018. reports.
Future Today Institute, 2019 Future Tech Trends World Health Organization, Framework for a Public
Report, 2019. Health Emergency Operations Centre, 2015.
Geonovum, Self-driving vehicles (SDVS) and geo- Zenzic, Geodata report - analysis and
information, 2017. recommendations for self-driving vehicle testing,
2020.
International Federation of Surveyors, New Trends in
Geospatial Information: The Land Surveyors Role in
the Era of Crowdsourcing and VGI, 2019.
Journal: Geo-spatial Information Science, Open
Access.

Full list of contributors
We are grateful to all the below who have contributed Malaysia

to this work through providing a written contribution.
In addition, we would like to thank all those who Mexico
participated in the discussion fora in June and
August 2019. We recognise that, despite our best New Zealand
efforts, some contributors may not be listed below.
We apologise if this is the case and ask that anyone Norway
who wishes to be recognised in the list in future
publications to email [email protected]. Oman
The designation of any individual relates to their
position when they made their submission. State of Palestine
Algeria Poland
Antigua Spain
Armenia Sweden
Australia Switzerland
Belgium United Kingdom
Botswana United States of America
Brazil Uruguay
Canada
Colombia Australian and New Zealand Land Information

Council
Czech Republic
Caribbean Meteorological Organization
Denmark
Caribbean Institute for Meteorology and Hydrology
Egypt
EuroGeographics
Fiji
European Association of Remote Sensing Companies
Finland
EuroSDR
Germany
Fraunhofer IOSB
India
Group on Earth Observations
Ireland
International Cartographic Association
Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

International Federation of Surveyors
Professor Chris Rizos, University of New South
International Hydrographic Organization Wales, Australia
Dr Daniel Nüst, University of Münster, Germany
International Society for Digital Earth
Dr Doug Specht, University of Westminster, United
International Organization for Standardization Kingdom
Joint Research Centre, European Commission Professor D.R Fraser Taylor, Carlton University,
Canada
Open Data Cube
Emeritus Professor Gottfried Konecny, Leibniz
Open Geospatial Consortium University Hannover, Germany
United Nations Economic Commission for Latin Dr Ivana Ivánová, Curtin University, Australia
America and the Caribbean
Professor Joep Crompvoets, KU Leuven, Belgium
Professor Mahmoud Reza Delavar, University of

Andrew Coote, Chief Executive, ConsultingWhere Ltd Tehran, Iran
Brice Mora, Communications & Systems, France Dr Robert Jeansoulin, University of Paris-Marne-la-
Valley, France
Caroline Levey, Operations Director, OceanWise
Dr Saeid Pirasteh, Southwest Jiaotong University,
Guy Schumann, CEO/CTO, RSS-Hydro China
Dr Lesley Arnold, Director, Geospatial Frameworks Dr Suchith Anand, University of Nottingham, United
Kingdom
Thorben Hansen, Advisor and Founder, Geoadvice
Dr Vladimir Wingate, University of Zurich, Switzerland
Charles Reese Brigham, Esri
Antonio F. Rodríguez Pascual, Spain
Deepali Mody, Sri Lanka
John Kedar, United Kingdom
Jorge del Rio, Spain
M. Irfan Tariq, Pakistan


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UN-GGIM

Future trends in geospatial

Future trends in geospatial

UN-GGIM | United Nations Committee of Experts on

Lead author: Christin Walter, Ordnance Survey of

All parts of the report may be reproduced provided

Images © Adobestock and Istock

UN-GGIM | United Nations Committee of Experts on

Delivering value through geospatial information 9

1. Drivers and trends in geospatial information management 13

1.3 Technological advancements 18

1.4 Rise of new data sources & analytical methods 18

1.5 Industry structural shift 18

1.6 Evolution of user requirements 19

1.7 Legislative environment 19

2. The digital infrastructure of the future 23

2.1 Ubiquitous connectivity 23

2.2 Conceptualisation and realisation of Digital Twins 24

2.3 Intelligent transport systems and edge computing 25

2.4 Visualisation technology and immersive experience 26

2.5 Building collaboration with standards 27

3. The rise of Artificial Intelligence, Big Data and data analytics 29

3.1 Realising value through Big Data and data analytics 29

3.2 The potential of Artificial Intelligence in geospatial production 30

4.1 The new wave of data creation 33

4.2 Managing a world of data 34

4.3 Integrating statistical and geospatial information 35

4.4 Linked data 36

4.5 Cloud computing 37

4.6 Developing fit-for-purpose open standards 37

4.7 Trends in ‘professional’ data creation and maintenance 38

4.8 Positioning ourselves in the next five to ten years 41

UN-GGIM | United Nations Committee of Experts on

5.1 Growing awareness within government  44

5.2 Funding in a changing world 45

5.3 Open Data 45

5.4 Licensing, pricing and data ‘ownership’ 46

5.5 Data privacy, data ethics and cyber security 47

6. Skills requirements and training mechanisms 51

6.1 Skills and capabilities for effective organisations 51

6.3 Open science and collaboration 53

6.4 Enabling diversity at work 54

7. The role of the private and non-governmental sectors 56

7.1 Making mapping available to the masses 56

7.2 The future role of the Private Sector 57

7.3 Regenerating the business ecosystems 57

7.5 Coordination and collaboration 59

8. The demands of the future users 61

8.2 Digital Natives: The future user of geospatial information 61

9.1 Beyond NSDI 64

9.2 Mapping the Ocean: Marine geospatial information 65

9.3 Maintaining an accurate, detailed and trusted geospatial information base 66

Presenting the true value of GI 69

The third Future Trends report: Reviewing progress 69

Suggested further reading 75

UN-GGIM | United Nations Committee of Experts on

UN-GGIM | United Nations Committee of Experts on

UN-GGIM | United Nations Committee of Experts on

UN-GGIM | United Nations Committee of Experts on

Delivering value through geospatial information 9

1. Drivers and trends in geospatial information management 13

1.3 Technological advancements 18

1.4 Rise of new data sources & analytical methods 18

1.5 Industry structural shift 18

1.6 Evolution of user requirements 19

1.7 Legislative environment 19

2. The digital infrastructure of the future 23

2.1 Ubiquitous connectivity 23

2.2 Conceptualisation and realisation of Digital Twins 24

2.3 Intelligent transport systems and edge computing 25

2.4 Visualisation technology and immersive experience 26

2.5 Building collaboration with standards 27

3. The rise of Artificial Intelligence, Big Data and data analytics 29

3.1 Realising value through Big Data and data analytics 29

3.2 The potential of Artificial Intelligence in geospatial production 30

4.1 The new wave of data creation 33

4.2 Managing a world of data 34

4.3 Integrating statistical and geospatial information 35

4.4 Linked data 36

4.5 Cloud computing 37

4.6 Developing fit-for-purpose open standards 37

4.7 Trends in ‘professional’ data creation and maintenance 38

4.8 Positioning ourselves in the next five to ten years 41

5.1 Growing awareness within government 44

5.2 Funding in a changing world 45

5.3 Open Data 45

5.4 Licensing, pricing and data ‘ownership’ 46

5.5 Data privacy, data ethics and cyber security 47

6. Skills requirements and training mechanisms 51

6.1 Skills and capabilities for effective organisations 51

6.3 Open science and collaboration 53

6.4 Enabling diversity at work 54

7. The role of the private and non-governmental sectors 56

7.1 Making mapping available to the masses 56

7.2 The future role of the Private Sector 57

7.3 Regenerating the business ecosystems 57

7.5 Coordination and collaboration 59

8. The demands of the future users 61

8.2 Digital Natives: The future user of geospatial information 61

9.1 Beyond NSDI 64

9.2 Mapping the Ocean: Marine geospatial information 65

9.3 Maintaining an accurate, detailed and trusted geospatial information base 66

Presenting the true value of GI 69

The third Future Trends report: Reviewing progress 69

Suggested further reading 75