Presentations and photos from the workshop…

Introduction to collaborative cloud mapping by Peter Schmitz, Chair: ICA Commission on Map Production and Geoinformation Management

Introduction to collaborative custodianship by Serena Coetzee, Chair: ICA Commission on SDI & Standards

Introduction to the South African SDI (SASDI) by Maroale Chauke, Secretariat: Committee for Spatial Information, Directorate: NSIF

Introduction to collaborative data custodianship in SASDI by Nicolene Fourie, Chair: Data Subcommittee of the Committee for Spatial Information

Case study: Collaborative custodianship of the Basisregistraties Adressen en Gebouwen (BAG) in the Netherlands by Martijn Odijk, Project Manager: Policy Geo Information (National SDI), Ministry of the Interior and Kingdom Relations, Netherlands

Case study: Collaborative custodianship of the Centraal Referentieadressenbestand (CRAB) in Flanders by Ziggy Vanlishout, Programme Manager: Authoritative Data Sources, Informatie Vlaanderen, Flanders, Belgium

Case study: Collaborative cloud mapping for federal address and street network datasets in Austria by Markus Jobst, Co-Chair: ICA Commission on Map Production and Geoinformation Management

Collaborative mapping with the Humanitarian OpenStreetMap Team (HOT) by Frikan Erwee, UP Alumni, Former President of the YouthMappers Chapter at UP

The ICA Commission on SDI & Standards, together with the University of Pretoria and the South African Committee for Spatial Information, will host a two-day workshop on OGC specifications, presented by Prof Franz-Josef Behr from the Stuttgart University of Applied Sciences (Germany) and Co-Chair of the Commission. Delegates will be introduced to the technological foundations behind of OGC specifications, there will be hands-on sessions with specific implementations of OGC specifications, and an outlook into the future of OGC standardisation developments.

The programme for the workshop, to be held at the University of Pretoria on 20 and 21 September 2018 provides more details. If you would like to participate, please contact  Serena Coetzee or Franz-Josef Behr.

The programme for the workshop, to be held at the University of Pretoria in South Africa on 14 and 15 September 2018, is now available. If you would like to participate, please contact  Serena Coetzee or Franz-Josef Behr.

Our Commission co-organized the 2nd International Workshop on Spatial Data Quality, held at the Old University Campus, Valletta, Malta, 6-7 February 2018. Commission members contributed with presentations on topics related to quality standards. The workshop presentations are available in PDF format at http://eurogeographics.org/event/2nd-international-workshop-spatial-data-quality.

At the business meeting of the Commission on SDI & Standards during the ICC 2017 in Washington DC July 2017, Commission Members expressed their interest in working on quality management of geographic information. Subsequently, EuroGeographics invited our Commission to co-organise the 2nd International Workshop on Spatial Data Quality, to be held in Valletta, Malta on 6^th and 7^th February 2018.

The first workshop saw a wide variety of topics. Whilst technology was already showing signs of disrupting geospatial data capture (and hence affecting the quality of data) in the intervening years the pace of such technologies has accelerated. While this poses risks to the core activities of some organisations for others it offers opportunities that they never thought possible. Traditional map making organisations are now seeing many new players such as Google, Bing and OpenStreetMap all of whom are seeing considerable success as their data is widely available and free to use despite the fact that it may not always be correct or up to date.

The increasing demand for data on mobile devices, particularly when it is free to use, has introduced a whole generation to easily accessible geospatial information. Many of them grew up not knowing what came before Sat-Navs and Google Maps with many of them being unaware of the traditional sources of authoritative data.

Today’s consumers of geospatial information range from highly skilled professionals to everyday users with little knowledge or experience of geospatial data. However, geospatial information has become more mainstream and today’s user is faced with a plethora of data coming from a variety of sources. Few have the expertise to identify the suitability or relevance of a particular dataset, often basing their choices on cost and availability rather than quality.

Producers of traditional geospatial information need to be able to produce high quality, authoritative data and communicate the trust, quality, provenance, relevance and content to all potential users – not just those in the professional community.

This two-day event aims at providing innovative and original contribution to the ongoing debate on spatial data quality.

Papers are invited on all topics related to spatial data quality, including (but not limited to):

• Quality evaluation of spatial data
• Quality certification and accreditation of spatial data
• Use of international metadata and quality standards
• Quality issues in spatial data infrastructures (e.g. national, INSPIRE)
• Communication/visualization of spatial data quality
• Spatial data usability / quality from the users perspective
• Impact of data quality on decision making
• Spatial data quality assessment
• Spatial data quality vs scales / resolution
• Applications of spatial data quality
• Quality of data from alternative sources
• Quality of geospatial services

Abstracts or complete papers should be submitted by 1^st October 2017. Each abstract/paper will be independently reviewed by the programme committee members. Their individual scores will be re-evaluated and result in one of the following final decisions: accepted, or accepted on the condition that suggestions for improvement will be incorporated, or rejected. Notification of this decision will take place by 13^th November 2017. Full papers should be submitted by 15^th January 2018. Abstracts should be 3000-4000 characters) and complete papers 10 to 12 pages. There is also a possibility to propose a demonstration of software (this should follow the abstract track).

The entities participating in the organization of the workshop are:

• Eurogeographics – Quality KEN
• EuroSDR
• Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC)
• International Organisation for Standardisation (ISO) Technical Committee (TC) 211 Geographic Information
• International Cartographic Association (ICA) Commision on SDI & Standards

Programme Committee:

• Jonathan Holmes (Chair Eurogeographics – Quality KEN)
• Carol Agius (Eurogeographics)
• Gunhild Lönnberg (Eurogeographics Quality KEN)
• Tamás Palya (Eurogeographics Quality KEN)
• Antti Jakobsson (Maanmittauslaitos Finland)
• Christina Wasström (Chair of the ISO TC 211)
• Bart De Lathouwer (OGC)
• Ray Patrucco (OS Great Britain)
• Joep Crompvoets (EuroSDR)
• Rodolphe Devillers (Memorial University of Newfoundland)
• Serena Coetzee (ICA)
• Franz-Josef Behr (ICA)

The full workshop announcement, including registration details, is available at http://www.eurogeographics.org/event/2nd-international-workshop-spatial-data-quality. Contact email for any queries jonathan.holmes@os.uk

A tribute session entitled, Collaborative Reflections on Dr. Harold Moellering’s Contributions to Cartography and GIScience, was convened at International Cartographic Conference 2017 on the afternoon of Thursday July 6, 2017.

Prof Harold Moellering presenting his ‘final words’ at the tribute session

Colleagues, friends, family and former students gathered to reflect on decades of cartography and GIScience scholarly contributions made by Professor Harold Moellering to the realms of analytical cartography, spatial data standards, cartographic visualization, and spatial data infrastructure. Tim Nyerges, Professor, University of Washington, moderated a panel discussion among, Keith Clarke, Professor, University of California, Santa Barbara, Robin Fegeas, Geographer, US Geological Survey, retired, A Jon Kimerling, Professor, Oregon State University, retired, Antony Cooper, Principal Researcher, Council for Scientific and Industrial Research, and Bengt Rystedt, Professor, University of Gavle, retired. Panelists discussed contributions within the four realms while synthesizing views among the realms. Members of the audience contributed their personal perspectives. Hal was provided an opportunity for ‘final words’, filling in the interpretation gaps as needed. A reception followed the panel session enabling participants to imbibe in food and drink while reminiscing and continuing the reflective conversation. Event sponsors were the University of Washington’s Dept of Geography, Arizona State University’s Dept of Geographic Sciences and Urban Planning, The Ohio State University’s Dept of Geography, the Cartography and Geographic Information Science Society, and the ICA Commission on Spatial Data Infrastructure and Standards.