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.

The quite busy conference programme of ICC 2017 included 36 presentations related to standards and 38 presentations related to SDIs.

In the following post the presentations of two sessions of 4th July 2017 are summarized.
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Introduction to the ICA Commission on SDI & Standards. Serena Coetzee, Chair: ICA Commission on SDI & Standards
Collecting and organizing a Global Address Dataset. Ian Dees, OpenAddresses
Measuring the Quality of Address Data: Stakeholders, Challenges, and Approaches. Sean Uhl, US Census Bureau
SDIs in Belarus and neighbouring countries. Franz-Josef Behr, Elena Protasevich, Stuttgart University of Applied Sciences
Introduction to the ICA Commission on Open Source Geospatial Technologies, Silvana Camboim, Chair: ICA Commission on Open Source Geospatial Technologies
What is open source and how do pay models for access /use/upgrade of open source coexist, Danny Sheehan, Carto, Inc., USA
OpenStreetMap hands-on session: Its History, Data Structure, License and Ecosystem. Franz-Josef Behr, Stuttgart University of Applied Sciences
How and why open source software has become mainstream for GIS. Eddie Pickle, DigitalGlobe Radiant (formerly Radiant Blue)
OSGeo Live introduction. Vaclav Petras, Center for Geospatial Analytics, North Carolina State University, USA
Analytical data visualizations with GRASS GIS and Blender. Vaclav Petras, Anna Petrasova, Payam Tabrizian, Brendan Harmon, Helena Mitasova, Center for Geospatial Analytics, North Carolina State University, USA
Interactive visualization of open data and design maps with open source geospatial tools, including the Tangible Landscape system

George Washington University, Washington DC
Spatial Analysis Lab
Department of Geography.
https://geography.columbian.gwu.edu/

1922 F Street, NW (Old Main)
Washington, DC 20052

Coordinates: 38.897287°N 77.044610°W

Saturday (1 July)
8:30 Arrival and registration
Session 1 – SDI & Standards
Chairs: Serena Coetzee & Franz-Josef Behr
9:00 Welcome
9:10 Introduction to the ICA Commission on SDI & Standards. Serena Coetzee, Chair: ICA Commission on SDI & Standards
9:20 Collecting and organizing a Global Address Dataset. Ian Dees, OpenAddresses
9:40 Measuring the Quality of Address Data: Stakeholders, Challenges, and Approaches. Sean Uhl, US Census Bureau
10:00 SDIs in Belorussia and neighbouring countries. Elena Protasevich, Stuttgart University of Applied Sciences
10:20 Break
Session 2 – Open source geospatial technologies
Chairs: Silvana Camboim & Michael P. Finn
11:30 Introduction to the ICA Commission on Open Source Geospatial Technologies, Silvana Camboim, Chair: ICA Commission on Open Source Geospatial Technologies
11:40 What is open source and how do pay models for access /use/ upgrade of open source coexist, Danny Sheehan, Carto, Inc., USA
12:20 Lunch (at own expense)
Session 3 – SDI & Standards
Chair: Serena Coetzee & Franz-Josef Behr
14:00 OpenStreetMap hands-on session: Its History, Data Structure, License and Ecosystem. Franz-Josef Behr, Stuttgart University of Applied Sciences
15:30 End
18:45 Dinner (at own expense)

Sunday (2 July)
8:30 Arrival
Session 4 – Open source geospatial technologies
Chairs: Silvana Camboim & Michael P. Finn
8:40 How and why open source software has become mainstream for GIS. Eddie Pickle, DigitalGlobe Radiant (formerly Radiant Blue)
9:00 OSGeo Live introduction. Vaclav Petras, Center for Geospatial Analytics, North Carolina State University, USA
9:20 Analytical data visualizations with GRASS GIS and Blender. Vaclav Petras, Anna Petrasova, Payam Tabrizian, Brendan Harmon, Helena Mitasova, Center for Geospatial Analytics, North Carolina State University, USA
10:50 Break
Session 5 – Mapping open data with open source geospatial tools
11:20 Participants interactively visualize open data and design maps with open source geospatial tools including Tangible Landscape system
12:50 Closing
13:20 Lunch (at own expense)