News in 2022

FIG and the sustainable Development Goals - Commission 3

October, 2022

FIG Task Force on FIG and the Sustainable Development Goals together with the ten Commissions have worked on their role on the sustainable development goals relevant for their Commission.

Commission Chair Hartmut Müller gives his Statement on the sustainable development goals in relation to Commission 3 - Spatial Information Management

       
   
       

Commission 3 addresses a number of thematic areas, in particular management of geospatial information about land, property and marine data. The Commission supports the SDGs by providing guidance on benefits and good practices of using geospatial information. The lack of available data is a key challenge that hinders monitoring the SDGs at the local level.  Comprehensive, consistent, reliable, and timely data are critical for measuring progress towards sustainability objectives.

Commission 3 focuses on the management of geospatial information about land, property and marine data; spatial data infrastructure – data collection, analysis, visualisation, standardisation, dissemination, and support of good governance; knowledge management for geospatial information management; business models, public-private-partnerships, professional practice and administration.

Importance of relevant data sources

Space can be used as a concept which specifies how the transition to sustainability can be achieved in a spatial context, for example for a city or region. Land use plans and urban simulations are tools that provide explicit spatial guidance for development. Today they rely on geospatial data and might be even more data-driven in the future. This is even truer if relevant data sources can be identified and benefits are explained to the stakeholders.

Geospatial data specialists are usually not involved in decisions about what strategy to pursue for a sustainable development, and probably cannot determine what is considered sustainable in a particular scenario. But when it comes to implementation, it is important to point decision-makers and others to what data sets are needed (and what is missing) to successfully navigate the path to sustainability, and how this data has to be processed to extract meaningful information from it. In this context, direct dialogue between (geospatial) data scientists and decision makers, planners and the public is indispensable.

Interdisciplenary approaches, analyzes & visualisations

Geo-ICT is a cross-cutting technology. If the usage of spatial data for a certain domain is debated, such as on climate or disaster management, interdisciplinary work becomes inevitable. Space offers a bridge, since spatial visualisations such as maps use a language that is universally comprehensible. It helps to establish a common understanding of experts from different disciplines, each with their own technical vocabulary. The beneficial interplay of space, data and sustainability becomes particularly evident in the smart city context. Much of the (big) data used in smart city applications is spatially referenced and multiple tools have been developed to extract information from it. Increasing spatial data availability and the capability to process, analyze and visualize this data with GIS software make such instruments more and more efficient. In this way, geospatial information helps bridging the gap between technology, vision, and strategic planning and contribute to inclusive and participatory smart cities, villages, or regions, all of which require more than just technical solutions.

Overcoming challenges

However, there are significant challenges to overcome. The lack of available data is a key challenge that hinders monitoring the SDGs at the local level. Participatory mapping can fill this data gap to some extent and add local knowledge. Comprehensive, consistent, reliable, and timely data are critical for measuring progress towards sustainability objectives. Geospatial data, whether collected by volunteered geographic information or by surveyors and other experts, must be assessed whether their quality is sufficient for a particular use case.

The integration of more and more data sets, whose quality may be unknown to the end user, adds to this challenge. At the same time, more holistic approaches of information provision are necessary in the face of complex crises and the wish to join pathways towards sustainability. Consequently, further (spatial) data, e.g. statistical data sets, must be integrated. The values of these data sets, however, can differ considerably due to varying approaches used for data gathering or processing.

Another key challenge is data privacy. Working with many sensors and at the same time combining different sensor types provides information that can advocate efforts for sustainable transitions. However, the use of big (spatial) data brings the issue of privacy and data protection to the fore.

Exploiting the potential of spatial data for the SDGs

Spatial data are key to sustainability, but their potential does not yet seem to be fully exploited. Interoperable open data provision through SDIs and open data portals can contribute to solve this problem.

Against this background, authors from FIG Commissions 3 and 8, the FIG Young Surveyors Network, and the Volunteer Community Surveyor Program have collaborated to design and write a publication titled 'Geospatial Data in the 2020s - transformative power and pathways to sustainability’.

The publication highlights the impact of geospatial data for spatial planning, health, diversity, volunteerism, cadastre, and the property market in the 2020s; it will be officially launched at the FIG Congress 2022 in Warsaw, Poland.

In conclusion, Commission 3 supports the SDGs by providing guidance on benefits and good practices of using geospatial information.

Hartmut Müller and Paula Dijkstra
October 2022