The United Nations Committee of Experts on Global Geospatial Information Management (GGIM) held its inaugural meeting in Korea in October 2011. One of the first orders of business was to poll and document the thoughts of various leaders of the geospatial world as to where they foresee the industry progressing within the next 5 to 10 years. Among the persons polled were data collection experts, academics and major geospatial users, persons associated with state and national mapping agencies, and members of the private geospatial sector. A very wide variety of insights and concerns were collected and some of the predictions for the future of geospatial information included: an increase in the availability and demand for 3D and 4D data, the collection and utilization of “passively collected” geospatial data from geospatially enabled personal electronic devices, the use of unmanned aerial vehicles, and the further legal wrangling over privacy and intellectual property rights.

1. The UN's Vision of the Next Ten Years
of Geospatial Data
Matt Goolsby – Geospatial Analyst
ATKINS, North America

3. Future Trends in Geospatial Information
Management: the Five to Ten Year Vision
In process. Final paper to be released in 2013
http://ggim.un.org/docs/meetings/Netherlands/Future%20trends%20in%20geospatial%20information%20man
agement%20summary_12April.pdf

4. Future Trends in Geospatial Information
Management: the Five to Ten Year Vision
UN polled:
•Data Collection Experts
•Academics and Major Users of Geospatial Data
•State Geospatial Data Agencies
•Figures from Private Sector and Volunteer Geographic
Information (VGI) Movement

5. Future Uses of Geospatial Data
•Geospatial data will become more ubiquitous
•More geospatial data will be collected by more
passive/unwitting collectors

6. Future Trends in Geospatial
Technology/Delivery
•Cloud based services
•Software and Service programs
•More demand/delivery of 3D and 4D data

7. Future Legal/Policy Developments
•Intellectual Property
•Privacy
•National Security
•Legal Liability

8. Future Trends of Geospatial Creators
•A transition from the "GIS Priesthood" to a widely
proliferated group of GIS creators
•National Mapping Agencies continuing to transition away
from delivering final map products to becoming more of a
data collecting and curatorship entities

9. Future of the Role of the Private and
Voluntary Sectors
•More client-driven/bespoke geographic products
•More Private sector challenging traditional State Mapping
Agencies, especially with respect to cross-border solutions
•More open-source/voluntary Geospatial products, such as
Open Street Map

10. Discussion