The fourth session of the United Nations (UN) Geospatial Information Management for Africa opened this week,  with participants discussing geospatial and data information.

The meeting’s theme is focused on statistical support of the ‘2020 Round of Population and Housing Censuses and the UN Sustainable Development Agenda.’

Presentations were made by industry providers of Earth Observation data in the creation, and analysis of data.

DigitalGlobe’s Alex Fortescue said new cloud-based imagery solutions can play a major role in addressing Africa’s major challenges.

“There’s a lot that we can do with imagery that is accessible to our end users as they make decisions… be it planning a census, disaster management or emergency planning, food security or mining,” he said.

United Nations Global Geospatial Information Management for Africa (UN-GGIM: Africa) is an intergovernmental mechanism involving the Member States of the United Nations.

UN GGIM: Africa was set up to address the issues of developing the capacities of African nations in the generation and dissemination of authoritative, accurate and sustained geospatial information in the continent.

Participants include members of the Executive Bureau of UN-GGIM: Africa, officials in mapping, cartography, surveying, statistics; high-level experts selected from academia, research institutions, government, and the private sector, and representatives from sub-regional and regional organizations.