United nations open GIS initiative: The first year of activities

With the rapid evolution of open source software, it is now possible to establish an SDI (Spatial Data Infrastructure) using only open source geospatial software. The United Nations (UN) is trying to introduce open source geospatial solutions to complement, and in some cases replace, proprietary geospatial software. However, the SDI for the United Nations must address many requirements and deal with diverse data sources, complex system components, and sophisticated workflows and services. Therefore it is only natural to expect that the UN migration from proprietary software to open source geospatial software will be a long-term project and that it will include a number of challenges. In response to these challenges, the UN Open GIS Initiative was launched in 2016 through a partnership between the United Nations, member states, academia and other non-governmental organizations. The goals of the initiative are to establish an SDI and provide geospatial solutions based on open source geospatial software. In this paper, we discuss the strategies, the governance structures, and the activities of the initiative during its first year, as well as future plans.