{"id":2290,"date":"2026-05-31T12:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-05-31T11:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.geonatives.org\/?p=2290"},"modified":"2026-05-27T07:49:07","modified_gmt":"2026-05-27T06:49:07","slug":"the-world-of-data-rfr","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.geonatives.org\/?p=2290","title":{"rendered":"The World of Data"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

(5 min read)<\/sub><\/p>\n\n\n\n

On March 30th, 2026, the World Data Organization<\/a> (WDO) held its inaugural assembly<\/a> in Beijing China.\u00a0 As stated in the Beijing Times<\/a>, the WDO aims to \u201cestablish itself as the premier international non-governmental, non-profit platform dedicated to advancing data development and governance.<\/em>\u201c<\/p>\n\n\n

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World Data Organization (Beijing, image: Marius Dupuis)<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

This ia a huge goal and a clear signal that there\u2019s is a tendency to challenge organizations which are usually located in the \u201eWestern hemisphere\u201c or under the United Nations. Just by claiming the title WDO, China is showing its will to complement efforts that have previously seen the creation of organizations like the WTO<\/a> (World Trade Organization) or the WHO<\/a> (World Health Organization).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And, frankly speaking, why not? Asia is home to more than 50% of people on this planet (roughly every second, one person (net) is added – see Population today<\/a>). It hosts the only two countries \u2013 India and China \u2013 with over 1 billion people. Africa, a continent with another 1.5bn people, was also prominent among the participants in Beijing. In the age of Artificial Intelligence (AI), this means lots of data generating and data consuming \u201eentities\u201c and, thus, business value.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The WDO is thinking on a global scale. Its more than 200 members come from all over the world and represent a heterogeneous bunch of parties, policies and standards. Therefore, as the Beijing Times stated \u201c[The WDO\u2019s] primary objectives include bridging the digital divide, maximizing the value of data, and fostering robust digital economic growth. The organization intends to evolve into an influential global platform by 2030, serving as a \u201ctrust anchor\u201d for cross-border data flows.<\/em>\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Why is this relevant to us GEONATIVES? Because data is our home turf. Since our early days we have been postulating the harmonization of geodata collection, formatting, curation, storage and handling<\/a>. And geodata definitely is a subset of data. Therefore, geodata too, will be within the scope of the WDO. We are very curious, though, how the cross-border data flow is envisaged by the initiators in Beijing given that as of today there are significant obstacles to transferring geodata \u2013 considered being of strategic interest<\/a> \u2013 across the great wall, at least in one direction.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Having the WDO as a platform to address such issues across all categories of data and across all countries still seems a big benefit. We better closely watch (and contribute to?) its development over the next four years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But, hasn’t the wheel already been invented? Why is that what we already have insufficient? To shed a bit of light on this topic, let\u2019s look at today\u2019s geodata organizations which we most frequently interact with:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Open Geospatial Consortium<\/a><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOGC unites organizations that might not typically work together to solve some of society\u2019s biggest challenges using geography, geospatial technology and data. From the very start, we have promoted open standards to ensure interoperability among heterogeneous geospatial systems.\u201d<\/em> (Source: https:\/\/ogc.org<\/a>)<\/p>\n\n\n

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This is definitely the heavyweight in geodata organizations with a complete set of standards for APIs, Services, Data Models and Encodings, Sensors, and many more. The number and extent of implementations (certified and uncertified) illustrate OGC\u2019s position in the market.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here at GEONATIVES, we had connections with OGC\u2019s portfolio in our articles about CityGML<\/a> and Cloud-Native Geospatial Data Formats<\/a>. It’s near impossible to list all activities of OGC, therefore we leave it to our readers to follow the information in the links above.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

UN-GGIM<\/a><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The first thing you will notice about the United Nations Committee of Experts on Global Geospatial Information Management (UN-GGIM) is their logo and a feature in it which you also find in our GEONATIVES logo. Feel free to comment below if you think you found the answer.<\/p>\n\n\n

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UN-GGIM was established in 2011 as \u201cintergovernmental mechanism for making joint decisions and setting directions with regard to the production, availability and use of geospatial information within national, regional and global policy frameworks. Led by United Nations Member States, UN-GGIM aims to address global challenges regarding the use of geospatial information, including in the development agendas, and to serve as a body for global policymaking in the field of geospatial information management.\u201c<\/em> (https:\/\/ggim.un.org<\/a>)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Data, innovation and standards are three of the nine so-called pathways for implementing the frameworks. They also fit best with our aims at GEONATIVES as we typically keep out of financial, legal, and similar issues.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Therefore, the areas of work relevant to us are:<\/p>\n\n\n\n