Open Data Science Europe Workshop 2021

The UN Open GIS Initiative is an ongoing Partnership Initiative leaded by the United Nations Geospatial Operations. The Initiative, established in March 2016, is supported by several UN Agencies and mission partners (Member States, technology contributing countries, international organizations, academia, NGOs, and the private sector) and takes full advantage of their expertise.
The target is the creation of an extended spatial data infrastructure (with the term “extended” it is meant that the whole ancillary applications which are nowadays part of the procedures and activities of the organization are also subjects of the initiative) that meets the requirements of the UN Secretariat (including UN field missions and regional commissions), and then expands to UN agencies, UN operating partners and developing countries.
The Initiative represents a relevant example of migration from a proprietary toward an open-source and open data complex system, which necessarily is based on several steps with hybrid progressions. A relevant aspect of the Initiative is that of awarding the community aspect, with the practice of sharing and participation, and the attention given not only to the software products and data but also to the people behind them. United Nations Peacekeeping missions’ staff, for instance, who is one of the main recipients of the system, has been highly involved in all the phases of the project, from the design to the assessment and testing of the completed solutions. More than a hardware and software new solution, UN Open GIS is an open ecosystem comprising tools and, above all, communities of users and developers. Side initiatives of members are contributing to the success of the project.
The key-note will explain the reasons of the choice toward openness, will describe the various components of the initiative (Working Groups and Pilot Projects) and will present the reached level of maturity. Lessons learned and future developments will conclude.