Authoritative digital data coming from national mapping agencies has increasingly become the basis of decision making for governments, organizations, and businesses. Today, national mapping agencies are not just producing maps, they are the engines for economic development through their geospatial content and services.

The role and relevance of geospatial information has permeated into all spheres of modern living, partly due to the advancements in data capture methods, advanced integration tools, and platforms combined with user awareness. The third and final day of Geospatial World Forum 2022 saw the day begin with the session Re-imaging Service Delivery Through Collaboration and Transformation as part of the symposium on National Mapping.

Moderated by Dr. Alex Kent, Reader in Cartography and Geographic Information Science, British Cartographic Society, the session began with a presentation by Ewa Surma, Director – Department of Strategy, International Cooperation and Public Information, Head Office of Geodesy and Cartography, Poland. “The electronic documentation of land surveying works is a benefit for the contractors and also leads to ease in preparing files and their quick transfer,” she said, speaking about the digitization of mapping exercises adding that for the last two years, the agency had been working towards integrated services.

Benilde Oudiane, National Land-use Planning Agency (ANAT), Senegal talked about key collaborative objectives of the agency — to create a reliable and high-precision geospatial information for selected cities and strengthening municipalities on managing and planning, again by using geospatial information.

Galaktion Hahubia, Coordinator, Geodesy and Cartography Service, Geodesy and Geoinformation Department, National Agency of Public Registry (NAPR), Georgia gave a presentation titled From Paper to Digital Maps. He spoke about the successful transition of the NAPR to create digital cartography though it was a long and financially difficult journey. “In 2010, we established Geo-CORS system in Georgia which gave us the possibility to access high-quality coordinates,” Hahubia said.

Besides these, Dayanand Joshi, Chief Survey Officer, Survey Department, Nepal, Dr. BAKO Ferdinand, Directeur, Directeur de la Cartographie du Territoire, Burkina Faso, also spoke on the role of their agencies in building new regimes of mapping through digital transformation and collaboration.

Where geospatial and mapping agencies do not enjoy access to vast resources, collaboration with other agencies in the region can be a symbiotic journey. Moreover, digitalization has increased capacity by reducing costs, structuring data systematically, increasing access, and facilitating improved analytics.