Geospatial Knowledge Infrastructure

Greg Scott is the Executive Director of the SDG Data Alliance in PVBLIC Foundation, where he leads the expansion of the Data Alliance's next phase of execution and growth, with a particular focus on Small Island Developing States (SIDS) through PVBLIC's recent agreements with the Alliance of Small Island States (AOSIS) and the Government of Antigua and Barbuda to establish a Global Data Hub for SIDS.

Greg previously spent 12 years in the United Nations as the strategic advisor and Secretariat lead in the establishment and development of the United Nations Committee of Experts on Global Geospatial Information Management (UN-GGIM) in New York.

Prior to joining the United Nations, Greg spent 25 years in Geoscience Australia, Australian Government's national geoscience research and Earth sciences Agency. Spanning several key roles, he delivered Australia's national topographic mapping and derivative geospatial programs, and provided independent scientific analysis and advice in the use of geospatial information for environmental management, emergency management, and critical infrastructure protection.

Greg possesses formal qualifications in Cartography and Survey Mapping from New Zealand, a Graduate Diploma in Geography from the Australian National University, and PhD in Geomatics Engineering from the University of Melbourne.

David Lewin is a digital and data transformation leader with 15 years' experience delivering multi million pound digital, data and organisational change programmes across UK Government and the private sector, including Government Digital Service, His Majesty's Revenue and Customs, UK Export Finance and J.P. Morgan. He currently serves as Head of International Strategy, Governance and Strategic Partnerships for Geospatial in GDS/DSIT, leading the UK's international geospatial strategy and representing the nation in major global forums. Previously, David headed the National Data Library's Kickstarter Programme, where he scaled a multidisciplinary team, helped secure over �100m in long term funding, and delivered foundational data elements of the UK's AI Strategy. His earlier roles include driving strategic financial stewardship and governance reform at HMRC, leading large-scale organisational transformation and rapid delivery capability building, and steering high-impact digital and data modernisation at UK Export Finance. David is also a former J.P. Morgan Product Manager with global profit accountability. He is recognised for his ability to navigate high stakes political, executive and commercial environments to deliver systemic, mission-driven change.

James Norris is Head of International Affairs at Ordnance Survey where he works to promote the vital role that geography and geospatial data has in transforming economies, sustaining the environment and using location insights for positive impacts.

James is a Fellow of the Royal Geographic Society and is a Chartered Geographer. He joined Ordnance Survey in 2008 and has a variety of roles including corporate governance, domestic policy analysis, international policy and international relations.

James currently leads OS's International Affairs activities. This includes developing, maintaining and enhancing bilateral relationships between OS and other National Mapping Agencies, representation and leadership in intergovernmental forums such as the UN and the United Nations Committee of Experts on Global Geospatial Information Management (UN-GGIM). He also currently holds a leadership position within the UN-GGIM Regional Committee for Europe.

Throughout his career, James has been an advocate for early career professionals and DEI initiatives across all aspects of his work.

Ms. Chauke has over 26 years of experience in Geographic Information Science (GISc), having worked with various organisations. She holds a Masters Degree in Business Leadership with a specialisation in Information Systems from the University of South Africa, a Bachelor of Science Honours degree in Geographic Information Science from the University of Pretoria and her junior degree majoring in Statistics and Geography.

Currently, Ms. Chauke serves as the Director of the National Spatial Information Framework in the Ministry of Land Reform and Rural Development, South Africa, where she is responsible for implementing the South African Spatial Data Infrastructure. She is the former Chair of the United Nations Global Geospatial Information Management Committee of Experts for Africa and currently Co-chair of the United Nations Global Geospatial Knowledge and Innovation Centre of Excellence in China.

Ms Chauke served on the High-Level Forum on Integrated Geospatial Information Framework, representing the African region from 2023-2024.

She is very passionate about her work and through this, she has represented the South Africa through various platforms, presented papers at national and international conferences.

She has without doubt positioned the Geospatial Information Management and the South African Spatial Data Infrastructure, nationally, regionally, and globally.

Markus Jobst is Chief Information Officer (CIO) at the Austrian Federal Office of Metrology and Surveying (BEV). He holds a degree in surveying from the Vienna University of Technology and a PhD in cartography, where his research focused on 3D cartographic communication. His academic work includes research positions at the Vienna University of Technology and the Hasso Plattner Institute at the University of Potsdam, where he contributed to developments in 3D geo-visualization and geospatial standards within the Open Geospatial Consortium.

Since joining BEV in 2009, he has played a key role in coordinating the implementation of European initiatives such as INSPIRE Directive and open data policies. As CIO since 2022, he is responsible for the strategic planning and management of the organization's IT landscape. His research and teaching focus on service-oriented architectures, geospatial knowledge infrastructures, modern cartography, and geo-communication, and he actively contributes to international discussions through the United Nations Global Geospatial Information Management community.

Dongpo Deng is a geospatial AI practitioner and founder of Geomni Tech Inc., focusing on geospatial knowledge engineering through the integration of knowledge graphs, open standards, and AI. He collaborates with Taiwan's National Land Surveying and Mapping Center (NLSC) and National Center for High-performance Computing (NCHC) to transform mapping specifications into machine-readable knowledge. His recent work on "National Map Agents" leverages GraphRAG and GeoAI to enable interoperable, standards-aware geospatial workflows. Forthemore, he also engages with data space initiatives in Taiwan advancing data sovereignty and trusted geospatial data sharing.

Prof. Dr. Zaffar Mohamed-Ghouse, Vice President and Director-Advisory and Innivation at Woolpert, is a globally recognized leader in the Spatial and Space sector, with over 28 years of experience spanning government, research, and private industry. He has led multi-million-dollar national mapping programs and advises on spatial strategy, policy and geospatial ecosystems in Asia, Middle East, Oceania and North America.

He currently serves as Chair of the UN-GGIM Geospatial Societies, Chair of the UN-GGIM Asia Pacific Private Sector Network, Vice Chair of the OGC Board of Directors, Program Board Member, Group of Earth Observation, and Senior Advisor to the SmartSat CRC, Industry Advisory Committtee Member to Australian Urban Research Infrastructure Network among many other roles.

Prof Dr Zaffar is also one of the founding members of the Geospatial Knowledge Infrastructure (GKI) and has been recognized internationally for his leadership, innovation, and contributions to digital earth, geospatial policy, strategy, spatial data infrastructures and standards. He serves as Professor in Australia and India's reputed Universities and Research Institutions and holds Fellow status with several international and national peak professional bodies.

Emilio López, Computer Engineer from the University of Málaga, member of the Senior Corps of Information Systems and Technologies of the General State Administration. He is currently Director of the Autonomous Agency National Center for Geographic Information and Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Geographic Information Infrastructure of Spain. He is also a member of the Governing Council of State Ports, the Board of Directors of EuroGeographics, and a member of the INSPIRE Committee of the European Commission and representative of Spain at the Pan American Institute of Geography and History.

Dr. Siva Ravada serves as Vice President of Development at Oracle Corporation. In this role he is responsible for development of the spatial and graph technology at Oracle. Oracle's spatial database server and related geospatial offerings are used across a wide range of applications from traditional GIS/LIS applications to business geographic applications providing location-based services.

Dr. Ravada works with many national agencies to help them define the architecture for their spatial data systems and help them guide in their implementation of spatial data platform. He is a member of program committees of several international conferences to serve the broader communities of spatial databases, Geographic Information Science and spatial computing.

Dr. Ravada is an author and contributor to numerous geospatial publications, and he holds over 40 patents in geospatial technology. Dr. Ravada received a Ph.D. in Computer Science from the University of Minnesota, a M.S. in Computer Science from the University of Maryland, and a B. Tech. in Computer Science & Engineering from Andhra University, India.

Jill Saligoe-Simmel, PhD - Jill is Senior Principal Product Manager at Esri, responsible for Geospatial Ecosystems, Spatial Data Infrastructure (SDI), and ArcGIS Hub. She is a professional geographer, former statewide Geospatial Information Officer, and experienced business owner. Jill is dedicated to applying a geographic approach to create vibrant, healthy, and sustainable communities worldwide.

Dr. Lesley Arnold is a geospatial strategist and data governance specialist with over 30 years' experience working with governments, international organisations and academia to strengthen national spatial data infrastructures. She is the founder and Director of Geospatial Frameworks, a consultancy that works globally on SDI strategy, data governance and implementation planning. Lesley is one of the lead authors of the UN-IGIF and has advised the United Nations and World Bank on geospatial policy, governance models, country action plans and the future geospatial information ecosystem. She is a Non-Executive Director of AuScope and the Australian Urban Research Infrastructure Network, and an Adjunct Associate Professor at Curtin University. Her research focuses on knowledge on-demand ecosystems, data as critical infrastructure, and using geospatial intelligence to support sustainable development and decision-making.

Tomaž Petek is geodetic engineer and public sector specialist for geomatics. He has many years of work experience in the field of real estate registration, spatial data management and geoinformatics. During his professional career, he works on the projects of the State Geodetic Service and the establishment of Infrastructure for spatial information in Slovenia. He also participated in the procedures for establishing a new system of spatial planning and spatial management and the establishment of a spatial information system in Slovenia. He has many years of experience in the field of international cooperation and professional enforcement of the state geodetic service in Europe and the Western Balkans region. On behalf of the Surveying and Mapping Authority of the Republic of Slovenia he was a representative of the National Contact Point and a member of the INSPIRE Committee at the European Commission. Since 2015 he is a member of the Executive Committee of the UN Group of Experts on Global Spatial Data Management (UN GGIM Europe) and in period from 2018 to 2023 he was also Chairman of Executive Committee UNGGIM Europe. Last two years, Tomaž Petek is a president of Management Board of EuroGeographics, the Association of European Geodetic, Cartographic and Cadastral Administrations.

Gerhard specialises in IT, data, data protection and international contract law as well as the sectors of research and development, earth observation, security and defence, in particular in the areas of open data, AI, intellectual property when using open-source components, unmanned systems, etc.

His clients include international corporations, medium-sized companies and German and European authorities, international organisations, and research institutes. In addition to providing legal advice, he regularly conducts customised workshops on contract drafting for agile procedures and helps companies and research institutions to implement the requirements of the EU AI Act. Gerhard is a TUV-certified external data protection officer. He has been listed in 'Germany's Best Lawyers' in the category 'IT Law' in the Handelsblatt since 2022. He studied law at the University of Cologne.

Kimberly Mantey is the Director of the National Geospatial Technical Operations Center (NGTOC) at the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS). The NGTOC serves as the operational hub for the Nation's topographic mapping programs, including the 3D Elevation Program (3DEP), 3D Hydrography Program (3DHP) and US Topographic Mapping Program. Ms. Mantey has been employed with the USGS since 2010 where she began as a student temporary employee. Her background is in remote sensing and geospatial project management, with specialized expertise in lidar and IFSAR applications.

Ms. Mantey holds a Bachelor of the Arts degree in Geography from the University of Colorado Denver, a master's certificate in Geographic Information Systems from the University of Colorado Denver, and a certificate in Engineering Graphics Design from the Red Rocks Community College. Ms. Mantey is energetic and passionate about providing high quality geospatial and mapping data to the public and is grateful for her role as NGTOC Director to support the USGS mission.

Erik Holmlund is the Executive Director of Alberta Data Partnerships (ADP), a not-for-profit, public-private-partnership that focuses on data governance and access. Formed in 1996, ADP is responsible for geospatial mapping and data distribution within the Province of Alberta through partnerships with the private sector firms: Altalis, MNC and AbaData. ADP is a stakeholder-driven company with a Board of Directors consisting of Government, Municipalities and Industry. Erik is also the program manager for the Open Data Areas Alberta initiative that was established to provide consistent, accessible, no cost geospatial datasets in defined locations to support innovation and commercialization in areas such as land use planning and environmental monitoring.

Prior to his work at ADP, Erik held various roles with geomatics and technology firms with projects in Canada, Africa and Papua New Guinea. He has a Bachelor's Degree in Environment and Conservation Sciences from the U of A and a Master's Degree in Geomatics Engineering from UNB.

Diane Dumashie is an internationally respected leader in the land and built environment sector, currently serving as President of the International Federation of Surveyors (FIG), a UN recognised global NGO representing professionals in more than 120 countries. She is known for her strategic clarity, inclusive leadership, and commitment to shaping a sustainable, resilient future for communities worldwide.

With a career spanning corporate real estate, international development, and high level policy engagement, Diane brings deep expertise in land management, across the functions of land use, land value, land tenure and economic development. She holds a Doctorate in Land Policy Planning and Integrated Coastal Area Management, a BSc in Land and Property Management, and is a Fellow of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors as well as an accredited CEDR mediator.

Diane's professional journey includes senior corporate roles, founding Dumashie Ltd, and advising UN Habitat, the World Bank, and the Commonwealth Secretariat. She has worked extensively across UK, and globally particularly Africa, supporting national agencies to build capacity, strengthen governance, to drive sustainable economic development outcomes.

As FIG President, she champions generational inclusivity, diversity, and global collaboration. Her leadership focuses on empowering young surveyors, embedding equity and inclusion in professional practice, and aligning the surveying profession with the Sustainable Development Goals. Her presidency is marked by a focus on climate resilience, digital transformation, and ensuring that no one is left behind in the rapidly evolving geospatial landscape.

A masterful communicator and passionate advocate for professional communities, Diane is widely regarded as a unifying voice-bringing people together with purpose, empathy, and vision to advance the profession, fostering innovation, and building a profession equipped to meet the challenges of the 21st century. Diane remains committed to inspiring the next generation of global leaders.

Said Abdullah Abri, ST, MT is a geospatial leader and entrepreneur driving innovation at the intersection of land administration, data infrastructure, and emerging technologies. With academic foundations in geodesy, geomatics, and geophysics from Institut Teknologi Bandung (ITB), he has led complex, large-scale mapping and geophysical survey initiatives across Southeast Asia, including national-scale airborne and subsurface data acquisition programs.

As former Director of PT Karvak Nusa Geomatika, Said spearheaded strategic projects in Timor-Leste, overseeing LiDAR, photogrammetry, and multi-sensor geophysical operations supporting natural resource management and infrastructure development. He currently serves as CEO of PT Tirta Bumi Manunggal, while also building a technology startup focused on applying Digital Twin and Artificial Intelligence to transform the survey and geospatial industry.

An active contributor to the global geospatial community, Said holds leadership roles within the Indonesian Surveyors Association and the ASEAN Federation of Land Surveying and Geomatics. His work is centered on developing trusted, interoperable geospatial ecosystems-bridging cadastre, land registry, valuation, and spatial planning.

At the Geospatial Knowledge Infrastructure (GKI) Summit, he brings a forward-looking perspective on how Digital Twin and AI can enable a trusted national land stack-enhancing data integration, reliability, and decision-making for future-ready land governance systems.

As Director of Kadaster International, Paula collaborates globally to help secure land rights, empower communities, and support sustainable development through reliable geo-information.

With a background in Social Geography and expertise in GIS and cadastre and land management, she is passionate about turning knowledge into impact. She currently serves as Co-Chair of the UN-GGIM Expert Group on Land Administration and as Chair of the FIG Task Force on the SDGs-roles that allow her to help shape global frameworks and foster meaningful change.

Mr Wu Defu is a Principal Geomatics Manager at the Singapore Land Authority (SLA), leading advanced GeoAI initiatives to enhance Singapore's National 3D Mapping capabilities, including indoor mapping, in support of sustainable development and digital twin strategies.

He plays a pivotal role in Singapore's 3D cadastre initiative, piloting 3D digital strata submissions to enable integrated and accurate land administration. Over the years, he has also contributed to the Digital Underground programme, 3D geological information management, and BIM development for Singapore's Underground Master Plan, translating geospatial innovation into tangible national infrastructure outcomes.

Shashikant Bagul has over 28+ years of distinguished experience in Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and Information Technology (IT). He has a proven track record of leading and managing high-stakes e-governance and mission-critical projects for the Government of India, as well as key defense and law enforcement agencies, including the Indian Army and Police. His extensive expertise spans the global GIS landscape, where he has successfully overseen complex, multi-national GIS initiatives across diverse sectors.

In his current role as the leader of Regulations, Compliance, and Partnerships at Tech Mahindra, Shashikant plays a vital role in driving the readiness and strategic alignment of GIS teams. His responsibilities include shaping regulatory frameworks, ensuring compliance with industry standards, and fostering strategic partnerships that enable innovative solutions and drive business growth. His leadership and strategic vision continue to contribute significantly to advancing GIS capabilities and industry excellence.

Kees de Zeeuw holds an MSc degree in land and water management and is Principal Consultant at Esri Global. Within Esri he is the Practice Lead on Land Administration at the Geospatial Authorities Department of Professional Services. His expertise is on land administration, e-governance, geo-information services and Spatial Data Infrastructures. He made contributions to Fit for Purpose Land Administration, LADM, IGIF and FELA.

Nokokure is a GIS professional with a background in land administration. She holds a Bachelor's degree in Land Administration from the Namibia University of Science and Technology and an MSc in Geographic Information Science and Earth Observation from ITC, University of Twente.

She has professional experience in local government in both Namibia and the Netherlands, working with geospatial data to support land administration and spatial planning processes. She currently works as a GIS Specialist at the Municipality of Dordrecht, where she contributes to the integration and application of geospatial information across different areas within the municipality.

Greg van Gaans is the Director of Geospatial Information Services at the South Australian Department for Housing and Urban Development, where he leads the state's cadastral, land administration and spatial platform capabilities within the Land Administration Division.

A geospatial and cloud specialist, Greg has built his career across private industry, academia and government - including a lectureship at the University of Adelaide and senior technology leadership roles such as Manager of Enterprise Platforms at the South Australian Department for Infrastructure and Transport. Throughout, he has focused on translating complex spatial and data capabilities into platforms that are usable, reliable and valuable to the people who depend on authoritative information about land, planning and growth.

Greg has championed a cloud-native geospatial approach to modernising government mapping and land information services, pioneering architectures built on open formats and technologies such as GeoParquet, PMTiles, DuckDB, MapLibre and vector tile pipelines on AWS cloud to replace traditional, hardware-bound GIS infrastructure. Under his leadership, South Australia has delivered nationally significant public platforms including the South Australian Property and Planning Atlas (SAPPA), the PlanSA Land Supply Dashboard, and Australia's first fully digital, interactive Regional Planning Portal.

His contribution to the sector has been recognised with the APSEA SA Professional of the Year award, and his work has contributed to international recognition at the Geospatial World Excellence Awards. Greg is a passionate advocate for open, cloud-native geospatial infrastructure and the role it can play in making government land and planning information more transparent, accessible and decision-ready.

Bobbie H. Kalra is the Founder & Chief Solutions Officer at Magnasoft, bringing over 20 years of entrepreneurial leadership in building a globally recognized geospatial technology venture from the ground up. From securing early institutional capital to scaling operations across emerging and mature markets, Bobbie has consistently translated innovation into measurable customer value-helping enterprises, utilities, and governments digitize, optimize, and future-proof critical infrastructure through intelligent geospatial solutions.
His career is defined by a combination of deep tech fluency in AI/ML-powered spatial technologies, sharp product-market fit instincts honed from ideation to monetization, and firsthand experience navigating complex global markets.

Amir Bar-Maor graduated with a degree in geodesy from the Technion - Israel Institute of Technology in 1999 and a master degree in geodesy in 2002. After working for several years designing and implementing GIS technology, he joined esri in 2008 - initially as a project manager and consultant for cadastral projects and later as a product engineer in software development. Amir is a licensed cadastral surveyor and a licensed real estate appraiser.

Greg Scott is the Executive Director of the SDG Data Alliance in PVBLIC Foundation, where he leads the expansion of the Data Alliance's next phase of execution and growth, with a particular focus on Small Island Developing States (SIDS) through PVBLIC's recent agreements with the Alliance of Small Island States (AOSIS) and the Government of Antigua and Barbuda to establish a Global Data Hub for SIDS.

Greg previously spent 12 years in the United Nations as the strategic advisor and Secretariat lead in the establishment and development of the United Nations Committee of Experts on Global Geospatial Information Management (UN-GGIM) in New York.

Prior to joining the United Nations, Greg spent 25 years in Geoscience Australia, Australian Government's national geoscience research and Earth sciences Agency. Spanning several key roles, he delivered Australia's national topographic mapping and derivative geospatial programs, and provided independent scientific analysis and advice in the use of geospatial information for environmental management, emergency management, and critical infrastructure protection.

Greg possesses formal qualifications in Cartography and Survey Mapping from New Zealand, a Graduate Diploma in Geography from the Australian National University, and PhD in Geomatics Engineering from the University of Melbourne.

Maher Abdel Karim is a Senior GIS and Geospatial Intelligence Leader with over 20 years of experience in advancing national-scale geospatial initiatives. He currently serves at the Public Authority for Civil Information (PACI) in Kuwait, where he leads strategic programs integrating GIS, Big Data, and Artificial Intelligence to enhance national geospatial services and digital transformation.

Maher has extensive experience across government, private consultancy, and ESRI distributors, and has contributed to international development projects in Jordan, Yemen, Egypt, and Syria under donor-funded programs. His work focuses on leveraging geospatial technologies to support data-driven decision-making and sustainable development.

At PACI, he has led the implementation of innovative platforms and datasets, including Kuwait Finder, LiDAR mapping, and StreetView programs, in addition to national drone mapping and mobile LiDAR initiatives. His current interests include applying machine learning and deep learning techniques to improve geospatial data quality, automate feature extraction, and analyze photogrammetric distortions in urban environments.

Maher holds an MSc in Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and several internationally recognized certifications, including GISP, PMI-PMP, PMI-RMP, PMI-PBA, and the Esri Enterprise System Design Associate credential.

Javier Santos is an Aerospace Engineer by the Technical University of Madrid, Spain and Institut National Polytechnique of Grenoble, France. Javier has developed his career in technical roles in the aerospace and satellite operations domains, as well as in business development, sales and marketing roles in technical contexts. He is the Director of Business Development for GEOSAT, currently leading the commercial area through the provision of innovative Earth Observation solutions and data to customers worldwide.

Héctor has been a volunteer OpenStreetMap Mapper since 2011. He has been serving on the OpenStreetMap Foundation Board since October 2024, currently as the Deputy Secretary, the Chair of the Personnel Committee, and the Board Liaison to the Operations Working Group. He is also pursuing a Ph.D. studying how companies collaborate in the OpenStreetMap Ecosystem as part of the ODECO research project.

Len Kne brings extensive experience with GIS and Information Technologies in higher education, construction, government, and non-profit organizations to his work at the University of Minnesota. He is looking forward to the day when everyone is thinking spatially.

Erik Holmlund is the Executive Director of Alberta Data Partnerships (ADP), a not-for-profit, public-private-partnership that focuses on data governance and access. Formed in 1996, ADP is responsible for geospatial mapping and data distribution within the Province of Alberta through partnerships with the private sector firms: Altalis, MNC and AbaData. ADP is a stakeholder-driven company with a Board of Directors consisting of Government, Municipalities and Industry. Erik is also the program manager for the Open Data Areas Alberta initiative that was established to provide consistent, accessible, no cost geospatial datasets in defined locations to support innovation and commercialization in areas such as land use planning and environmental monitoring.

Prior to his work at ADP, Erik held various roles with geomatics and technology firms with projects in Canada, Africa and Papua New Guinea. He has a Bachelor's Degree in Environment and Conservation Sciences from the U of A and a Master's Degree in Geomatics Engineering from UNB.