In a Geospatial World column a year ago, Ingrid Vanden Berghe exposed her ideas on the geo-information brokerage role that she believes mapping agencies are well placed to take on and is being adopted by the National Geographic Institute (NGI), Belgium. This brokering works in two ways – outwards to provide government information publicly and inwards to ensure that government has the data it needs. This year she explained to John Kedar, Contributing Editor, GW, how this transformation is progressing, and in particular how partnerships and solutions are central to being an effective broker.
Transformation to the brokerage role requires new behaviors if the full benefits are to be realised. Most important amongst these, in addition to the implicit brokerage role as a ‘data and map provider’, NGI is positioning itself as a strategic partner with its key customers. The biggest partner initially is defense but NGI is also developing partnerships with those meeting other high government priorities, such as the emergency services, security services and those focused on solutions for the climate crisis. This takes brokering beyond data to the provision of solutions to partner problems.
The emergency services often operate and integrate assets across boundaries. NGI has worked with the emergency services to bring a consistent base map that meets their needs with a standardised emergency grid index and thematic symbology. It’s not just the big issues though, NGI won an IT-award in December for establishing a tool for firewomen and firemen to rapidly print specific mapping to ensure improved coordination between field and command centers – everyone operating with the same information.
Partnership works in other ways too. In addition to better data and supporting integration, NGI conducted a tender for, and procured, Google API licences and technical services on behalf of the police. This idea is taken further to whole of government procurement of geospatial data and licences, although sometimes big ministries are in the lead, for instance the Ministry of Economic Affairs.
NGI is changing its relationship with its biggest customer, the Ministry of Defence (MOD), by supporting the Ministry improve its capacity to benefit from geospatial data and technology. MOD and NGI intend to sign a partnership agreement to formalize this. It will include placing NGI employees into the Ministry of Defense, removing the need for the Ministry to recruit and retain small numbers of specialists. As a result, NGI is closer to its partner, better understands defense challenges and can build a pool of customer- centric staff with experience of wider user systems, potentially benefitting other ministries. It is good for geospatial careers too, as the arrangement provides young people with customer-facing development combined with long-term progression that would otherwise be denied in a small specialist team. The recruitment of military reservists amongst NGI-staff, building experience in peacetime but deploying with the military in crisis, is another option being explored. In these examples, the partnership can be seen to be tripartite, MOD, NGI and the individual.
It’s not all plain sailing – the broker role has challenges. Firstly, securing the ‘factory’ when producing and serving data is relatively easy but NGI is now grappling with the more difficult security challenge of working interactively with multiple partners. Secondly, NGI has a responsibility not to implicitly lock partners into particular technology vendors, instead looking for openness and modularity in solutions. Overall, though, through its brokerage approach focussed on solving users’ challenges whilst still responsible for the basics, NGI is becoming even more relevant to the Belgian Government, business and people.
Ingrid Vanden Berghe is the Administrator General of the National Geographic Institute in Belgium
Disclaimer: Views Expressed are Author's Own. Geospatial World May or May Not Endorse it
