UNSDI-NCO - The Netherlands Coordination Office of UNSDI

UNSDI-NCO (the Netherlands Coordination Office of the United Nations Spatial Data Infrastructure) is the national link between the United Nations and Netherlands parties involved in the UNSDI programme. The NCO cooperates closely with the UN and in the Netherlands with relevant ministries, research and development institutes, universities, NGOs, SMEs and (multi-national) enterprises.

The purpose of the NCO is to disclose high-quality geo-information, knowledge and capabilities from Netherlands parties to the international UNSDI community in order to contribute to the realization of the Millennium Development Goals, Humanitarian Response, Economic Development, Environmental Protection, Peace and Safety and to combat the impact of climate change. The NCO manages the national UNSDI-GeoNetwork portal, making information available from all linked UN bodies and national UNSDI geo-information suppliers.

The geo-information includes unique thematic information, among others derived from satellite images, to support policy development and sustainable management. The methods used, knowledge of the various application areas and the available education and training infrastructure all contribute to sustainable capacity development in developing countries.

What we do

• Facilitate the national UNSDI portal
• Create operational links with the (sub) national geo-information suppliers
• Contribute in the realization of national government's policies and needs with respect to issues relying on the use of geo-information
• Coordination and execution of geo-information disclosure activities for large enterprises, companies or multi-nationals in order to fulfil their Corporate Governance goals
• Capacity Building activities, linked to the previous two items
• Harmonize national UNSDI activities with INSPIRE, GMES, GEO, GEOSS, GALILEO

How we do it

• Through three programmatic lines, see the programmes section.
• We act as coordinator of or broker for Netherlands activities in UNSDI and support third parties on the above rendering Advisory services, Consultancy and Programme management and implementation.

First National UNSDI portal

At present UNSDI-NCO established the first national UNSDI metadata portal in The Netherlands. The portal contains over 17.800 database items and has been accessed by 130 countries.

(Jan Cees Venema, UNSDI-NCO)