A three-day event organized by Kartverket – Norwegian Mapping Authority with the support of various donors and development partners, including FAO, World Bank, UNSD/UN-UNGGIM, GEO and others, engaged 491 participants from 51 countries. 

The conference focused on the future of National Mapping Authorities, the benefits from the integration of key registers, the implementation of the Integrated Geospatial Information Framework (IGIF) and the methodology on how to prepare a country level action plan. Case studies covering the on-going development of country level action plans in line with the IGIF in Georgia, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, and Ukraine have been presented, followed by a policy panel session.

The societal benefits of the use of geospatial information have been presented during the conference with best practice case studies from Norway, Croatia, Poland, Serbia and Moldova. The discussions over the implementation challenges and the need for good coordination of donor’s support, the benefits from the Fit-for-Purpose land administration as well as the discussions over the cybersecurity and the ethical issues in collecting and using geospatial information provided a great advice on the implementation challenges and the way forward.

The conference looked at the future developments, the use of new technologies, the use of drones, the spatial finance and the hybrid acquisition techniques.