"Increasingly ubiquitous open spatial technologies offer the opportunity for new actors to participate in creating knowledge about the places where they live and work, and where they navigate the shocks and stresses of an uncertain world. This presentation offers insights about university student engagement in open mapping through the experiences of YouthMappers around the world. This inclusive international network of youth-led, faculty-mentored, and technology-enabled chapters on more than 300 campuses in 65+ countries work together to organize, collaborate, and implement mapping action that respond to needs around the globe. Specific examples will illuminate how students are creating and using spatial information that is collected using open software tools and made publicly available through open platforms, and in turn inform us about both the power and the limits of open spatial technologies in the hands of students working to build a more resilient, equitable and sustainable future."

UN Open GIS Initiative, established in March 2016, is to identify and develop an Open Source GIS bundle that meets the requirements of UN operations, taking full advantage of the expertise of contributing partners (Member States, international organizations, academia, NGO’s and private sector).
Geospatial Information Systems (GIS) has been played a substantial role in providing timely and effective geospatial information products (maps and dynamic tools) to ensure the United Nations operations are equipped with suitable information to support the UN mandates through informed planning and decision-making processes. The UN has been using proprietary GIS software for the past two decades. The rapid growth and development of open-source GIS solutions present the technological potential, operational flexibility and financial benefits as well as easy to access for UN operational partners and host nations.
In view of complexity and variety of UN operational demands and the outcome and lessons learned from the UN Open GIS Initiative, it is identified to develop a hybrid GIS platform that the users should be able to access the most suitable solutions to fulfil the operational demands in flexible and cost effective manner whether the solutions are open source or proprietary, combination of both and/or complement each other. The hybrid model lets coexist two software stacks, one open source based, the other proprietary, which renders different services to end users and applications.
Significant progress has been made so far in developing open source-based GIS solutions such as Hybrid Geospatial Database, GeoPortal, Analytical models/ applications, Data collection and Optimized/innovated applications for harmonizing open source technology with proprietary as well as open GIS trainings to the UN staff for smooth transition from proprietary to hybrid GIS platform technology.
In particular, it will provide an overall update on what has been achieved by the UN Open GIS Initiative during the past year, such as hybrid GIS architecture, mobile GIS solution, story map project, field application of OpenDroneMap and UN Vector Tile toolkit as well as the capacity building activities.

Several ambitious initiatives, such as Destination Earth of the European Union, are harnessing large amounts of Earth Observation and other data to develop so-called digital twins of the Earth. The combination of large and diverse data assets, cloud- & HPC-computing as well as sophisticates models and AI algorithms now permit to generate predictive EO scenarios. One key aspect of Digital Twins is the possibility to employ openness as one of the key principles for all its functions. Data policy, data access, software development, processing and information management are important considerations for engaging and integrating users of all kinds. Due to their high potential for science and society the European Space Agency, with its unique geospatial data holdings, is fully engaged in the development of Digital Twins of the Earth.

It is well-known that Free Open Source Software is part of Space and Planetary Exploration, and the latest generation of rovers and drones on Mars embed FOSS components and frameworks. But what about Free Open Source for Geospatial software and data access and availability? We will travel the timeline of planetary cartography, from the first steps of remote and direct observation of the bodies of our Solar System to the era when Geographic Information Systems spread in Planetary Science and FOSS4G starts to play an essential role in studies and missions to environments beyond planet Earth.

The Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) and the Open Source Geospatial Foundation (OSGeo) have a long and natural tradition of collaborating. In 2022, the Memorandum of Understanding between both organizations was updated - to pay tribute to ongoing and future activities.
In the initial MoU (2008), OGC and OSGeo agreed to work closely to coordinate with each other’s memberships regarding new standards developments and standards changes that may be required as a result of open source programs. Another important aspect of the relationship is to keep each other well informed of the respective activities and directions. Both aspects have proven to be of great importance. One goal was and is to coordinate activities in such a way as to maximize the achievement of both organizations’ mission and goals. That includes to identify open source technologies that can be used as reference implementations for and validate compliance tests developed for OGC adopted standards. Since the first MOU, there has been an increase in OGC on developer focus and engagement of software communities and activities. Increased collaboration has also occured by way of the OGC API code sprints. In addition, key opportunities for cross pollination have evolved given shared missions (FAIR data) and the viewpoint that FOSS4G software is beneficial for all software.
The development of the OGC API suite of standards is an excellent example on how the MoU works in practical terms. The OGC APIs are a family of Web APIs that have been created as extensible specifications designed as modular building blocks that enable access to spatial data that can be used in data APIs. These revolutionary APIs make location information more accessible than ever before through the use of RESTful principles, and the OpenAPI specification for describing interfaces. OGC APIs have been tested in close collaboration with the global developer and end user communities through hackathons, sprints, and workshops to provide a modern solution to tomorrow’s location sharing issues. For example, the 2021 Joint Code Sprint organized by OGC, OSGeo and the Apache Software Foundation (ASF) included open source implementations of OGC APIs - and became a standing sprint activity that was repeated in 2022. This presentation provides a deeper dive into the new Memorandum of Understanding and how both open standards and free and open source software can benefit from one another.

The Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) and the Open Source Geospatial Foundation (OSGeo) have a long and natural tradition of collaborating. In 2022, the Memorandum of Understanding between both organizations was updated - to pay tribute to ongoing and future activities.
In the initial MoU (2008), OGC and OSGeo agreed to work closely to coordinate with each other’s memberships regarding new standards developments and standards changes that may be required as a result of open source programs. Another important aspect of the relationship is to keep each other well informed of the respective activities and directions. Both aspects have proven to be of great importance. One goal was and is to coordinate activities in such a way as to maximize the achievement of both organizations’ mission and goals. That includes to identify open source technologies that can be used as reference implementations for and validate compliance tests developed for OGC adopted standards. Since the first MOU, there has been an increase in OGC on developer focus and engagement of software communities and activities. Increased collaboration has also occured by way of the OGC API code sprints. In addition, key opportunities for cross pollination have evolved given shared missions (FAIR data) and the viewpoint that FOSS4G software is beneficial for all software.
The development of the OGC API suite of standards is an excellent example on how the MoU works in practical terms. The OGC APIs are a family of Web APIs that have been created as extensible specifications designed as modular building blocks that enable access to spatial data that can be used in data APIs. These revolutionary APIs make location information more accessible than ever before through the use of RESTful principles, and the OpenAPI specification for describing interfaces. OGC APIs have been tested in close collaboration with the global developer and end user communities through hackathons, sprints, and workshops to provide a modern solution to tomorrow’s location sharing issues. For example, the 2021 Joint Code Sprint organized by OGC, OSGeo and the Apache Software Foundation (ASF) included open source implementations of OGC APIs - and became a standing sprint activity that was repeated in 2022. This presentation provides a deeper dive into the new Memorandum of Understanding and how both open standards and free and open source software can benefit from one another.