Oct 14, 2014 -- Europe’s National Mapping, Cadastral and Land Registry Authorities must adapt their activities to become geospatial information brokers if they are to continue to meet society's expectations, says EuroGeographics' President, Ingrid Vanden Berghe.

Mrs Vanden Berghe was speaking at the Association's 2014 General Assembly held recently in ChiÈ™inău, Moldova which saw more than 140 geospatial experts from 46 countries gather in the city.

"By developing their role as a trusted arbiter in geoinformation, National Mapping, Cadastral and Land Registry Authorities can bring together providers and users to improve the visibility and quality of geodata whilst also increasing its use," she told delegates.

 “The European Location Framework (ELF) is our response to the demand for one access point to national reference datasets and services. By embracing the role of geo service provider, we can position ourselves as both an advisor and coordinator of geoinformation to ensure our activities continue to deliver benefits to governments, businesses and citizens."

The top-level meeting also debated the impact of new technologies on data acquisition and preserving digital geographic information along with the opportunities and challenges presented by Big Data. These included finding solutions to complex queries over complex datasets, the future of smart cities, smart metres and crowdsourcing.

The conference also heard from Dr Vanessa Lawrence CB, Secretary General, Ordnance Survey International and Co-Chair UN-GGIM who delivered the keynote presentation on National Mapping, Cadastral and Land Registry Authorities in the future of Europe. Other guest speakers included Victor Bodiu, Secretary General of the Government of Moldova; Anatolie Ghilas, General Director, State Agency for Land Relations and Cadastre, Moldova; Alessandro Annoni, Head of the Spatial Data Infrastructures Unit, Joint Research Centre; and Tim Haigh, Manager - Information Resources, European Environment Agency.

The 2014 General Assembly, on 29 and 30 September, coincided with the 20th anniversary of its hosts, the State Agency for Land Relations and Cadastre, Moldova.

It concluded with election of Arvo Kokkonen, Director General, National Land Survey of Finland; Angela Matcov, Director, Agency of Land Relations and Cadastre, Republic of Moldova; and Danko Markovinovic, General Director State Geodetic Administration of the Republic of Croatia to the EuroGeographics' Management Board. It was also announced that Andrew Trigg, Portfolio Director, with responsibility for all change programmes, HM Land Registry will represent Great Britain on the Management Board.

Mrs Vanden Berghe, Administrator-general, National Geographical Institute of Belgium was re-elected as a Management Board member and President.

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For further information please contact Rhian French on +44 1264 300126, +447892 698 350(mobile) or email:  Email Contact.

Notes to Editors

EuroGeographics - 

Connecting you to the authoritative geo-information framework for Europe

EuroGeographics is an international not-for-profit organisation (AISBL/ IVZW under Belgian Law. BCE registration:  833 607 112) and the membership association for the European National Mapping, Land Registry and Cadastral Authorities. It brings together 61 members from 46 countries, from Portugal to the Ukraine and Iceland to Turkey. 

To find out more about EuroGeographics, please visit  www.eurogeographics.org 

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