Boundless Partners with United Nations on UN Open GIS Initiative
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Boundless Partners with United Nations on UN Open GIS Initiative

Boundless, a leader in open and scalable GIS, has announced its partnership with the United Nations (UN) to support its UN Open GIS Initiative, which aides UN operations around the world through open source geospatial software and services. With Boundless technology, the UN can leverage a hybrid architecture approach and maintain interoperability with existing software systems to maximise the value of its open technology and open data in global peacekeeping and other UN operations.

The UN Open GIS Initiative aims to identify and develop open source geospatial software and services that meet the requirements of UN operations, taking full advantage of the expertise of mission partners including member states, technology contributing countries, international organisations, academia, NGOs and the private sector. The scope of the initiative covers software development for the entire lifecycle of geospatial information at the enterprise level, from data collection, management and sharing to geospatial analysis and web and mobile applications. The initiative also focuses on the technology’s sustainability and eventual transfer from the UN to other potential user groups as well as developing countries.

“The ability to use Boundless in a hybrid architecture enables the organisation to share freely with other UN operational partners and nations and interoperate with existing technologies already in use. It enables rapid innovation and prevents single vendor lock-in.” said Anthony Calamito, Chief Geospatial Officer at Boundless.

Meeting Requirements

The UN deployed Boundless technology after nearly two years of planning and development and a successful demonstration in a simulated UN field operational environment. To meet UN-specific requirements, Boundless added customised functionality to Boundless Exchange and Boundless Anywhere, its content management and mobile GIS offerings, respectively, which are now actively deployed and operational in the United Nations Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS).

“Boundless’ open GIS solutions are much needed tools for peacekeepers in the UN field operational environment, and it will definitely impact positively on UN peacekeeping operations, enhancing situational awareness and creating a common operational picture,” said Kyoung-Soo Eom, Chief of UN Geospatial Information Section. “Open source geospatial solutions in a hybrid architecture will effectively support the increased and complex UN operational demands in a more flexible and scalable manner, and will also allow us to share the solutions with UN operational partners and transfer the technology and experience to social community and host nations.”

In addition to providing technological support for the UN Open GIS Initiative, Boundless is also a sponsor of the OSGeo UN Committee Educational Challenge, a program focused on developing open geospatial educational material for the initiative.

For more information visit https://boundlessgeo.com

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