GGOS Coordinating Office – Recent Achievements and Activities

The International Association of Geodesy’s (IAG) Global Geodetic Observing System (GGOS) is managed administratively by the GGOS Coordinating Office, based at the Austrian Federal Office of Metrology and Surveying (BEV). The director of GGOS Coordinating Office (CO) supports the Executive Committee, the Coordinating Board and the Science Panel as well as he ensures coordination of the activities of the various GGOS components like the Bureau of Products and Standards (BPS), the Bureau of Networks and Observations (BNO) and the three GGOS Focus Areas.

The Coordinating Office ensures information flow, maintains documentation of GGOS activities, and manages specific assistance functions that enhance the coordination across all areas of GGOS, including coordination among IAG Services and support for workshops. The Coordinating Office, in its long‐term coordination role, ensures that the GGOS components contribute to GGOS and its stakeholder community in a consistent and continuous manner. The Coordinating Office also maintains, manages, and coordinates the GGOS web- and social media presence as well as outreach and external engagement. In 2020 the current GGOS website (www.ggos.org) will be refreshed and redesigned to optimize usability and ease of navigation. The website will serve as a source of information about GGOS, geodetic data, products, and services, as well as other non-technical resources for the IAG community.

On behalf of the GGOS community, the Coordinating Office manages external relations and engagement with stakeholder organizations such as the Group on Earth Observations (GEO), the Committee on Earth Observation Satellites (CEOS) and the International Science Council (ISC) World Data System (WDS). In this capacity, the Office also identifies opportunities to link geodesy with relevant United Nations frameworks and other instruments of engagement, such as the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction and the UN-GGIM-World Bank Integrated Geospatial Information Framework.

The Coordinating Office also works to identify opportunities for improved coordination and advocacy within the geodetic community, establishing the Working Group on “Digital Object Identifiers (DOIs) for Geodetic Data Sets” in 2019. This working group consists of more than 20 members affiliated with IAG Services, working to establish usage parameters and advocate for the consistent implementation of DOIs across all IAG Services and in the greater geodetic community.