ISO/TC211: Standardisation of geographic information and geo-informatics

The scope of ISO/TC211 is standardisation in the field of digital geographic information (GI). TC211´s work aims to establish a structured set of standards for information concerning objects or phenomena that are directly or indirectly associated with a location relative to the Earth. These standards may specify, for geospatial information, methods, tools and services for data management, acquiring, processing, analysing, accessing, presenting and transferring such data in digital/electronic form between different users, systems and locations. The aim of this article is threefold: (1) to provide some background information about why efforts are made to standardise GI and geomatics, (2) to report on which GI standards have reached and advanced stage of consensus under ISO authority, and (3) to show the relevance of these standards for advancing remote sensing and related fields.