The United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs (UNOOSA) will host the International Meeting on the Applications of the Global Navigation Satellite Systems from 12 to 16 December at the Vienna International Centre. The meeting will bring together experts from around the world to discuss the current and future capabilities of the Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS) and their promising applications to support sustainable development, such as precision agriculture, the efficiency and safety of transport, search and rescue, geodesy and land management.

This international meeting on GNSS will also mark ten years of achievements by the United Nations in the area of GNSS with UNOOSA taking an active role as the Executive Secretariat of the International Committee on Global Navigation Satellite Systems (ICG), a co-organizer of the meeting. ICG, established under the umbrella of the United Nations, brings together all the current providers of GNSS to discuss issues of interoperability and compatibility among global systems – issues that can make a significant difference for a GNSS user, who will be able to utilize one instrument to receive signals from multiple satellite systems. To benefit from these achievements, countries need to stay abreast of the latest developments in GNSS-related areas and build capacity to maximize the benefits accrued from GNSS service.

UNOOSA works through ICG to achieve a true “system of GNSS systems” to improve the coordinated service provision. It also organizes regional workshops, training courses and international meetings focusing on capacity-building in the use of GNSS-related technologies in various rapidly growing fields of applications.

The current meeting will address the following thematic areas:

1. Policies and strategies in the use of GNSS applications for promoting sustainable development;
2. GNSS-based application areas such as civil aviation, maritime environment, precision agriculture, flood prediction, crustal and seismic monitoring; surveying and mapping; timing and telecommunications;
3. GNSS reference station system and services (geodetic framework);
4. National, regional and international initiatives/experiences in GNSS implementation and uses;
5. International Space Weather Initiative (ISWI): atmospheric effects on GNSS signals;
6. Capacity-building, training and education in the field of GNSS.
More information is available at http://www.oosa.unvienna.org/oosa/en/SAP/gnss/index.html, including the newest UNOOSA brochure “10 years of achievement of the United Nations on Global Navigation Satellite Systems”.

For further information, please contact:
Sharafat Gadimova
United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs (UNOOSA)
ICG Executive Secretariat
Email: sharafat.gadimova[at]unoosa.org
Romana Kofler
United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs (UNOOSA)
Telephone: (+43-1) 26060-4962
Email: romana.kofler[at]unoosa.org