Geospatial World Awards 2020 goes digital

September 15, 2020: Geospatial Media and Communications has announced its Geospatial World Awards will take place virtually this year, for the first time, due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Geospatial World Awards are an internationally-acclaimed premium awards recognizing individuals and organizations behind remarkable innovations and ideas in the global geospatial industry. Initiated in 2007, the awards have recognized over 200+ individuals and organizations till date.

The Geospatial World Awards 2020 will be held virtually on 6 October 2020, from 2.00PM – 4.30PM CEST. Registration is now open at https://geospatialworldforum.org/virtual-awards/

Speaking on the awards, Sanjay Kumar, Chief Executive Officer at Geospatial Media and Communications said: “Although it would have been phenomenal to felicitate these outstanding individuals and organizations in person, nevertheless our team is excited to produce our very first virtual awards. We look forward to hosting the global geospatial community again albeit virtually.”

Here’s the award categories and list of winners:

Making A Difference Awards

Champions whose exceptional and most innovative, forward looking visions have made a significant difference to the growth of the industry and community at large.

Societal Impact – Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, Art of Living Foundation

For his concerted attempts at the preservation of natural resources and relentless efforts towards empowering local communities through The Art of Living Foundation

Science and Public Policy – Stefan Schweinfest, United Nations

For promoting inclusivity in global geospatial information management, leading to the recognition of geospatial technologies being key to developing a sustainable planet.

Innovation & Data Economy – Mariana Mazzucato, Institute for Innovation and Public Purpose, University College London

For her advocacy in conceiving mission-oriented innovation policies, making a significant impact on the overall value chain of Earth observation and geospatial industry, globally.

Geospatial World Leadership Awards

Geospatial World Leadership Awards are drawn from various categories to recognize the undisputed leader of the year in selective fields. As the geospatial industry undergoes a drastic process of transformation, these individuals and organizations brought dramatic advancements in technologies with enthusiasm and innovative thinking in their area of expertise, driving our industry towards the future.

Lifetime Achievement Award – Alessandro Annoni

For playing a pivotal role in the development and proliferation of spatial sciences in Europe for over two decades; creating major impact on information technology applications to the management of geospatial data, promoting their openness and value.

Lifetime Achievement Award – Mark Reichardt

For playing a fundamental role in bringing together diverse communities to the table for the cause of open geospatial standards; driving Open Geospatial Consortium into a truly global organization.

Geospatial Ambassador of the Year – Janet Ranganathan, World Resources Institute

For exemplary leadership in facilitating utilization of geospatial data and satellite imageries across different programs, as well as championing open data platforms for a healthy planet.

Women Geospatial Champion of the Year – Africa Flores, SERVIR

For her passion towards facilitating the utilization of geospatial data and satellite imageries across different environmental programs.

Business Leader of the Year – Teresa Carlson, Amazon Web Services

For her visionary leadership in the AWS Ground Station initiative, which has been instrumental in redefining the overall business value chain of the satellite imaging industry.

Techruptor of the Year – Rafal Modrzewski, ICEYE

For founding ICEYE, the first satellite operator to fit the SAR technology into a satellite weighing less than 100kg, thereby ensuring quick SAR imagery at lower cost.

Technology Company of the Year – Oracle

For decades of supporting multiple data models, algorithms and workload types in its database architecture; promoting democratization of spatial data.

Startup of the Year – Cesium

For its an end-to-end platform that unleashes the potential of 3D data by making it easy for developers to visualize, analyze and share content.

National Geospatial Agency of the Year – Norwegian Mapping Authority

For its continuous efforts to improve access to data through cooperation, communication and innovation; making geospatial data pivotal to the nation’s economic activities.

Enabling Public Policy & Infrastructure – Office of Land Affairs, Geodesy and Cartography, Mongolia

For creating an integrated data platform comprising cartography, land, and cadaster; improving the timeliness, availability and accessibility of geospatial information across the country.

Academic & Research Institution of the Year – Chubu University

For serving as a collaborative lab and communication platform to promote Digital Earth research in Japan and beyond.

Geospatial World Excellence Awards

Geospatial World Excellence Awards recognizes exemplary practices in various user segments across the globe. The winning projects are selected by a panel of judges, following an open nomination process.

Advertising – Ogilvy

For utilizing geo-tagging technology in its German Rail – No Need To Fly Campaign, allowing real-time price updates in the advertisement with detailed cost of travel from closest airport to the foreign country. The advertisement precipitated a 24% increase in revenue for the brand.

Citizen Engagement – City of Hamburg

For developing DIPAS (Digital Participation System), an integrated, media-break-free digital system for collecting georeferenced citizen contributions to planning projects. The system also allows urban geo-data, collected in the urban data platform, as well as the cities’ 3D model to be made available on site at citizens’ events.

Climate and Food Security – International Water Management Institute (IWMI)

For establishing South Asia Drought Monitoring System (SADMS), an operational drought early warning system, to warn local communities when there is a risk of drought, improving preparedness and decreasing risks associated with crop and food loss.

Crowdsourcing – Crowd2Map

For Crowd2Map Tanzania, a crowdsourced mapping project putting rural Tanzania on the map. With the help of over 11,500 volunteers worldwide and 1600 on the ground in Tanzania, the locals now have access to maps of their area, which is vital for community development.

State Governance – Selangor State Government

For Selangor Geospatial Management System (SELGEM), a comprehensive Geospatial data platform that supports and enhances existing State systems to achieve sustainable development initiatives and Selangor as a Smart State 2025.  

Urban Biodiversity – National Parks Board (NParks)

For the digitalization of tree management in Singapore, creating a more efficient and cost saving tree inspection tools that transforms not only the Board’s operation, but also the city planning and its forestry and urban greenery management science.

Register to attend the virtual award ceremony here.

About Geospatial Media and Communications

Geospatial Media and Communications has been exclusively dedicated to promoting and facilitating growth of geospatial industry and connect the same with major economic industry domains worldwide. The organization has gained the repute of being a premier media organization producing world-class conferences, state-of-the-art exhibitions, stirring print and online publications, as well as acclaimed market reports within the domain.

For further inquiries, contact Sarah Hisham, Product Manager, Geospatial Media and Communications: sarah@geospatialmedia.net