At the Geospatial World Forum (GWF) in Amsterdam last year, Paul Cheung of the United Nations Initiative on Global Geospatial Information Management
(GGIM) voiced the concern about their role that many national mapping
agencies and other government organizations with responsibility for
geospatial information have had since the advent of Google Map/Earth,
private data companies like Digital Globe, Geoeye, TeleAtlas and Navteq,
crowd-sourced geospatial data like OpenStreetMap, and open data policies adopted by many governments around the world.

The Second High Level Forum on Global Geospatial Information Management
(GGIM) occurred in Doha, Qatar in February, 2013.  The final declaration of the Forum, the Doha Declaration Advancing Global Geospatial Information Management listed important focus areas for GGIM activities.

• a sustained operational global geodetic reference frame and
  infrastructure to support the increasing demand for positioning and
  monitoring applications
• the greater use of geospatial information in sustainable development
  by supporting the the Global Map for Sustainable Development (GM4SD)
  with an initial focus on managing risks of natural disasters to urban
  populations
• an agreed set of authoritative core global reference datasets to support global sustainable development activities
• a stable, credible, and reliable national geospatial information
  infrastructure in each country built on internationally recognized
  standards
• more training programs related to geospatial information management at all levels
• regional collaboration in the promotion and development of geospatial information management

The United Nations Committee of Experts on Global Geospatial Information Management is holding a special joint session with the Cambridge Conference July 24 to 26 in Cambridge, England.

More than 280 geospatial information leaders from over 75  Member States and 40 international organizations are paartcipating in the UN GGIM third session.   An expected outcome is a proposal to table a draft text during the sixty-eighth session of the United Nations General Assembly that would urge Governments to support a global geodetic frame and related infrastructure.