To coordinate the partnership, 19 nations and regions have been designated as the International Steering Committee for Global Mapping. These are Antarctica, Australia, Bangladesh, Canada, China, Mexico, Europe, France, India, Iran, Japan, Kenya, Republic of Korea, Malaysia, New Zealand, Niger, South Africa, United Kingdom, and United States of America.

Partners:
Governments: Since it was formed in 1996, mapping agencies from more than 130 nations have joined the partnership. (For a complete list see http://www.iscgm.org/html4/index_c3.html#doc1_org.iscgm.participants
Civil Society: The International Cartographic Association maintains Advisor status, and the Committee on Earth Observing Satellites has instituted a module for global mapping.
Partnerships: The Global Spatial Data Infrastructure (www.gsdi.org); Geographic Information for Sustainable Development and My Community Our Earth partnerships (www.sdp.gov).
Private Sector: ESRI Inc. provides a Global Mapping/Global Spatial Data Infrastructure grant.
International Organizations: United Nations (UN Statistics Division, UN Cartographic Division, UN Environment Program, UN University).

Partnership Targets:

• Phase 1: Complete the verification, updating, and release of coarse data (1:1,000,000-scale and 1 kilometer resolution) by 2005.
• Phase 2: Produce finer resolution and greater accuracy data beginning in 2006 to be completed at a date to be determined.
• Develop a process by which nations can openly share their global map data for non-commercial purposes.
• Hold regular meetings of the ISCGM steering committee to report on nations' activities, address technical problems, and make policy recommendations to participant nations.
• Discuss new techniques for producing, distributing, or using Global Map data.

Progress Against Targets:

• The Japanese Government established a secretariat to provide staff support for the ISCGM, coordinate communications among the partners, and expand the partnership.
• The United States government donated coarse data of the following types to be verified, updated, and improved by the participant nations: transportation, hydrography, boundaries, populated places, land use, land cover, vegetation, and elevation. The ISCGM and volunteers from other partner nations established the standards and specifications for the final approved data. Eighteen nations and the Antarctic region have completed verification. The other nations are in the verification process.
• The Strategy Working Group of ISCGM is preparing the strategy for accomplishing Phase 2. The United States has made global mosaics of Landsat data available and is releasing Shuttle Radar Topography Mission data for use in Phase 2.
• A Global Mapping partnership web site has been established to distribute information about the partnership and to provide access to the data.
• Major Global Map meetings have been hosted by Japan (1996, 1997, 2000, 2003), United States (1996, 1998), Australia (1998), England (1999, 2003), South Africa (2000), Colombia (2001), Hungary (2002) and India (2004). Smaller and ad-hoc meetings are held in conjunction with meetings of relevant professional societies.
• Training classes for Global Mapping have been held at several locations in Africa, Columbia, Japan, and the United States. Technical papers have been presented at the Global Mapping Forums and at professional society meetings. In addition, the ISCGM, through the secretariat, publishes a newsletter and an annual report to communicate new techniques and accomplishments.

Next Steps:
The Global Map project is scheduled to complete Phase 1 by 2005. Phase 1 is the verification, updating, and release of coarse data for the whole globe (1:1,000,000-scale and 1 kilometer resolution). Other planned activities of the Global Map project are:

• Increase the number of participating nations.
• Develop standards and specifications for Phase 2, which is the verification, updating, and release of more detailed map data.
• Prepare a document describing the applications for which the Global Map data have and can be used. This will be a tutorial to help developing and developed nations get the maximum benefit from their investment in the Global Map.
• Facilitate agreement among participating nations for unrestricted release of more detailed Phase 2 data.

Resources:
The Japanese government houses and funds the secretariat. The United States Government provides initial data sets to be verified. The partner nations provide in-kind support to verify their own data, host meetings, assist less developed nations in verifying their data, cooperate to develop standards and share tools. All contributions of resources are voluntary.

USG Points of Contact: U.S. Geological Survey, Jay Feuquay, (Phone: 703-648-5057, Email: feuquay@usgs.gov; Thomas Clines, (Phone: 703-648-5481, Email: tclines@usgs.gov; State Department John Kelmelis (Phone: 202-647-3801, Email: kelmelisja@state.gov

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