GISCO Activities

The main goal of GISCO's various activities and long-term projects is to better integrate statistical and geospatial information at the EU level.

1.  UN-Global Geospatial Information Management (UN-GGIM)

Eurostat is closely involved in the activities of the UN-Global Geospatial Information Management (UN-GGIM) and its European committee, UN-GGIM: Europe. Eurostat's main interest in UN-GGIM lies in bringing together statistical and geospatial information. The aim is to provide better, more relevant statistics. In line with this, Eurostat is keen to raise awareness among European Statistical System (ESS) members of the benefits of data integration. UN-GGIM's activities now provide the framework for all location-related ESS activities, including:

  • GEOSTAT
  • Merging Statistics and Geospatial Information
  • the activities of the European Forum for Geography and Statistics (EFGS).

2.  GEOSTAT

GEOSTAT was launched in early 2010, in cooperation with the European Forum for Geography and Statistics (EFGS). It comprises a series of projects designed to set up geospatial statistics infrastructure in EU countries and at EU level.

GEOSTAT's main objective, in preparation for the 2021 census, is to establish a point-based spatial reference framework for statistics in all ESS member countries. For more information about its goals and individual projects and the activities of the EFGS, see the GEOSTAT initiative section.

3.  Merging Statistics and Geospatial Information - an action of the ESS

Following the recommendation of the ESS for closer cooperation on geospatial information, in 2012 Eurostat launched a series of annual calls for proposals for projects on the integration of statistical and geospatial information (Merging Statistics and Geospatial information). Complementing the research-oriented GEOSTAT projects, these are intended to cover a wider range of more operational topics within National Statistical Institutes.  For further information, please refer to this section.