This study aims to strengthen the status of Seoul as a global city by attracting various international conferences and strengthening international cooperation by supporting resolution of Asia-Pacific regional problems centered on the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals based on open spatial information(FOSS4G). A plan for international cooperation in spatial information was presented first. Research was conducted to identify current issues using FOSS4G, support measures between countries and cities and the role and support plan of Seoul in the international cooperation operation system using FOSS4G.
In Chapter 2, “Analysis of open spatial information-related organizations and utilization status,” roles and functions of four organizations, including UN Open GIS, UN-GGIM, OGC and OSGeo, were analysed for the status of international cooperation operations based on FOSS4G. Among these, UN Open GIS showed that Seoul would be able to actively support capacity building in developing countries through the capacity building working group among the seven major technical support working groups. OSGeo and OGC were found to be able to plan a test bed case for Seoul through a pilot project. The utilization status was analysed in areas utilising FOSS4G among UN SDG-centered pending issues in the Asia-Pacific region, such as natural disasters. As a result of analyzing the utilization status, it was confirmed that FOSS4G technology could contribute to sustainable growth and resilience. The need for technology-based cooperation, open ecosystem construction and multilateral international cooperation was confirmed.
In Chapter 3, “FOSS4G-based international cooperation establishment plan,” roles and goals of international cooperation were derived based on the direction of FOSS4G-based international cooperation establishment. Multilateral international cooperation measures through international organizations are presented. As for the direction of international cooperation, four major strategies were derived: horizontal vs. vertical cooperation, open ecosystem, technology-based ecosystem and multilateral international cooperation. The direction of construction was to overcome barriers of the global market by strengthening multilateral cooperation through international organizations in order to strengthen the competitiveness of FOSS4G. In addition, roles and relationships of each organization should be organised based on five open technology elements: Geospatial Applications, Geospatial Platforms, Geospatial Data, Human Resources and Institutional Arrangement. An open community that develops, shares and utilises FOSS4G should be prioritised. Lastly, we identified areas of cooperation according to 12 types of cooperation for four organizations and programs, standards-based pilot cooperation projects and disaster field utilization and capacity building projects.
In Chapter 4, “Seoul City’s International Cooperation Implementation Plan for Spatial Information,” based on an open strategy, international cooperation plans through international organizations such as the UN, OGC and OSGeo were derived. An international cooperation roadmap is presented. Seoul City’s public role based on technical cooperation was defined as supporting the strengthening of the global competitiveness of the domestic spatial information industry by establishing an open spatial information ecosystem. The role and goal of Seoul’s spatial information international cooperation are to create a foundation in Seoul to strengthen domestic spatial information industry capabilities based on FOSS4G and to discover international cooperation implementation strategies for entering the global industry.
Through the implementation strategy, tasks such as becoming an open data world hub, open spatial information S/W supporter, OGC standard application reference site, attracting a capacity building center and spatial information open community plaza are presented. As Seoul’s spatial information international cooperation governance, an open spatial information technology council was proposed to review field application, capacity building and open technology for commercialization of open spatial information international cooperation projects. Lastly, a three-stage roadmap for international cooperation based on Seoul’s open spatial information technology was presented, from the 1st stage of infrastructure establishment to the 3rd stage of sustainable cooperation, including the 1st stage of capacity building, the 2nd stage of joint projects and the 3rd stage of establishment of the UN Open GIS competency center.
Implications derived based on this study are:
First, institutional reorganization, including the introduction of Seoul’s open spatial information policy, is needed. The city of Seoul needs institutional reorganization and support, such as introducing an ‘open spatial information policy’ that takes into account the nature of its work as a metropolitan administrative organization and reflecting it in the basic spatial information policy plan.
Second, the establishment and operation of an open spatial information technology council are needed for international development cooperation. In order to maintain conditions and sustainability of recipient countries when promoting projects based on geospatial information technology, it is necessary to establish an institutional system to proceed with the project based on a technology review system for utilizing open geospatial information. For example, the goal is to build a sustainable international cooperation system utilizing open spatial information by establishing an open spatial information technology consultative body at the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, which is in charge of spatial information and establishing a secretariat in the international cooperation ministry.
Third, discovering international cooperation programs comprised of Seoul City-related organizations is needed. The Seoul Metropolitan Government is discovering international cooperation programs such as open spatial information technology cooperation and capacity building for developing countries through a support system composed of related organizations such as the Seoul Institute, University of Seoul, Seoul International Development Cooperation Agency and Seoul Human Resources Development Institute.
Fourth, there is a need to actively utilise the Seoul Declaration to discover and actively utilise opportunities for international cooperation. There is also a need to discover opportunities specified in the declaration and various development and cooperation agendas according to the global agenda and actively participate in building an open and cooperative geospatial information ecosystem in the Asia-Pacific region.