The General Authority for Survey and Geospatial Information (GEOSA) bestowed with Geospatial World Leadership Awards at the Geospatial World Forum 2025, held on 22-23 April 2025 in Madrid, Spain, recognizing it as one of the world's best governmental geospatial institutions.
The award ceremony was attended by Princess Haifa Bint Abdulaziz Bin Ayyaf the Ambassador of the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques to the Kingdom of Spain and GEOSA President Dr. Mohammed bin Yahya Al Sayel.
Founded in 1996, Geospatial World is a leading non-profit platform for the global geospatial community, focused on raising awareness of geospatial information and its role in addressing societal, environmental, and economic challenges. It promotes the integration of geospatial technologies with communication systems and Artificial Intelligence (AI) to drive sustainability. Since 2007, it has hosted the Geospatial World Leadership Awards, chosen by a jury of global experts.
Jury has unanimously selected GEOSA for the award, which reflects the unwavering support of Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud and His Royal Highness Prince Mohammed bin Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, Crown Prince and Prime Minister, for the geospatial sector, as well as the support and strategic guidance of Minister of Defense Prince Khalid bin Salman, Chairman of GEOSA's Board of Directors. This recognition highlights the Kingdom's leadership in developing national geospatial infrastructure, national geospatial data Governance, and setting policies aligned with international best practices, as well as its efforts in advancing geospatial capabilities, promoting geospatial awareness and knowledge, research, maximizing the impact of geospatial information in supporting various national development sectors and areas, and the integration of geospatial information with advanced technologies for smart decision-making.
The selection of GEOSA for this award reinforces the Kingdom's leading role in chairing and being a member of a number of committees, working groups, and international organizations relevant to the geospatial sector, including the chairman of the Arab Committee of Experts for the United Nations Geospatial Information Management, chair of the IHO Regional Organization for the Protection of the Marine Environment (ROPME), a founder member of the International Advisory Committee of the United Nations Global Geospatial Knowledge and Innovation Centre (UN-GGKIC) in China, and a member of the Advisory Committee of United Nations Global Geodetic Centre of Excellence (UN-GGCE) in Germany, a member of the High-Level Group of the Integrated Geospatial Information Framework (HLG-IGIF), as well as GEOSA's President is a regional representative of the International Society for Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing (ISPRS). GEOSA has also received a number of international awards at the regional and global levels. This international leadership of the Kingdom, represented by GEOSA, that the United Nations has offered consent for the Kingdom to be the host country for the United Nations Global Geospatial Ecosystem Centre of Excellence (UNGGECE) in the capital city of Riyadh.
As the national regulator, GEOSA is responsible for regulating the geospatial sector in Saudi Arabia, approving and developing the national geospatial infrastructure, setting and updating rules and standards to the Sector to achieve integrated use of geospatial information among relevant agencies.