Colin Bray elected President of EuroGeographics

Colin Bray, Chief Executive Officer and Chief Survey Officer, Ordnance Survey Ireland has been elected President of EuroGeographics.

Mr Bray was elected by the Heads of Europe’s National Mapping, Cadastral and Land Registry Authorities at their membership association’s 2018 General Assembly. He succeeds Ingrid Vanden Berghe from the National Geographic Institute, Belgium who has held the position since 2011.

Members also voted representatives from Cyprus, Denmark, The Netherlands and Ukraine to the Association’s Management Board. As a result it now comprises:

• President Colin Bray, Ordnance Survey Ireland.

• Andreas Hadjiraftis, Department of Lands and Surveys of Cyprus.

• Kristian Møller, Danish Agency for Data Supply and Efficiency.

• Sylvain Latarget, National Institute of Geographic and Forest Information, France

• Martin Lenk, Federal Agency for Cartography and Geodesy, Germany

• David Henderson, Ordnance Survey, Great Britain.

• Martin Salzmann, The Netherlands’ Cadastre, Land Registry and Mapping Agency.

• Liudmyla Shemelynets, State Service of Ukraine for Geodesy, Cartography and Cadastre.

• Amalia Velasco Martín-Varés, Spanish Directorate General for Cadastre.

Mr Bray said his focus would be on ensuring that EuroGeographics is strategically positioned to support the ongoing development and sustainability of its members.

He added: “EuroGeographics members are very significant organisations with long and proud histories in providing quality national geospatial services. There is no doubt that data from these official sources is needed but, in the information age, we cannot continue to do things in the same way as they have been done before.”

“It is 18 years since the Association was first established following the merger of MEGRIN and CERCO. When marking an important anniversary, it is tempting to focus on past achievements – of which there are many – but it is also important that we continue to look to the future. If we are to secure the sustainability of our national geospatial services, we must act as enablers of an integrated geospatial reference platform for Europe for evidence-based decision-making and planning.”

Leaders and senior representatives from 51 authorities in 42 European countries attended the annual General Assembly hosted by the Czech Office for Surveying, Mapping and Cadastre in Prague.

The three-day event, was officially opened by Mr Pavel Sekáč, Minister for EU Funds, Science, Research and Education with a welcome from Karel Večeře, Director General, Czech Office for Surveying, Mapping and Cadastre, and a keynote from Konstantinos Kapsouropoulos, Policy Officer, DG CONNECT.

About EuroGeographics

EuroGeographics is an international not-for-profit organisation (AISBL/ IVZW under Belgian Law. BCE registration: 833 607 112) and the membership association for the European National Mapping, Cadastre and Land Registry Authorities. It currently brings together 63 members from 46 countries.

To find out more about EuroGeographics, please visit www.eurogeographics.org.