ABSTRACT
Earth observation, Volunteered Geographic Information, International Data Standards and NSDIs are all helping move society closer to achieving the ambitious aims of the UNs Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). However, only through the constant tracking, monitoring and comparisons of the SDGs will we be able to avoid the failures of the MDGs. Data must be made interoperable, open and usable as quickly as possible. And we must enact a shift that means these data are then used in a way that is supportive to sustainable development. The geospatial community is underpinned by the philosophy that the field provides an integrative framework that allows it to support the requirements of projects that need multiple information communities to come together in a timely and effective manner. It is this philosophy, underpinned by advances in technology and a global effort led by UN-GGIM, OGC and TC211 to push for global standards for data, that will ensure that geospatial technology and geographers are at the core of the efforts to achieve the SDGs and improve the health of the planet and the lives of people around the globe and usher in the fourth wave of environmentalism, in which technological innovations allow us to scale up solutions and supercharge the approaches that came before.
