Defence Geospatial Information Working Group

Overview
The Defence Geospatial Information Working Group (DGIWG) is the multinational body responsible for geospatial standardization for the defence organizations of member nations.

DGIWG was established under a memorandum of understanding between member nations, and addresses the requirements for these nations to have access to compatible geospatial information for joint operations. It supports the requirements of NATO and the other alliances that its member nations participate in, including U.N. sanctioned peacekeeping. The requirements have been identified to address a specific set of operational scenarios.

The DGIWG geospatial standards are built upon the generic and abstract standards for geographic information defined by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO TC/211). DGIWG makes use of the service specifications endorsed by the Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC).

DGIWG defines information components for use in the development of product specifications and application schemas for military geospatial data. DGIWG also establishes service specifications, encoding formats and testing methodologies to meet military geospatial intelligence requirements.

DGIWG also maintains an extensive Knowledge Base of documents related to geospatial standardization, and historical documents such as previous versions of the DGIWG DIGEST exchange standard.