Blueprint for a Basic Global Geodesy Supply Chain #

Part 1: Core Architectural Principles #

Date: February 2026 Prepared by: UN-GGCE Technical Writing Team Reference: Terms of Reference 2 (ToR2) - Work Assignment 1

Executive Summary #

In alignment with the mandate to "avoid further degradation" of the global geodesy supply chain, the United Nations Global Geodetic Centre of Excellence (UN-GGCE) has established four core principles that define a "basic" supply chain architecture. Drawing upon established intergovernmental frameworks—including the UN-GGIM Integrated Geospatial Information Framework (IGIF), the WMO Unified Data Policy, and the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction—these principles address the immediate operational and geopolitical risks threatening the sustained delivery of critical geodetic products.

These principles serve as the authoritative design criteria for evaluating current product delivery workflows and defining necessary structural changes across the People, Process, Technology, and Data (PPTD) dimensions.

Foundational Precedents #

To design an architecture resistant to geopolitical volatility and single points of failure, the core principles are rooted in the following internationally recognized frameworks:

1. UN-GGIM Integrated Geospatial Information Framework (IGIF): Principle 6 (Resilience and Sustainability) and Principle 7 (Collaboration and Coordination) establish that critical geospatial infrastructure must not rely on isolated capabilities but must be sustained through cooperative, cross-border partnerships to mitigate systemic risks.
2. WMO Unified Data Policy (Resolution 1, Cg-Ext 2021) & WIGOS: Mandates distributed global observing systems and redundant Regional Telecommunication Hubs, decoupling critical operational data from geopolitical tensions.
3. Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction (2015–2030): Priority 4 emphasizes designing critical infrastructure with redundancy to withstand localized shocks without degrading global operational capacity.
4. Principles for Digital Development: Principles such as "Build for Sustainability" and "Use Open Standards, Open Data, Open Source, and Open Innovation" prevent national siloing and vendor lock-in.
5. UN General Assembly Resolution 69/266: "A Global Geodetic Reference Frame for Sustainable Development" (2015) explicitly calls for multilateral cooperation, implicitly recognizing the necessity of an architecture of shared risk and distributed resources.

Core Principles for the Target State Architecture #

Principle 1: Geographical and Geopolitical Redundancy (Resilient Topography) #

To mitigate the risk of degradation from regional or political disruptions, critical paths within the supply chain—from raw observation to final product delivery—must not contain single points of failure geographically or politically.

• Implementation Criteria: Infrastructure such as Observatories, Data Centers, and Analysis/Combination Centers must be distributed across multiple distinct regions and political jurisdictions, supported by regional hubs (aligning with Phase 1 Joint Development Plan [JDP] Objective 1.2). If one political entity withdraws support or if a region suffers catastrophic failure, redundant nodes in different jurisdictions must possess the capacity to seamlessly assume the workload.

Principle 2: Distributed Accountability and Formalized Shared Governance #

Operational responsibilities and decision-making authority must be governed multilaterally to prevent unilateral control and single points of organizational failure.

• Implementation Criteria: No single entity or Member State shall have sole ownership of critical geodetic processing nodes (e.g., sole combination centers for a specific Essential Geodetic Variable). Crucially, to actively prevent degradation, responsibilities must transition from "best-effort" scientific contributions to formalized, long-term operational agreements (JDP Objective 1.2). These must be backed by Service Level Agreements (SLAs) and Multilateral Memorandums of Understanding (JDP Objective 1.1) to ensure transparent, accountable, and legally sustained service delivery.

Principle 3: Resilient Critical Paths and FAIR Interoperability #

The architecture must ensure technical agility, allowing data and processing workflows to be dynamically or manually rerouted without degradation of output quality or latency.

• Implementation Criteria: Redundant Data and Analysis Centers must explicitly adopt Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, and Reusable (FAIR) data principles (JDP Objective 1.2) and utilize the ISO Geodetic Register. By mandating interoperable APIs and harmonized software environments, the supply chain guarantees that if a primary Combination Center becomes inaccessible, an alternate center can immediately ingress identical data formats and execute the necessary analysis without technical friction.

Principle 4: Sustainable Operations and Viable Capability Maturity #

Nodes contributing to the global geodesy supply chain must meet a Minimum Viable Maturity threshold across People, Process, Technology, and Data (PPTD) to be considered part of the "critical path" and actively prevent supply chain degradation.

• Implementation Criteria: A node's inclusion in the target state architecture requires verifiable maturity. This demands proof of formalized national backing and long-term funding business cases (JDP Objective 1.3), as well as active workforce resilience through mandated succession planning and continuous knowledge transfer (JDP Objective 1.4). Aspirational capabilities are explicitly excluded from critical dependency paths until they achieve this required operational maturity and financial sustainability.