What Is ISO 19000?

The International Standards Organization (ISO) publishes standards that are accepted by various industries across the world. The ISO 19000 is not a single standard but a family of standards for geographic information and currently encompasses the 19113 on concepts, 19114 on principles of quality, 19138 quality assessment, 19131 on specifications and the 19115/19139, which is the metadata standard.

The ISO 19113 standard is a general principles standard for geographic data. It sets forth that data sets should map all the requirements set out, formal or informal, by the client. The quality should be more than sufficient for the application the data set will be used for. There is no set minimum standard of quality as that will vary by the client and the application of the data set. Though aimed at digital data set, it can be used on non-digital forms of geographic data.

The ISO 19114 established the steps to go through when vetting geographic data sets for quality and applicability, as set forth in the 19113 ISO standard. This also covers the reporting of those data sets, be they digital or non-digital. Again no minimum standard is set in this industry, as the application of the data set determines the quality of geographic data needed.

The ISO 19131 sets forth the specifications of all data products that use geographic data. The ISO 19131 tries to make any data product based on geographic data understandable to lay persons. Most people who order geographic data are not geographers, but contractors and engineers.

The ISO 19138 standard describes a set of possible data quality standards but is not an all encompassing set. The exact standards to be used depend on the application of the geographic data, A canal project will need different quality standards than a simple silo construction.