Indian-Australian geospatial expert Prof. Zaffar Sadiq Mohamed-Ghouse has been elected Chair of the United Nations Global Geospatial Information Management – Geospatial Societies (UN-GGIM:GS) and Vice Chair of the Board of Directors of the Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC).
On his election as OGC Vice Chair, Prof. Mohamed-Ghouse said he looked forward to working with newly appointed Chair Ed Parsons and fellow directors to position the organisation as “a resilient organisation — one defined by sustainable finance, strong governance, a member-first approach, and global thought leadership in geospatial.”
Prof. Mohamed-Ghouse, who completed his early education in India before earning his PhD at the University of Melbourne, is Director of Geospatial Advisory and Innovation at Woolpert Asia-Pacific.
He is recognised as a prominent figure in Australia’s geospatial sector and an internationally respected authority with more than 25 years’ experience across government, academia and industry.
Prof. Mohamed-Ghouse has held key executive roles at AAM-Woolpert, Sinclair Knight Merz (now Jacobs), GHD, the CRC for Spatial Information (now FrontierSI), and Spatial Vision.
Over his career, he has led multi-million-dollar national mapping and spatial transformation projects for state and federal governments in Australia and internationally, including in New Zealand, Malaysia, Indonesia, India and Saudi Arabia.
Prof. Mohamed-Ghouse’s expertise spans strategic consulting, innovation, spatial analytics, data governance, utility network systems, and major geospatial database design and management. He has published extensively on spatial data infrastructure, data quality, water resource management, public health, asset management, and disaster resilience.
Earlier this year, Prof. Mohamed-Ghouse, Vice President of the International Society of Digital Earth (ISDE), was honoured with the prestigious Peter Woodgate Award at Locate 2025 in Brisbane.
The award, jointly presented by the Australia Urban Research Infrastructure Network (AURIN) and the Geospatial Council of Australia (GCA), recognises his outstanding work in advancing the legacy of the late Dr Peter Woodgate and his impactful contributions to the global geospatial community. It is one of the highest awards in the Australian spatial industry, celebrating collaboration, leadership, and innovation.
Prof. Mohamed-Ghouse plays a prominent role in global geospatial governance and standards. He has represented Australia on ISO Technical Committee 211 since 2010 — including contributions to ISO 19157 for spatial data quality — and actively supports the UN-GGIM academic, private sector, and geospatial societies networks.
His distinguished appointments include: Associate Professor (Principal Fellow) at the University of Melbourne; Overseas Professor at Anna University, India; Board Director at the OGC; former President of the Surveying & Spatial Sciences Institute; Executive Board Member and Chair of the Academia-Industry Committee for the World Geospatial Industry Council; Chair of the Board of Locate Conferences Australia; Vice President of the International Society of Digital Earth; Member of the Steering Committee for Australia’s Space and Spatial 2030 Agenda; Editorial Board Member for Big Earth Data; and Vice Chair of the UN-GGIM Asia-Pacific Private Sector Network.
As Chair of UN-GGIM:GS, he will lead a global coalition presenting a unified voice on geospatial matters to the United Nations and other international stakeholders, supporting international policy coordination and collaboration.
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