GEOSPATIAL DATA CAPABILITIES TO SUPPORT SAFEGUARDS
UNDERSTANDING AND AWARENESS

With the advent of earth observation, geospatial data has become a key component for a better understanding of contextual information. Geospatial information and Geospatial Information Systems (GIS) support management, improve decision-making, enable collaboration within a community, and boost the synergy of data at an enterprise level. Geospatial data (also known as ‘spatial data’) is used to describe data that has an implicit or explicit association with a location relative to the Earth [ISO 211]. Whether it's man-made or natural, if it has to do with a specific location on the globe, it's geospatial. Geospatial data is gathered, stored, managed, and analysed within a GIS. Within the IAEA, geospatial capabilities include the gathering, storage, management, and dissemination of satellite imagery, other raster data, and vectorized representations of NFC-related infrastructure. These data form a foundation upon which a diverse range of other data sources can be integrated. In this sense, the geospatial foundation data provides the spatial context for the other data sources that together enable the detection of patterns and improved conclusion-making. Structured geospatial databases and geospatial analysis also provide the IAEA with a unique capability to gain deeper insights into areas of interest, to analyse spatial locations and relationships, to conduct classification or network analysis, to detect patterns of life, and to turn layers of information into geo-visualizations. Geospatial analysis is commonly delivered through an interactive format which enables further customization, or additional ad-hoc processing by the user. This paper will discuss geospatial data governance and management to ensure the best use of geospatial data across the Department of Safeguards. This paper focuses on geospatial data and products derived from satellite imagery and therefore, it approaches commercial satellite primarily as a baseline source for other geospatial data and geospatial products.