A trusted geobroker strengthening national resilience

National Geographic Institute of Belgium 

As climate pressures, geopolitical uncertainty and infrastructure interdependencies increase across Europe, the role of authoritative geospatial information is evolving. In 2025, the National Geographic Institute of Belgium (NGI) further strengthened its role as a geobroker, connecting data producers, public authorities and emergency actors to enable informed, coordinated and resilient decision-making.

Ingrid Vanden Berghe, Administrator General, National Geographic Institute of Belgium 

Over five decades, National Geographic Institute (NGI) Belgium has evolved from a national data producer to an integrator of authoritative reference data and a geobroker, facilitating coherent and trusted use of geospatial information across institutional boundaries.

In this role, rather than acting solely as a data producer, NGI acts as a trusted and reliable intermediary, ensuring that high-quality geospatial data can be discovered, aligned and effectively used in support of public policy, security and resilience.

From data provider to geobroker

Belgium’s complex institutional landscape requires strong coordination between federal and regional authorities. NGI’s geobroker role focuses on:

• Providing authoritative national reference data as a common geospatial foundation and further developing the national geoinformation infrastructure to unlock geospatial data across the federal government.
• Supporting federal public services by providing the geodata and geospatial solutions they need and enhancing NGI’s innovation capacity through partnerships.
• Supporting defence through a strategic partnership addressing broader geospatial needs.
• Supporting crisis management with harmonised base mapping and thematic overlays, contributing directly to national resilience in domains such as climate risk assessment, critical infrastructure protection, emergency preparedness and cross-border cooperation.
• Acting as a facilitator of national geospatial data exchange platforms, such as transportdata.be, enabling structured data sharing in line with European obligations.
• Enabling interoperability aligned with European standards and initiatives This brokerage function proved particularly valuable in resilience-related domains, enabling coordinated, resilient decision-making and reinforcing national capacities.

Geospatial intelligence for resilience

In 2025, NGI enhanced its contribution to national resilience by:

• Strengthening partnerships with crisis coordination structures.
• Ensuring that trusted geospatial information is available to actors responsible for resilience and preparedness.
• Promoting coherent use of official geospatial data across policy domains.
• Supporting alignment with European geospatial infrastructures.
• Launching efforts to promote geo-innovation within the defence sector to actively strengthen national capabilities.

As a neutral, trusted broker, NGI ensures that geospatial intelligence becomes actionable knowledge during times of disruption.

Building on 50 years of trust

In 2026, NGI will celebrate its 50th anniversary. Over five decades, it has evolved from a traditional national mapping agency into a modern geospatial authority at the centre of Belgium’s institutional and digital landscape. Deeply rooted in history, younger than ever, and ready for the future, NGI continues to adapt its role to emerging societal and security challenges. The geobroker role reflects this evolution: from map production to platform governance, from data delivery to data orchestration, from information provision to resilience enablement.

As Europe strengthens its focus on strategic autonomy and societal resilience, Belgium’s NGI demonstrates how NMCA’s can act as connectors, coordinators and confidence builders within national and European geospatial frameworks. 

Benefits

• Strengthens informed decision-making across government through trusted and authoritative geospatial information.
• Enhances national preparedness and response capacity in times of crisis and security challenges.
• Ensures reliable geospatial data supporting public services, infrastructure management and climate resilience.
• Enables efficient and structured data sharing in line with European standards and obligations.