Innovation via Cooperation - a one world GI competence network

52°North’s collaborative software development process is organized in so-called R&D Communities. Each community focuses on a particular/common R&D topic which is driven by partners’ interests. The communities are:

• Sensor Web focuses on the development of a broad range of services and encoding implementations related to Sensor Web research.
• Geoprocessing aims to provide ready-to-use standardized web-geoprocessing software, as well as, prototype implementations to enable processing of geo-data in Spatial Data Infrastructures.
• ILWIS continuously develops Integrated Land and Water Information System (ILWIS), a remote sensing and GIS software into re-usable, interoperable web services.
• Earth Observation promotes the use of free near real-time environmental and Earth Observation data and derived products to a worldwide user community.
• Security and GeoRM focuses on security, rights and access control in geospatial services, providing ready-to-use software as well as prototype implementations to enable business and access control process for SDI.
• Semantics aims to provide a Semantic Enablement Layer (SEL) for services developed within the 52°North communities to support semantics-based information systems.
• Geostatistics focuses on development of software for modeling, analysis and visualization of spatio-temporal data, error propagation modeling and uncertainties.
• 3D aims to create applications and services which visualize 3 dimensional geo-objects and establishing a creative surrounding, which allows efficient and sustainable development of innovative software solutions in the context of 3d modeling and 3d geovisualization.
• Metadata Management aims to evaluate new techniques for collecting, managing and retrieving metadata as to advance the existing methods and tools.

Communities are set up and terminated by 52°North's Executive Board in consent with the Advisory Board. Within each community, a community leader (CL) manages and coordinates the software development process, i.e. he steers the development according to the community’s vision/mission, creates a road map in which mile stones are identified and helps to identify pioneering concepts. He also facilitates Community activities to foster effective collaboration and tangible benefits for the participating institutions and individuals. The Executive Board appoints a Community Leader for each Community. Software quality assurance is carried out by a code quality manager. He is appointed by the CL.