The BSI IST/36 Standards Committee

The IST36 Standards Committee is the official BSI (British Standards Institution) committee for geographic information (known as BSI IST/36). Its mission is to equip the UK with a set of standards for better exploitation and sharing of geographic information (GI). The main activities of the committee are:

1. To propose and provide technical approval of British Standards on behalf of BSI.
2. To coordinate UK input into the work of the International Standards committee (ISO/TC 211) and the European Standards committee (CEN/TC 287) and other relevant de jure, national, European and International standards bodies.
3. To support other standardisation initiatives.

You will find the current Business Plan for 2019 here to download: 

In preparing for 2019, and to contribute to the AGI's response to the Geospatial Commission call for evidence, we held a workshop on 21st September to hear what standards UK data publishers find important. There is a report here.

Minutes of the quarterly meetings of the committee and reports on ISO and CEN meetings can be found on our Resources page.

Copies of any Standard may be purchased through AGI, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

The UK GEMINI Metadata Standard may be downloaded free of charge.

Membership of the Standards Committee

Membership of the Standards Committee comprises representatives from a range of government departments and agencies, data suppliers and commercial companies. Membership is open to all corporate members of AGI. The Chairman is Peter Parslow and the Secretariat run by Ordnance Survey on behalf of AGI. Sub Groups are convened from time to time for specific issues.

For further information on membership of the Committee, please contact the secretary, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Current work programme

The current work programme includes supporting the following:

1. UK Location Programme (UKLP) through membership of the Metadata Working Group. IST36 has revised UK GEMINI and the associated guidance on behalf of AGI such that users can capture metadata which conforms to the INSPIRE implementing rules. This has been adopted by UKLP as the UK standard for discovery metadata.
2. British Standards for land and property and street gazetteers, BS 7666.
3. ISO Technical Committee for Geographic Information, ISO/TC 211, through involvement in Working Groups and Project Teams, providing detailed technical comments on draft standards, and producing formal UK responses to the ballots of National Standards Bodies.
4. European Standards Committee, CEN/TC 287, through provision of the Chair and Secretariat, involvement in Working Groups, specially for Spatial Data Infrastructures, and producing formal UK responses to ballots of National Bodies.
5. AGI (as a Spatial Data Interest Community registered with the EC) on the implementation process for INSPIRE - in UK as well as in the EU.

If you require access to the full set of British GI Standards, they are available to anyone in the British Library and may be available in other UK deposit libraries. Members of the Standards Committee and anyone working for an organisation that is a member of BSI can also access the full set of standards at the BSI offices in Chiswick. Prior notice will ensure that they are brought to the reading room in advance. Email:  This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Please note that the AGI is NOT a member of BSI.