The Ministry of Transport and Sustainable Mobility has awarded the gvSIG association the first National Prize for Geographic Sciences, which honors individuals or entities that have made significant contributions through special actions or professional careers in the field of Geographic Sciences. The award resolution will be published shortly in the Official State Gazette (BOE).

This award, which includes a monetary prize of 20,000 euros, is overseen by the National Geographic Information Center at the initiative of the Superior Geographic Council, the governing body of the National Cartographic System. It aims to highlight the contribution, innovation, and impact of advancements achieved in the production, updating, and everyday use of geographic information, its infrastructures, and the derived products and services.

The gvSIG Association is a Spanish non-profit entity dedicated to research, innovation, and development of free and open-source software technologies related to geographic sciences. Based on values such as collaboration, solidarity, and shared knowledge, it has become an international reference, with its catalog of technological solutions for managing geographic information being used practically worldwide.

The gvSIG Association has made significant contributions to the open-source community and geographic technologies, as well as to the promotion of standards. It has developed a range of widely used solutions that have enabled the establishment of a new successful business model, allowing small and medium-sized Spanish companies to offer services and projects in various countries.

Thus, it has carried out projects in more than thirty countries, promoting the internationalization of Spanish companies. Examples of major projects include the Spatial Data Infrastructure of Uruguay, the SDI of the State of Tocantins in Brazil, the application for identifying risks in the movements of Blue Helmets in Mali, the SDI of Repsol for managing renewable energy projects, the Urban Expansion Atlas developed for UN-Habitat, and the current development of the multipurpose cadastral management system of the Dominican Republic.

The National Prize for Geographic Sciences thus recognizes this association for its individual and collective contributions and innovations in the field of geographic sciences and engineering, geomatics, cartography, and geospatial information, as well as its significance and impact on public administrations and society in general.

The jury that recommended granting the award made its decision unanimously after evaluating the merits of a total of fourteen candidates, which raised the deliberations to a high level of excellence. The jury was chaired by the Undersecretary of Transport and Sustainable Mobility and President of the Superior Geographic Council, with the Director General of the IGN and President of the CNIG acting as vice president, and included members representing the governing bodies of the Superior Geographic Council and professional associations in the field of geographic sciences.

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