In the 19100 Geographic Information standard series developed by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO), several standards are specifically dedicated to the quality of geographic Information:

• ISO 19113 on the specific concepts,
• ISO 19114 on the principles for quality evaluation and, together with
• ISO 19138, on the description of quality assessment methodologies,
• ISO 19131 on specifications,
• ISO 19115 on the reporting of quality assessment results as metadata, and
• ISO 19139 on the implementation of metadata communication.

These indeed are domain-oriented standards, specific to Geographic Information, i.e. related to the following issue: in what measure is the geographic world well represented by the data?

Organisational or managerial quality, at a more general level, is the object of the ISO 9000 family on Quality Management Systems, which is not addressed per se in this document. However we discuss and mention some of the new quality related concepts that might be useful in the implementation process that are not currently covered by the ISO 19100 standards (e.g. quality auditing, accreditation, certification).

Several member organizations of the EuroGeographics Expert Group on Quality have both expertise in the content of the ISO 19100 standards, and experience regarding their implementation. The present guidelines give information for implementing the ISO 19100 data quality standards for National Mapping and Cadastral Agencies (NMCAs).

The guidelines give information for implementing the ISO 19100 data quality standards for National Mapping and Cadastral Agensies (NMCAs). However, it might also be useful for other organizations that produce geographic information, or for users who want to better understand the approaches taken by producers of geographic information, or who are invited to design specifications in collaboration with producers.

These guidelines are written by a group of experts from Finland, Sweden, the Netherlands, France, and Denmark. In addition, experts from Estonia and Germany have contributed to the work.