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AGeoP-11
National geospatial and military mapping organizations, and the software that produces or consumes NATO-conformant geospatial data and products
AGeoP-11 sets out NATO's Geospatial Information Framework (NGIF), organizing the STANAGs, Allied Publications and Data Product Specifications used to generate and exchange interoperable geospatial data, maps, imagery and elevation products across NATO and its partners.
AGeoP-11 sets out the NATO Geospatial Information Framework (NGIF), the architecture NATO and its partners use to generate and exchange standardized geospatial products, so that everyone can "operate off the same map" as NATO's Geospatial Policy, MC 0296/3, requires. Published by the NATO Standardization Office as Edition B Version 1 in October 2018, AGeoP-11 is not itself a single technical specification. It is a framework: it explains how a family of subordinate NATO documents fits together, and it names, without repeating, the standards that actually carry the detailed requirements for a given kind of geospatial product.
NGIF is described as an adoption of the Defence Geospatial Information Framework (DGIF), a suite of specifications maintained by the Defence Geospatial Information Working Group (DGIWG), the international standards body NATO treats as its key geospatial partner. The base of the DGIF, and therefore of NGIF, is the Defence Geospatial Information Model (DGIM), the data model and rule set for geospatial data, paired with a dictionary of terms (the Defence Geospatial Feature Concept Dictionary) and an index for browsing it (the Defence Geospatial Real World Object Index). AGeoP-11 is explicit that these three foundation documents "are not meant to be directly provided to, or used by, the end user"; they underpin the framework rather than being something a supplier reads directly. What a supplier does read is the layer built on top of them: Data Product Specifications.
A Data Product Specification (DPS) is where AGeoP-11 becomes concrete. AGeoP-11 states that "a DPS defines the structure, content and (optionally) the representation of a data set", and each DPS is published as a Standard Related Document (SRD) associated with this standard. AGeoP-11 lists three kinds of product a DPS can define: paper (or print) products, digital products, and data exchange schemas. Two vector DPSs are named directly in Volume 2: the Defence Topographic Exchange (DTOX) DPS, for exchanging the full content of a vector dataset, and a DPS for the Defence Topographic Map at 1:50,000 scale (DTM50), described as the "current baseline" of NGIF. Volume 3 names a GeoTiff Raster Format Standardization SRD, used for submitting raster geospatial products to SHAPE J2 GSP, and a Defence Geospatial Elevation Data SRD. Beyond these, Volume 2 and Volume 3 each list a set of existing geospatial STANAGs still in force pending replacement, covering topics such as land map and aeronautical chart symbols, military city maps, Vector Map Levels 0 and 1, Digital Terrain Elevation Data exchange, and compressed raster chart formats.
Unusually for a document whose job is mostly to point elsewhere, AGeoP-11 sets fixed values itself for print cartography. Volume 1's clause on standard scales (section 3.5) fixes land map scales at 1:1,000,000 down to 1:25,000, and aeronautical chart scales at 1:2,000,000 down to 1:250,000, while leaving anything outside that range unstandardized. The maximum print size clause (section 3.6) is a general ceiling of 1100mm by 1500mm for land maps, aeronautical charts and other geospatial products (nautical charts excepted), a tighter 900mm by 1000mm ceiling for land maps at 1:250,000 and larger scales (military city maps and street plans stay under the full 1100mm by 1500mm limit), and a 570mm by 750mm ceiling once a product is folded. These are the kind of concrete, checkable numbers an auditor can hold a delivered map against.
AGeoP-11 does not define its own metadata or web-service standards. For metadata, it points to STANAG 2586, the NATO Geospatial Metadata Profile, describing it in Volume 3 as "a NATO restriction of DGIWG's Metadata Foundation (DMF) document, which in itself is a profile of ISO 19115." For web services, it points to STANAG 6523, Defence Geospatial Web Services, which "defines such a WCS profile for georelated datasets" for exchanging imagery and gridded data. The framework's own introduction calls STANAG 2592, STANAG 6523 and STANAG 2586 the "Big Three" behind NGIF, and our catalogue records STANAG 2592 as the agreement that actually covers AGeoP-11.
AGeoP-11 describes its own conformance mechanism rather than pointing to an external one. Section 3.9 requires that "product specifications that claim conformance to this standard shall include conformance clauses, which enable to adequately determine one's compliance through subsequent test and evaluation of the implementation", and Annex A sets out the abstract test suite those conformance clauses are checked against, covering a candidate product, a piece of software's capacity to produce, import, export and use data, and a candidate product specification's conformance with ISO 19131. Section 3.10 adds a certification concept on top of conformance: "the conditions by which a product is stamped conformant to this AGeoP may be as simple as passing the conformance tests, but may involve additional qualification criteria to be documented." For software specifically, AGeoP-11 describes three levels of interoperability: Level 1, the ability to produce, import, export and use conformant data and products; Level 2, the ability to manage the framework's own standardization artifacts; and Level 3, both together. The document does not name an accredited body, a national authority or any other external party that performs this certification. Annex A's test methods read as something the party demonstrating conformance runs itself, against its own software documentation and the relevant product specification's stated tests.
AGeoP-11 is explicit about its own gaps. Volume 3, on imagery and gridded data, states plainly that "in Edition B of this Volume the technical description and design is not addressed. This information is to be included in future versions." The document also does not address field collection criteria and methodology, noting that "this standard does not address collection criteria and methodologies that are used in field operations", leaving that to the organization implementing it. Reservations recorded at promulgation show implementation is uneven by nation: France declined to automatically implement documents not yet finalized and ratified, Latvia tied implementation to its own national development plans, the Netherlands described a stepwise, multi-year upgrade path, and the United States limited its acceptance to "the generation and exchange of geospatial products cited in AGeoP-11 ED B", treating data generation and exchange itself as a separate, case-by-case question.
AGeoP-11 is published by the NATO Standardization Office and listed, unclassified and free of charge, in the NATO Standardization Document Database. NATO's documents are not sold by ComplyTrain and we host no copies of them.
AGeoP-11 is a framework document: it tells a reader which subordinate STANAG, Allied Publication or Data Product Specification actually governs a given geospatial product, format or service. The work of meeting a specific DPS, such as producing a DTOX exchange dataset, a DTM50 map, or a GeoTiff raster product, happens inside your GIS and cartographic production pipeline, not inside a compliance platform. Where ComplyTrain fits is around that work: it holds the procedures your team follows to produce and deliver a conformant product, the records of the conformance and interoperability testing AGeoP-11's Annex A describes, the training records for staff working to a specific DPS, and the audit trail showing a delivered product was actually tested against the abstract test suite rather than assumed to pass.
Concretely, a supplier delivering geospatial data or GIS software under a contract that cites AGeoP-11 or one of its DPSs can use ComplyTrain to version its data production and format-conversion procedures, log completed conformance tests against Annex A, and keep training records for the staff running them.
What ComplyTrain does not do: it does not generate, convert or validate geospatial data itself, and it makes no claim to any AGeoP-11 conformance level on a customer's behalf. Which STANAGs, Allied Publications and product specifications actually apply to a given contract is set by the contract and the customer's quality clause, not by AGeoP-11 alone. See the standards explorer for what sits alongside AGeoP-11, and talk to us about how ComplyTrain can support the evidence trail your contract actually requires.
Tell us how you need to work with AGeoP-11 and what you need from it. We will come back to you about what ComplyTrain can do.
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AGeoP-11 sets out NATO's Geospatial Information Framework (NGIF), the architecture that organizes the STANAGs, companion Allied Geospatial Publications and Data Product Specifications used to generate and exchange interoperable geospatial data, maps, imagery and gridded data across NATO and its partners. It is a framework rather than a single technical specification.
AGeoP-11 does not bind on its own. Our catalogue records it as covered by STANAG 2592, the agreement a nation ratifies; a supplier meets AGeoP-11 in practice only where a contract or tender invokes it or one of the Data Product Specifications it organizes.
AGeoP-11 describes a conformance and testing process, including three levels of software interoperability, but names no accredited certifying body. Annex A's abstract test suite reads as something the party demonstrating conformance applies to its own product, against its own documentation.
A DPS is the document that actually defines a geospatial product, format or exchange schema, such as the Defence Topographic Exchange (DTOX) DPS or the 1:50,000 scale Defence Topographic Map (DTM50) DPS. AGeoP-11 organizes which DPS applies to which kind of product; the DPS itself carries the detail.
Edition B, Version 1, published in October 2018 by the NATO Standardization Office.
From the NATO Standardization Document Database, which lists it free of charge and unclassified. NATO's documents are not sold by ComplyTrain and we host no copies of them.
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