Platform
Modules
By sector
By sector
By standard
Blog
News
Events
STANAG 6523
NATO nations and bodies that ratify, implement and report on interoperable geospatial web services in their deployed systems
STANAG 6523 is NATO's agreement committing participating nations to implement AGeoP-26, the Allied publication harmonizing Web Map Service and Web Map Tile Service profiles for defence geospatial information.
STANAG 6523 is the NATO standardization agreement that brings AGeoP-26, Edition B, into force: the Allied publication that specifies defence geospatial web services. A STANAG is not itself a technical specification; it is the agreement by which NATO nations commit to implement one, and the technical profiles themselves live in AGeoP-26, not in these two pages. The document states the purpose plainly: "The purpose of this standard is to facilitate access and use (through web services) of geospatial information in NATO operations and exercises," meeting operational requirements "from the strategic to the tactical levels, across all staff branches." Read plainly, that means the agreement exists so that geospatial information moves through a common set of web services across NATO and its nations, rather than each command or branch building its own.
This edition covers AGeoP-26 as updated: the cover describes it as "updated with harmonized profiles for Web Map Service and Web Map Tile Service." It supersedes STANAG 6523, Edition 1, dated 3 March 2020, and this edition's own cover carries a later promulgation date of 21 August 2025.
The mechanism that matters here: a STANAG binds a nation, not a supplier. Nations "are invited to examine their ratification of the STANAG and, if they have not already done so, advise the NSO of their intention regarding its ratification and implementation," and the national response is recorded in the NATO Standardization Documents Database (NSDD). Once ratified, "This STANAG is effective upon receipt for use by the participating nations and NATO bodies." The document sets no NATO Effective Date: that field reads simply "Not applicable," so no calendar date drives when a ratifying nation must act.
It is designed as "a generic solution to be used by all NATO services and organizations and the force elements of troop-contributing nations for any North Atlantic Council (NAC) approved activities," across "all operational domains (Joint, Land, Maritime and Air)."
The STANAG "will be regarded as implemented by the nations when they will have enacted the specifications included and/or referenced by this STANAG, where applicable, in their deployed systems and capabilities." In practice that means a nation's geospatial information systems actually carry the Web Map Service and Web Map Tile Service profiles AGeoP-26 specifies, not merely that the nation has said it will adopt them.
Allies and NATO bodies then "shall provide implementation details through the electronic reporting tool," and partner nations are invited to do the same. National ratification responses go through the same channel: "Allies shall provide ratification details through the electronic reporting tool (e-Reporting)." The STANAG "is to be reviewed in accordance with AAP-03," with the outcome "recorded within the NSDD."
No certification exists here, and the document names none. What it describes is a national ratification, implementation-reporting and review cycle run through NATO's own machinery: nations and NATO bodies report through the electronic reporting tool, and the STANAG itself "is to be reviewed in accordance with AAP-03." Whether a nation's deployed geospatial systems genuinely implement the AGeoP-26 profiles is a question for that reporting and review cycle, and for whatever a contract or a customer's own quality clause asks for, not something an accredited or notified body certifies here.
The cover names two other NATO geospatial publications under "OTHER RELATED DOCUMENTS": STANAG 2592, named alongside AGeoP-11, the NATO Geospatial Information Framework, and STANAG 2586, named alongside AGeoP-08, the NATO Geospatial Metadata Profile. Both are named as related reading alongside AGeoP-26, not as requirements this STANAG imposes. This STANAG's own review cycle is set "in accordance with AAP-03."
STANAG 6523 and AGeoP-26 describe a technical interoperability programme, not something a compliance tool implements on your behalf: designing, procuring and configuring geospatial web services so they carry the Web Map Service and Web Map Tile Service profiles the standard specifies. That engineering work happens in the systems themselves.
What ComplyTrain holds is the evidence trail around that work: procedures and configuration baselines that show a system was built or updated to the AGeoP-26 profiles, records of who reviewed and approved a ratification or implementation report before it went to NATO's electronic reporting tool, and training records and review evidence tied to the AAP-03 review cycle. It does not design, build or test a Web Map Service or Web Map Tile Service, and it does not replace the ratification and implementation reporting nations carry out themselves through the NSDD.
The applicable tier here, and whatever else it comes with, is set by the contract and the customer's quality clause. If you are working out what sits alongside STANAG 6523, the standards explorer covers the related NATO geospatial publications, and we are glad to talk through what that means in practice.
Tell us how you need to work with STANAG 6523 and what you need from it. We will come back to you about what ComplyTrain can do.
Thank you. Your list is on its way to your inbox, and we will come back to you on what working with these standards in ComplyTrain involves, usually within one business day.
Not in general. It binds a nation once that nation ratifies it, as recorded in the NATO Standardization Documents Database, and there is no NATO Effective Date forcing a calendar deadline; the document sets that field to "Not applicable." Whether it, or AGeoP-26, applies to a given system or contract is a question for the tasking or contract in front of you, not for the STANAG on its own.
STANAG 6523 is the agreement: the letter of promulgation, the ratification record, and the reporting and review machinery. AGeoP-26 is the publication itself, carrying the harmonized Web Map Service and Web Map Tile Service profiles that make geospatial information exchange interoperable. The STANAG is the cover; AGeoP-26 is the technical content.
Edition 2. This edition's own cover carries a promulgation date of 21 August 2025, and it supersedes STANAG 6523, Edition 1, dated 3 March 2020. The cover describes AGeoP-26 as having been updated with harmonized Web Map Service and Web Map Tile Service profiles.
No. There is no accredited certification for STANAG 6523 or AGeoP-26 to hold, and ComplyTrain does not claim one. What we support is the evidence trail around the procedures, configuration records and training that sit behind a nation's or a supplier's implementation work, at an informational level.
One system for the whole compliance programme. Start with the module you need most.
Collect information the same way every time, and decide in advance what happens next.
Know whether your controls are operating, not just whether a policy says they exist.
Turn the compliance work you already know about into a plan with owners, dependencies and dates.
Know what you can offer, and hold the evidence behind every configuration you offer it in.
Eight built-in reports across every module, scheduled, delivered, and filed where the evidence lives.
The sector news that matters to your organisation - read and rated by AI, and delivered as a scheduled digest in your own language.
AI reads the tender pack and pulls out the requirements, deadlines and rules - then helps you draft the response from your own approved content, with you reviewing every step.
One current register of the suppliers and partners you depend on - each risk-assessed, re-assessing itself on schedule, and wired straight into your risk register.
See every requirement you face - across every standard, plus your own contracts and policies - traced to the documents, evidence and processes that satisfy it.
Identify, score, treat and review your risks in one place - with AI to help anyone run a proper assessment, and a defensible trail behind every decision.
Assign training, prove it was understood, and hold the competence records an auditor asks for.
Draft compliance documents with AI, keep every version under control, and export them beautifully branded - all in one place.
Audits, corrective actions, processes and approvals in one quality system, organised around ISO 9001.
Medical device manufacturers operate under more regulatory pressure than almost any other sector outside pharmaceuticals. The rules govern how you design a device, how you make it, how you track it after it ships, and how you respond when something goes wrong.
Learn how EU dual-use export controls apply to encryption, sensors, and software, how classification works under Annex I, and why sending source code by email can count as an export.
A practical way to turn in-your-head risk management into a register that survives staff turnover and answers the risk questions now showing up in tenders.