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For more than half a century, the United Nations (UN) Statistical Commission has been the highest body of the global statistical system. Bringing together Chief Statisticians, the UN Statistical Commission considers and decides upon statistical standards and the development of concepts and methods, and their implementation at the national and international level. In contrast, the UN Committee of Experts on Global Geospatial Information Management has existed for only the last 5 years. Established by the UN Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) in 2011, the Committee brings together senior national government geospatial experts to develop strategies to build and strengthen national capacity on geospatial information, as well as disseminate best practices and experiences of national, regional and international bodies on geospatial information. The 60 th International Statistical Institute World Statistics Congress, held in Brazil in July 2015, recognised the importance of the integration of statistical and geospatial information. The then President of the International Association for Official Statistics, Professor Kawasaki, used his Presidential Address to shine a light on this important area for official statistics. Driven by a growing demand for better data for more informed decision-making, there is an increasing body of material available about the technical aspects and benefits of bringing together statistical and geospatial information, but little has been written about the cultural aspects of two diverse professional communities working together. This paper focuses on some of these cultural aspects, and highlights cooperation underway globally, and nationally within Australia, and provides some suggestions for further improvement.

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In 2019 the United Nations Statistical Commission (UN STATSCOM) celebrated the twenty-fifth anniversary of their adoption of the United Nations Fundamental Principles of Official Statistics (UNFPOS). To mark this milestone and drive further adoption of the principles, a UN STATSCOM Friends of the Chair Group on the Fundamental Principles of Official Statistics (FoC) was convened to work on selected aspects of implementing the UNFPOS. One aspect the group worked on was development of criteria for assessing compliance with the UNFPOS. The group achieved this by developing a maturity model that both assesses compliance with the UNFPOS and identifies areas for continuous improvement. The Maturity Model was endorsed at the 51st session of the UN STATSCOM in March 2020. Compliance with the UNFPOS signals that official statistics are produced in a trusted apolitical way and that governments and citizens have available valuable and reliable information about their economic, social, environmental and demographic situations. In the era of ‘fake news and alternative facts’, compliance with the globally endorsed ethical, professional and scientific standards and guidelines that make up the UNFPOS builds confidence and trust in official statistics.