While the SDGs are global in nature, their achievement largely depends on local action. Local governments, communities, and individuals play a critical role in implementing and localising the SDGs by tailoring them to the specific context, needs, and priorities of their local areas. Three SDG indicators directly necessitate reporting of SDG indicators at the city level: SDG 11.2.1 , SDG 11.6.1 , and SDG 11.7.1 ; yet almost all indicators are relevant at the local city level, underscoring the importance and the localization agenda, at the global level too. In this regard, consistent standardized geographical names are a key resource for Member States as they are the ‘glue’ that helps bind data together.

In this regard, this workshop on “Linking Geographical Names, the Disaggregation and Localisation of SDGs, and the Semantic Web” will take a deep dive into the importance of unique identifiers and toponyms for countries, cities, and geographic features as a means of integrating data for the SDGs. The workshop will examine the important role of both bottom-up and top-down toponymic metadata management to support efforts led by National Geospatial Names Authorities (NGNAs), National Geospatial Information Agencies (NGIAs), and other national actors responsible for geographical names and help promote the sharing of good practices between Member States. With the principle aim of developing national technical capacity in the area of geographical names standardization, participants will examine the characteristics of good linked open data infrastructure within their national context; developing a machine-readable, AI-ready gazetteers of their national data within CALIPER; and supporting its integration (and eventual federation) with the World Geographical Name Database, in accordance with UNGEGN mandates, principally, decision 2025/8.