Olaf Magnus Østensen (born 1950) is a Norwegian

civil servant The civil service is a collective term for a sector of government composed mainly of career civil servants hired on professional merit rather than appointed or elected, whose institutional tenure typically survives transitions of political leaders ...

. He works in the

Norwegian Mapping and Cadastre Authority The Norwegian Mapping Authority (NMA) ( no, Statens kartverk or Kartverket) is Norway's national mapping agency, dealing with land surveying, geodesy, hydrographic surveying, cadastre and cartography. The current director is Johnny Welle. Its ...

, where he is Deputy Director for NGIS. Østensen is a trained

mathematician A mathematician is someone who uses an extensive knowledge of mathematics in their work, typically to solve mathematical problems. Mathematicians are concerned with numbers, data, quantity, structure, space, models, and change. History On ...

and graduated in 1977 graduate of the

University of Oslo The University of Oslo ( no, Universitetet i Oslo; la, Universitas Osloensis) is a public research university located in Oslo, Norway. It is the highest ranked and oldest university in Norway. It is consistently ranked among the top universit ...

. Østensen is particularly known for his work with the organization and accessibility of map information and have made a particular effort establishment of standards for online information. Internationally, he is head of the Technical Committee 211 of the

International Organization for Standardization The International Organization for Standardization (ISO ) is an international standard development organization composed of representatives from the national standards organizations of member countries. Membership requirements are given in Ar ...

, which has the task to work out international standards for geographic information. Østensen has also been head of the Norwegian Standards Council, which has proposed standards that apply to audio and video content on public sites. The Royal Norwegian Court announced on 17 November 2009 that the King had appointed Østensen as a Knight First Class of the

Order of St. Olav The Royal Norwegian Order of Saint Olav ( no, Den Kongelige Norske Sankt Olavs Orden; or ''Sanct Olafs Orden'', the old Norwegian name) is a Norwegian order of chivalry instituted by King Oscar I on 21 August 1847. It is named after King Olav II ...

for socially beneficial work. It was further informed that the decision to award him was based on " .Østensens pioneering work related to national standardization work and the development of access to public information."http://www.kongehuset.no/c34070/tildelinger.html?ar=&sok_navn=%F8stensen&sok_yrke=&sok_sted=&typer%5B%5D=stolavsorden&arkiv=1 www.kongehuset.no

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ostensen, Olaf 1950 births Living people Norwegian civil servants University of Oslo alumni Geographic data and information professionals