Rod Eckels presents the award winning paper about MNG’s “Hologram Room”.
The Association of Public Authority Surveyors NSW (APAS) prides itself on organising an annual conference which is highly informative, focussed on practical outcomes relevant to the surveying and spatial information community, and this year was no exception with over 200 delegates in attendance over two days.
Held atop the cliffs of the picturesque Blue Mountains at Leura, APAS2016 had the theme of ‘Aspiring the Heights’ and sought to highlight some of the achievements of the past year. Below are just some of the key achievements and industry movements that were showcased at APAS this year.
Augmented reality takes best paper
The annual best paper award was given to Rod Eckels for his presentation on the impressive Hologram Room of Perth-based MNG Surveys. The hologram room is an Australian made tool for viewing Mobile Laser Scanning (MLS) files. It brings high-density point cloud data to life in a 3D virtual world. The viewer is provided ‘Superman’ like powers, as they can fly through the cloud, walk through walls, view features from all angles, hover above points of interest and zoom in to inspect any feature in more detail.
The hologram room has proven itself as a very powerful tool for project visualisation and data inspection, and a world first in applied augmented reality. The revolutionary system was featured in the February/March issue of Position Magazine (Click here to read online).
Land administration breakup imminent, role of Surveyor General to change
An opening address from Deputy Surveyor General of New South Wales, Paul Harcombe highlighted some of the amazing things Land and Property Information NSW (LPI) are achieving, such as CORSNet-NSW, GNSS in Schools and Cadastre 2034. He also reported on some significant changes headed for LPI, including the imminent breakup of the body into distinct areas and the possible privatisation of certain areas of operations. The role of the Surveyor General and the Deputy Surveyor General are also expected to change significantly. Further details will be reported as they are made available.
UNSW reports healthy student numbers
Senior Lecturer at The University of New South Wales, Craig Roberts had some very positive news to report from the school Surveying and Spatial Information. Since the dual civil/surveying degree program was introduced in 2015, there are now more students enrolled in surveying courses than at any point for the last fifteen years. These numbers are expected to rise as the value of a career in surveying and spatial information is realised by both existing civil engineering students and secondary students.
ISNSW will be streamlining operations
The Institution of Surveyors NSW (ISNSW) President Michael Green reported on a number of changes for the institution on the back of their 125 year celebrations. Since 2014, the strategic report has propelled ISNSW into the digital age, and Green is working hard to see internal operations streamlined and the number of committees reduced to better and more efficiently suit the needs of members and advocate for the critical role of surveyors generally.
SSSI undergoes review, announces combined Locate17/ISDE
From the Surveying and Spatial Sciences Institute (SSSI), NSW Chair and President-elect Gaby Van Wyk reported on some changes to the national organisation, including the regular Structural and Governance Reform Process, which will soon bring benefits to members and the profession. Van Wyk announced that in 2017 the Locate conference, the national spatial event of the year, will be held in Sydney alongside the International Symposium on Digital Earth (ISDE). The combined conference is expected to attract over 1,000 local and international delegates and will be held at the Sydney Convention Centre which will be newly reconstructed.
GDA2020 (officially not to be called GDA20)
A panel discussion led by Dr Craig Roberts of UNSW delved head-on onto the subject of “GDA2020 – Are You Ready to Make the Move?” The panel consisted of an impressive selection of key knowledge holders on the matter, including John Dawson and Daniel Jaksa of Geoscience Australia, Les Gardner of the NSW Department of Finance and Donald Grant, Associate Professor at RMIT. The panel shared the importance and value of the move to a new datum and the practical implications it will bring. In opening the discussion to the floor, it became apparent that many organisations will have some significant work ahead of them to prepare for the change, but hopefully it will be well worth the extra effort to enable real-time accurate positioning applications for a range of applications.
CORSNet-NSW: A Success Story
Volker Janssen of LPI highlighted the tremendous work CORSNet-NSW has being doing to create Australia’s most comprehensive CORS network for precise positioning. Now comprising 180 CORS, the network has revolutionised internal and external GNSS operations, not only supporting the surveying and spatial information profession but also making important contributions to national and regional geodesy. CORSNet-NSW now covers 99.8% of the New South Wales population.
CORSNet-NSW was again featured in the GNSS in Schools presentation provided by Stephen Saunders and Gavin Evans. The project is bringing critical STEM skills into classrooms across NSW and ACT, by installing CORS stations at schools in strategic areas. The rapid success of the project brings benefits both school students and positioning infrastructure should be used as an example for other agencies to follow.
Many other stories and achievements were highlighted at the conference and will be reported further both here on Spatial Source and in Position magazine. Detailed conference proceedings are also available from the APAS website.
APAS2017 will be held in Shoal Bay on 20-22 March 2017.
