A new state-based geospatial body has been formed to help fill the vacuum left by the demise of the Geospatial Council of Australia.

Geospatial Sciences Victoria (GSV) has been established as a registered not-for-profit industry body, with the goal of bringing together the community of geospatial professionals in the state.

Many of the names behind the GSV organising committee will be familiar to those in the sector, with a number of them having previously been involved with the Geospatial Council of Australia and its predecessor, the Surveying and Spatial Sciences Institute.

Those names include: Zaffar Sadiq Mohamed-Ghouse, Andrej Mocicka, Katherine Williams, Nathan Quadros, Jacinta Burns, Mary Rabling, Craig Sandy LS GAICD, Brian Marwick, Richard Syme, Matt Duckham, Matt Blanc, Lindsay Perry and Allison Kealy.

According to the launch announcement, “GSV has been shaped through months of conversations about the needs of Victoria’s geospatial community — in meetings, phone calls, coffees, and countless discussions about what comes next”.

“A group of industry leaders has come together to help design and build this new initiative. We’re still at the beginning, and now we’re inviting the broader community to be part of shaping what GSV becomes.”

By Victorians, for Victorians

Spatial Source spoke with one of the committee members, Andrej Mocicka from 1Spatial Australia (now a part of VertiGIS), to get a better idea of what the organisation is all about.

“We were waiting to see what would develop after the GCA folded, and when we saw that nothing was forthcoming, we decided we had to do something ourselves,” Mocicka said.

“The spatial industry, the profession, needs representation, and there were many of us keen to do something to represent Victorians — by Victorians, for Victorians.”

“There are a lot of spatial professionals out there — it’s a far bigger industry than it once was,” he added. “The biggest opportunity these days is in managing the data produced by whole breadth of the geospatial sector, from surveying to GIS and beyond.”

But Mocicka emphasises that the GSV is adamant about one thing. “We are for individuals. We’re not going to cover businesses,” he said.

“The GSV will be run by individual practitioners, for individual practitioners.”

Free GSV information evening in July

According to the GSV’s launch announcement, it “has been created to advance the knowledge, application and value of geospatial sciences for the benefit of Victoria”.

“To do this, we aim to support individuals in their profession, including through education, collaboration, networking and supporting high standards of professional conduct, ethical behaviour and good practice.”

A free, informal information evening will be held from 5:30pm to 7:30pm on 9 July at the Tippler & Co bistro in East Melbourne, providing an opportunity for those interested “to connect with others across industry, government and education, to hear a little more about what GSV is aiming to achieve, and contribute your ideas on what the Victorian geospatial community needs most”.

Those unable to attend can register their interest in learning more about the organisation by filling in an online form.