The program for the Locate26 Conference/10th Digital Earth Summit has just been released, and it’s packed full of important topics, streams, workshops and presentations.

The joint Locate26 Conference/10th Digital Earth Summit will be held at the Melbourne Convention & Exhibition Centre from 24 to 26 November 2026 and promises to continue Locate’s long history of bringing the Australian geospatial community together.

The organisers have certainly put together a packed program, complete with keynotes, plenaries, presentations, panel discussions and more — all up, we counted 144 of them!

Day 1 program

The first day will begin with registration opening at 9:00am, followed at 10:00am by the Young and Emerging Professionals Forum.

That will be followed from 11:00am to 4:00pm by the optional workshops, the full details for which will be released a little later this month. Keep an eye on Spatial Source for the announcement.

From 3:00pm to 5:30pm the Locate Exhibition Showcase will be thrown open for everyone to take a look at the latest and greatest technologies. It’s free to attend but registration is required.

At 5:30pm the informal GeoRabble social get-together will be held. Always a fun occasion, it is sure to be very popular.

And for those looking for something a teensy bit more formal, 5:30pm will also mark the beginning of the official welcoming reception.

Day 2 program

Day 2 will kick off with the opening ceremony and official welcomes, followed by two special plenaries featuring leading experts from Australia and abroad: ‘The future of the geospatial sector: Where next?’ and ‘Digital Earth transformation’.

Following morning tea, the streams will begin. The morning streams will be:

• Spatial data and innovation, e.g. GeoAI for hyperspectral EO, Australia’s G-NAF
• Digital Earth and sustainable development, e.g. coastal protection
• Transforming geospatial with AI, e.g. AI in the public sector
• Measurement, positioning and survey innovation, e.g. LLMs and agents
• Spatial innovation and digital transformation, e.g. portals, digital pipelines
• From imagery to intelligence, e.g. near-real-time GeoAI, historic aerial photogrammetry
• Spatial analytics and AI, e.g. predictive analytics, multi-criteria analysis

The afternoon streams will be:

• Digital Earth and smart environments, e.g. digital Earth for the environment
• Environmental risk and resilience, e.g. real-time urban flood prediction
• Semantically enriched environments, e.g. logical reasoning
• Surveying practice and professional standards, e.g. treaties, surveyor registration
• Geospatial enablement and impact, e.g. from GIS to smart operations
• Positioning and spatial integration, e.g. ground truth, positioning in Australia
• Spatial platforms and data delivery, e.g. cloud native solutions, 4WD atlas

The sessions will end with a special plenary on the topic of ‘Industry disruption and start-ups,’ featuring local and overseas experts from industry, government and academia.

And the final session of the day will be the presentation of awards and recognitions.

Day 3 program

The third day of the conference will kick off with a Business Forum followed by a Surveyors-General Forum on the theme of ‘Contributions to nation building’.

Day 3’s morning streams will be:

• Water systems and spatial intelligence, e.g. marine 3D visualisation
• GeoAI and machine learning, e.g. PRISMA hyperspectral
• Improved building management, e.g. virtual reality for 3D visualisation
• Modern surveying and spatial data, e.g. modernising a survey register
• Building trusted spatial data, e.g. spatial data for farming decisions
• Building the future geospatial workforce, e.g. AI in geospatial education
• Spatial data for decision making, e.g. GIS/BIM workflows

Following lunch, the afternoon streams will be:

• Digital twins and spatial modelling, e.g. minimum viable digital twins
• Earth observation for environmental applications, e.g. large-area crop mapping
• AI-ready solutions for environmental sustainability, e.g. spatial for drought adaptation
• Land administration and surveying innovation, e.g. digital plan lodgement
• Managing spatial data for better outcomes, e.g. managing content across multiple platforms
• Spatial data for better decisions, e.g. spatial system for biodiversity credits
• Earth observation and spatial modelling, e.g. bedrock mapping

After those stream sessions there’ll be a special presentation on capacity building in the GIS field, followed by the final plenary on the topic of ‘Setting the roadmap for what’s next,’ bringing together leaders from the public sector, private sector, defence and academia from Australia, New Zealand and around the globe.

All in all, the whole event promises to be busy, fact-filled, collaborative and inspirational.

For more information, you can read our interview with the convenor, Prof Dr Zaffar Sadiq Mohamed-Ghouse, for his exclusive preview of the whole event.

And we’ve published a FAQ, with all your questions answered about the venue, registrations, accommodation and more.

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Locate26 / 10th Digital Earth Summit at a glance

When: 24-26 November 2026

Where: Melbourne Convention & Exhibition Centre, Melbourne, Australia

Early bird registrations: Close on 14 September 2026

Web: www.locateconference.com.au

Program: https://www.locateconference.com.au

Contact: Tel: +61 2 4319 8519 or info@locateconference.com.au

Spatial Source is proud to be the Official Media Partner for the Locate26/10th Digital Earth Summit event.