The geographical map is one of the major advancements that man has developed over thousands of years. We have come a long way from Ptolemy’s maps to have our modern-day, precise, digital maps. Over time, scientists have created and developed many ways of obtaining spatial information.

More than 150 years have passed since the day French inventor Gaspard-Félix Tournachon took a photograph of Paris from an air balloon. This photograph started the phenomenon of remote sensing, which rapidly developed in the twentieth century and has continued to evolve in the twenty-first century.

The appearance of the Earth’s satellite imagery, new technologies of aerial survey, laser scanning, and the use of digital methods of data collecting and processing in real time have significantly changed our attitude to spatial information.

These advancements, in turn, have led us to understand the necessity of development and to bring the annual conference, “From imagery to map: digital photogrammetric technologies,” to a new level.

This year, the name of the annual conference was changed to “FROM IMAGERY TO DIGITAL REALITY: ERS & Photogrammetry” in order to reflect current trends in visualisation and use of spatial information.

Digital reality is measured spatial information that is used in almost all directions of society’s technological developments, be it land management, navigation, autonomous transport systems, smart cities, robotic technologies, and much more. Digital reality provides cartographic basis for the Internet of Things, and it allows building space-time models for sustainable development of society.

This new conference name significantly widens the theme of the conference. The organisers, Racurs Co. and The Israeli Society for Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing, believe the event will contribute to the growth of interest in Earth remote sensing and photogrammetry technologies, attracting new participants to the conference.

IPWEA (NSW) has announced the inaugural Empowering Women in STEM Congress, to be held on 18-19 October at the Australian National Maritime Museum.

This Congress aim is to establish and promote the outstanding contribution women make to the engineering, scientific and technological communities that improve and evolve our society. This event not only creates opportunities and pathways to inspire Australia’s future leaders but will allow you to have your say and influence future policy through our call to action communique.

Come along, voice your contribution and influence future policy regarding gender diversity and skills gap in STEM fields.

The Mapping Sciences Institute of Australia (NSW Division) will be hosting its Annual MSIA Seminar at the Aspire Hotel 383/389 Bulwarra Road, Ultimo. This year represents its 65th year promoting mapping. The seminar will be held during the day on Thursday 19th October, 2017. Eight excellent speakers have been arranged covering a wide range of spatial related topics.

Some of the presenters that have already agreed to present will be Selin Ozdemir, from Esri Australia speaking on “A smarter platform for smarter decisions.” In addition, Nicole Mahoney, NSW Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research speaking on “Utilising GIS to report on trends in crime and monitor the effectiveness of the lockout laws on crime.” Peter Stanković from the Transport Management Centre will speak on “GIS Utilisation within NSW Major Events.” This presentation will cover GIS utilisation within the TMC Major Events team during event (eg City to Surf) planning and execution.

Trisha Moriarty, Manager Geoscience Data Management & Delivery, Geological Survey NSW will present on “Next generation data delivery for NSW’s Geoscientific Data” describing the vast range of geoscientific data available in the Geological Surveys data repositories. Christian Wolf is project scientist for the SkyMapper Southern Survey will present on “Mapping the Sky – from ancient times to the modern Australian SkyMapper Telescope.” He will present on the Australian SkyMapper project, which currently creates the most detailed map of the Southern sky.

Brenton Ray, Spatial Services, DFSI will present on “Environmental Spatial Programs & SME update and Smart State NSW” and will cover Environmental Spatial Programs update of imagery and elevation capture programs.

Emeritus Professor Robert Clancy AM, FRS(N) will present “Cartography: its Contribution to Australian Colonial Science.” Clancy has written five books on mapping of Australia and Antarctica and the collecting of maps, many articles and regularly gives talks on Antique Maps and related topics, curates exhibitions, and promotes interest in Historic Cartography and the Collection of Maps in many formats.

Professor Dietmar Müller will speak on “Using big data analytics to reveal what controls seabed geology”. One of the fundamental aims of the EarthByte Group is geodata synthesis through space and time, assimilating the wealth of disparate geological and geophysical data into a four-dimensional Earth model, connecting solid Earth to surface processes.

For a copy of the seminar brochure please email your request or to confirm your attendance to

Hank Staal by email to msia-nsw@bigpond.com or Staal1@bigpond.com.

Enquiries can be made on 9872 1405 (H) or 0427008545

This workshop is dedicated to professionals using photogrammetry, orthomosaics, 3D modelling and UAVs in their practice. During this in-person training, you will learn how to create accurate maps and models, as well as improve your results. Kickstart your workflow by learning about Pix4D’s recommended best practices when capturing and processing your imagery.

On October 23-27 2017, the Earth observations community will come together in Washington, D.C. for the GEO-XIV Plenary, side events and exhibition. GEO Week will highlight and promote the role, applications, and opportunities to use Earth observations in delivering ‘Insight for a changing world’. With a focus on delivery and impact, GEO Week 2017 will explore the use and application of Earth Observations in both the public and private sectors for the benefit of humankind.

JAX Is Ready For URISA!

Jacksonville was recently impacted by record level storm surge from Hurricane Irma. The images of the St John’s River overflowing were amazing. Rest assured that the City and the Hyatt Regency Jacksonville Riverfront will be ready for URISA!

Our Hyatt JAX contacts let us know that the first floor took on some water from the flooding which impacted the front desk, restaurant and lounge, and unfortunately for the Hyatt, they have to do some first floor reconstruction. During our conference, the hotel is relocating the front desk to the second floor skybridge, between the hotel and the parking garage.  They are transforming some meeting space into a temporary restaurant offering limited menus for breakfast, lunch and dinner.  A lounge area will also be created on the second floor offering beverage service starting at 2:30PM EST until Midnight. In room dining service will not be available during the conference. All other services, including housekeeping, laundry and dry cleaning will be available.

The hotel will be closed to the general public during our conference. They are only accommodating group guests like URISA GIS-Pro Conference attendees. Again, the meeting space and guestrooms were not affected by the storm.

We are appreciative of the Hyatt’s efforts to accommodate GIS-Pro in light of these unforeseen circumstances and are happy to support Jacksonville! We’ll be distributing a list of restaurants and other options that are within an easy walk. (Fionn MacCool’s a 3 minute walk away in the Jacksonville Landing is open for business along with all of the other popular spots.)

So make your plans now if you haven’t done so and start checking out the great dining options and attractions in the city. We’ve got a lot to talk about at the conference from Emergency Response and Disaster Assessment to GIS Strategic Planning and GISP Prep…and you need to be part of the discussion!

Use Your GIS Skills! To show our support for the areas impacted by the recent hurricanes, flooding and earthquakes, we’ve added a Humanitarian OpenStreetMap Mapathon to the conference program on Monday evening. Like we did with the service projects in New Orleans following Hurricane Katrina, the GIS community has always been willing to give back to our neighbors.

See you there! #JAXStrong

12^th 3D Geoinfo Conference 2017 – 26 and 27 October

The 3D GeoInfo Conference aims at bringing together international researchers from academia, industry and government in the field of 3D geoinformation. The conference offers an interdisciplinary forum to researchers in the fields of data collection, advanced modelling approaches, data analysis and visualisation.

BIM-GIS Integration Workshop – 25 October

BIM-GIS Integration will be organised as a pre–conference workshop session of the 3D GeoInfo 2017. The IAG WG4.2.4 is organising this workshop to provide a platform for researchers to present and discuss their work in the various aspects of BIM and GIS integration. Participation in the BIM-GIS integration Workshop is included in the 3D Geoinfo registration fee.

 3D Cadastres symposium and training – 24 October

The 3D Cadastre symposium will present Centre for SDIs and Land Administration’s previous and current research topics related to 3D Cadastre. It will also provide training on the implementation of 3D digital cadastral systems.

Commercial UAV Expo is a conference and exhibition focused on commercial UAV integration for large asset owners in select market segments. The event focuses specifically on the needs of large enterprise in integration of UAV/UAS for industrial use.  Content includes systems selection, workflow integration, management of large data, legal and regulatory considerations, outsourcing versus insourcing, safety and training issues, specifications, deliverables and more.  The event takes place October 24-26, 2017 in Las Vegas.

Target industries include Process, Power & Utilities (Oil & Gas, Nuclear & Power Generation, Renewable Energy, Chemical Processing); Construction; Civil Infrastructure; Surveying & Mapping; Mining;Precision Agriculture; Law Enforcement/Security/Emergency Response.

This workshop is dedicated to professionals using photogrammetry, orthomosaics, 3D modelling and UAVs in their practice. During this in-person training, you will learn how to create accurate maps and models, as well as improve your results. Kickstart your workflow by learning about Pix4D’s recommended best practices when capturing and processing your imagery.