Join us for the first session in our ‘Locate Connect’ online learning series! Hear from Scott Dewar, Director, Chris Hewett, Assistant Secretary GEOINT Capability and Development & Phil Shears, Director DEF799 Phase 2.

In this session from 1300 – 1400, the Australian Geospatial-Intelligence Organisation (AGO) will be launching the Defence Geospatial-Intelligence (GEOINT) Strategy, a document that addresses how the Defence GEOINT Community will transform to meet the future needs of the Australian Defence Force. The AGO Executive will also provide an update on their GEOINT projects and announce upcoming opportunities for industry and discuss how the COVID-19 pandemic has impacted the organisation.

Then from 1430 – 1545, AGO, along with Frontier SI will describe how The Analytics Lab Program (AGO Labs) fits into the bigger picture of AGO capability and summarise the outcomes of their 2019 activities. AGO Labs, coordinated through FrontierSI, is investigating a number of ways to better engage and work with industry. Specifically, the AGO is keen to attract a wider pool of companies and technologies to draw on for automated geospatial intelligence. The primary focus of this program is to address AGO capability challenges through a small number of short-term industry projects, with a focus on machine learning and analytics for producing automated imagery analysis, including automated object classification. AGO will announce a new 2020 program of challenges hoping to find innovative solutions through their partnership with FrontierSI.

The Three Day Mini-Conference will be delivered in July, with 21 speakers over 3 days and taking place for 2 hours late in the afternoon. This exciting event will feature highly anticipated keynote speakers such as Bruce Thompson, Dr Karen Joyce and Nyall Dawson covering topics such as smart cities, surveying, sustainable development objectives, key projects and much, much more.

Wednesday 8 July – Friday 10 July 2020  – 1530 – 1730
Program: Download the program HERE
Cost: $90 – Mini-Conference attendee
Full access to all 3 days of the Mini-Conference, and access to the recording post-event

BEYOND THE 2026 AGENDA

The presentation will focus on a major initiative called the 2030 Space and Spatial Industry Growth Roadmap. The Government has set three key objectives for the space industry by 2030; 20,000 new jobs, $12B additional contribution to GDP and an extra one billion dollars into the investment pipeline. The combination of space and spatial working together will make a great contribution to meeting these targets. The space industry sets up critical elements of the communications supply chains (satcoms) together with content (GNSS and EO). The spatial industry provides the vast bulk of the data infrastructure, value-added content and analytics, and the ‘last yard’ delivery channels to customers. Getting this ecosystem right creates a premium competitive advantage for Australia and greatly strengthens our sovereignty and security. The presentation will discuss the next steps in the development of the roadmap; the development of a white paper which sets out the critical issues, the creation of an ecosystem map will help identify key areas for investment, and a risk analysis that will set out Australia’s critical dependence on space based assets and the steps we can take as a nation to improve our resilience, and sovereignty over, these assets. It will also provide an update on the latest developments of the 2026 Spatial Industry Transformation and Growth Agenda and how this initiative will contribute to the roadmap.

Organised by OSGeo, this international annual gathering of location enthusiasts is the largest global gathering for geospatial software. Now in its 15th year, FOSS4G (ie. Free and Open Source Software for Geospatial) brings together developers, users, decision-makers and observers from a broad spectrum of organisations and fields of operation.

Through six days of workshops, presentations, discussions, and cooperation, FOSS4G participants create effective and relevant geospatial products, standards, and protocols. The 2021 event will be focused for the first time on South America and will be held with the close collaboration of the GeoLibres Association in Buenos Aires, Argentina.

The Australasian Hydrographic Society’s HydroSpatial2021 Conference will focus on how hydrography will develop in the future, noting the development of ‘digital twinning’ and the emerging name variants for hydrography such as ‘hydrospatial’ or ‘hydrogeomatics’.

The conference theme, Hydrography of the Future, morphs two modern yet wide-ranging aspects of the hydrographic surveying profession, and should draw papers from relevant scientific, technological, operational and environmental communities. The aim is to provide delegates with valuable insights, creative ideas and inspiration on how to harness current and future technologies, systems and processes so that they can deal with present challenges and prepare for a more sustainable future.

The presenters for this topical webinar will be Dr Craig Roberts, Senior Lecturer in Surveying/GPS/Geodesy at UNSW and Wayne Patterson Director, Spatial Operations at the NSW Department of Customer Service.

Roberts will give a short update on the revision of the Australian Standard, AS_5488 Classification of subsurface utility information in the context of datum modernisation, low-cost multi-GNSS and recent advances in positioning infrastructure in Australia.

Data storage, data distribution and security are identified as challenges suggesting a reimagined data governance will be needed. Could a spatial digital twin assist? What is a spatial digital twin? Is it a BIM? Where does it come from? What is an open data policy? Who can use it? Can I use it? Which datum? How accurate is the data?

Rather than just another PowerPoint webinar, Roberts will interview Patterson in a free-flowing format. Attendees will be invited to ask their own questions live in the chat as the conversation evolves.

This webinar is targeted at surveyors, geospatial users, students and the wider spatial community.

The 16th annual congress of the Open Source Geospatial Foundation, the non-profit organisation that supports and promotes the collaborative development of free and open source geographic technologies and open geospatial data, will be held in Florence, Italy, at the Palazzo dei Congressi, Palazzo degli Affari and the University of Florence.

FOSS4G (ie. Free and Open Source Software for Geospatial) brings together developers, users, decision-makers and observers from a broad spectrum of organisations and fields of operation.

The FIG Congress — the largest and most prestigious conference of surveying and geospatial professionals — will this year be held in Poland.

The organisers are expecting an attendance of 1,000 to 1,500 surveying and geospatial experts from all over the world.

This year the local host is the Association of Polish Surveyors, and the conference theme is ‘Volunteering for the future – Geospatial excellence for a better living’. Geospatial excellence and all related professions and topics are now seen in a much broader context and as public goods and beneficial for the well-being and betterment of the entire society.

The sub themes are:

• Surveyor 4.0
• The surveying profession in and after COVID times
• Open access to data
• Surveying competence for other disciplines

The FIG Congress 2022 will give passionate professionals the opportunity to:

• Learn globally, with participation from around 80 to 90 countries
• Learn across silos, from other countries, industries and professional roles – with sessions and representation from a broad range of surveyors and geospatial experts
• Have influence on careers, organisations and communities

The Committee of Experts on Global Geospatial Information Management (UN-GGIM) will convene the second United Nations World Geospatial Information Congress (UNWGIC) in Hyderabad, India from 10-14 October 2022.

Hosted by the Government of India through its Ministry of Science and Technology, the convening of the UNWGIC arises out of the mandate from the United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) to the Committee of Experts to convene global forums to promote comprehensive dialogue on global geospatial information management with all relevant governments, international organisations and stakeholders.

With an overarching theme ‘Geo-Enabling the Global Village: No one should be left behind,’ the second UNWGIC will reflect the importance of integrated geospatial information to support sustainable development and the wellbeing of society, address environmental and climate challenges, embrace digital transformation and technological development, and catalyse vibrant economies.

The congress addresses the development and strengthening of integrated geospatial information management, its capacities and capabilities, and demonstrates the importance of international cooperation and coordination for building a human data and geography community, against the three pillars of sustainable development, for a shared future and a better world, leaving no one behind within an inclusive and equitable global society.

The UNWGIC will feature a high-level, plenary, special and parallel sessions. While the actual second UNWGIC program covers three days (11 – 13 October), the overall event will be a weeklong (10 – 14 October), and will include global and regional meetings, workshops and learning events, expert meetings and side events, including the eleventh plenary meeting of the Regional Committee of United Nations Global Geospatial Information Management for Asia and the Pacific (UN-GGIM-AP), as well as the annual meeting of the UN-GGIM Expanded Bureau.