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.

Unable to hold its scheduled 2021 NSW Regional Conference earlier in 2022, SSSI is now inviting the spatial community to join it for a special online seminar featuring some of the speakers from the original program, along with the announcement of the NSW winners of the 2021 Asia-Pacific Spatial Excellence Awards.

This seminar will focus on the importance, efficiency and innovation spatial data can provide in crisis management situations and will feature presentations on:

• Finding your Friendship Island amongst a sea of COVID restrictions — presented by Stella Blake-Kelly, Founder/Director, Cartisan
• Geospatial Intelligence: Providing real-time insights supporting NSW State Emergency Service’s emergency management response — presented by Melissa Daley, Manager, Geospatial Intelligence Systems, NSW State Emergency Service
• COVID-19 Near Me: Trials and tribulations — presented by Kenneth Tsang, Director, jxeeno

As Australasia’s premier annual industry event, the Disaster & Emergency Management Conference attracts a passionate crowd of leaders and change-makers from government, private, and volunteer agencies working in disaster and emergency management.

Over two days, you will connect with emergency management professionals and subject matter experts offering insight, reflection, understanding and motivation across a wide range of topics and emergency management incidents.

Enjoy an impressive line-up of keynote speakers, presenters, and panel discussions, and leave with practical tools and techniques to ensure your team is best supported to better plan, prepare, and respond to emergencies, disasters, and rescue operations.

• Connect with emergency management personnel from state and local government, NGOs, and other recovery agencies.
• Explore and engage with exhibitor displays featuring the latest equipment, technologies, and agency services.
• Discover what is happening across multi-sectors via a program of renowned keynote speakers, sector representatives and lived-experience presenters.
• Gain practical tips, techniques, and strategies to incorporate into your organisation to improve the way you approach disaster and emergency planning, response & prevention.

Survey and Spatial NZ’s 2022 conference will be held from 1 to 3 August at the Novotel Lakeside, Rotorua. The conference is the biggest continuing professional development event of the year for NZ surveying and spatial professionals. It invites sharing of knowledge amongst peers, bringing together networking opportunities for all delegates and is an essential event for professional development and connectivity within the sector.

The choice of Rotorua as the location is apt, given the conference theme of ‘Turning up the Heat’. The organisers aim to stimulate discussion regarding challenges in regional areas, which include climate change and developments outside of Auckland.