The Geoscience Australia Distinguished Lecture, “Putting the ‘Geo’ into Geospatial: Shaping the future of Positioning Australia,” will cover future direction of the program, reflecting on its past achievements and how it will meet future positioning demands.

As it moves beyond the establishment phase, the Positioning Australia program will strengthen its capability for continued future relevance. The program builds on opportunities arising from Australia’s geographic location, its technological capabilities, strong partnerships and internationally significant positioning infrastructure.

The adoption of PNT-based technologies is changing requirements for the systems delivering it. There is increasing awareness that society’s increasing reliance on modern technologies brings potential risks from vulnerabilities in PNT systems. This lecture will highlight how Positioning Australia will address these issues, including an often invisible risk: the reliance of PNT systems on a global geodesy supply chain that is increasing vulnerable.

Presented by Dr Martine Woolf, (Branch Head Positioning Australia), Ryan Ruddick (Director GNSS Informatics and infrastructure), Dr Anna Riddell (Director GNSS Analysis), Dr Lisa Hall (Director National Geodesy) and Phil Shears (Director PMO), the lecture will outline how Geoscience Australia aims to continue maximising return on Commonwealth investment in reliable positioning, modernising infrastructure, enhancing access and efficiency, and supporting national resilience and economic growth.

Image credit: ©stock.adobe.com/au/Inna

The national Excellence in Surveying and Spatial Information (EISSI) awards will be presented at a gala occasion in Melbourne on 25 November, alongside the Locate conference.

The EISSI awards represent the highest level of professional recognition within the Australian surveying profession.

The event will bring together all 2026 state EISSI category winners to compete for national honours, including national category awards and the overall national award.

The award categories are:

• Infrastructure and construction
• Extra dimension and innovation
• Community & sustainable environment
• Rural cadastral surveying & land titling
• Urban cadastral surveying & land titling
• Surveying project management
• Mine surveying
• Professional surveyor of the year
• Young professional surveyor of the year
• Professional organisation of the year (large)
• Professional organisation of the year (small)
• University project of the year
• Vocational student of the year