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

GeoCart’2026, Aotearoa New Zealand’s 12th National Cartographic Conference, will convene from 26 to 28 August at the Te Aro campus of Victoria University of Wellington.

The event aims to bring together a wide cross-section of professionals, researchers, and enthusiasts engaged in cartography, map curatorship and research, geovisualisation, and GIS.

Participants at GeoCart’2026 will hear about the latest developments and research, learn about current and upcoming projects and products, network with their counterparts in the greater community, and develop a deeper understanding of cartography and mapping.

The deadline for abstract submissions is 15 May 2026.

In addition to the main conference, there will also be a pre-conference Map Design Workshop that will explore techniques for terrain visualisation, feature symbology and layout composition.

Plus, entries are invited for the NZ National Map Exhibition 2026, all of which will be put on display and judged during the conference. Subject to the number and quality of entries received, a winner will be announced for each of two categories: Printed Map Product and Digital Map Product. All entries from New Zealand domiciled cartographers will be eligible for selection to represent New Zealand at the 2027 ICA International Cartographic Exhibition in Vancouver, Canada.

The 10th International Colloquium on Scientific and Fundamental Aspects of GNSS will bring together members of the European scientific community and international partners involved in the use of Galileo and other GNSS in their research.

The colloquium will address several major areas of research:

• Scientific applications in meteorology, geodesy, geodynamics, geophysics, space physics, oceanography, land surface and ecosystem studies;
• Scientific developments in physics with a potential impact on future GNSS, particularly in testing fundamental laws of physics;
• Aspects of metrology such as reference frames, on board and ground clocks, precise orbit determination and time and frequency transfer; and
• Scientific aspects of satellite navigation, positioning and its applications, such as signal propagation, precise positioning;

The conference will be organised as a series of plenary talks, parallel half day sessions and poster presentations.