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 much-anticipated MAGNET Summit 2026 is coming up on 13 and 14 August in Sydney, and will be held at the prestigious and historic NSW Parliament House.
The event will be a must-attend occasion for all users or potential users of the Topcon Office and Field software, formerly (and still affectionately) known as MAGNET.
The two-day event will comprise:
- MAGNET Field half day: Thursday, 13 August from 12:30pm to 5:30pm, followed by networking drinks on the Verandah Bar.
- MAGNET Office day: Friday 14 August from 7:45am to 5:00pm
The MAGNET Summit 2026 will feature a host of expert speakers from both Aptella in Australia and Topcon in the US, covering a range of topics such as:
- A guide to fast field setups
- MJF magic: The ultimate data transfer masterclass
- The big picture: Mastering the magnet map screen
- Advanced offsets and slope staking
- The 3D dimension: Bringing surfaces to life
- Unleashing the data trapped in plans
- Mapping the next decade of geospatial
Attendees can earn 3.75 CPD points for day one and 5 points for day two.
You can read more about the fascinating history of MAGNET, its capabilities and its strong Australian connection in our article, ‘The evolution of CAD survey software’.
