Here is the latest instalment of Spatial Snippets, in which we bring you a round-up of all the bits and pieces of geospatial news that didn’t make it into our normal daily and weekly coverage.

The following are our snippets for this week:

NSW has published the new Surveying and Spatial Information Regulation 2024, which repeals and remakes, with major amendments, the Surveying and Spatial Information Regulation 2017. The new regulation will take effect from 1 March 2025, with all surveys commenced after that time required to comply with the new Regulation.

The NSW Board of Surveying and Spatial Information (BOSSI), which sits within the Department of Customer Service, has released its 2023–24 annual report, outlining its activities and achievements during that 12-month period in its role of registration of land and mining surveyors and investigation of complaints, including:

• Producing a new guideline that increases public protection by setting out clear best practice guidelines for the use of general and immediate supervision for land and mining surveys.
• Publishing guidance on endorsement of land survey plans by registered surveyors.
• Increased engagement and communication with the surveying industry, such as at industry events.

Also just released is the SmartSat CRC annual report for 2023–24, highlighting its work in fields such as Earth observation, agriculture, satellite manufacture and communications, IoT and more. SmartSat funded 71 PhD scholarships and five international scholarships during the year.

The final report from a project investigating how mapping could support the research and development requirements for autonomous road freight capabilities in Australia, has been released. A key focus of the Mapping passive railway crossings to inform freight potential project was how maps could improve stakeholder understanding of how passive level crossings influence the interactions between road and rail vehicles.

The Australian Centre for Space Governance has released the fourth in its series of ‘Securing Australia Through Space’ publications. The latest report tackles cyber security as it relates to the space sector ecosystem. Others in the series look at resilient PNT (positioning, navigation and timing) for disaster response, and shared interests in the Asia-Pacific region.

We recently reported that local firm Revelare Hydrospatial and global company Hexagon had signed agreements with The Nippon Foundation-GEBCO Seabed 2030 Project. Now we can report that Woolpert has joined the party, bringing to the initiative its capabilities in hydrography, surveying and other geospatial solutions.

The Queensland Department of State Development, Infrastructure and Planning (previously the Department of State Development and Infrastructure) has announced an update of the DA Mapping System (DAMS) and State Planning Policy Integrated Mapping System (SPP IMS) platform. The update brings enhanced lot selection tools for more accurate results, advanced measuring tools for precise calculations, and new drawing tools for better visualisation, as well as other improvements.

An article published in Environmental Modelling and Software outlines how EcoCommons Australia was developed to help researchers and policy decision-makers conduct trusted ecological modelling more efficiently than ever before. “EcoCommons streamlines the labour-intensive aspects of ecological modelling,” said Dr Jenna Wraith, senior data scientist for EcoCommons at the Queensland Cyber Infrastructure Foundation. “For example, coding and data preparation previously took days to support analysis and mapping of habitats for Australia’s rare Purple Copper Butterfly, found only in New South Wales’ Central Tablelands. Now, with EcoCommons, this process can be completed in minutes.”

Geovation, the innovation arm of Great Britain’s Ordnance Survey, has just celebrated its 15th birthday. The entity was formed in 2009 to “foster a geospatial ecosystem for start-ups to solve real world challenges using location data,” and has since supported more than 150 start-ups having a combined net worth of £300 million.

And here are some recent Spatial Source geospatial news items you might have missed:

• MapAI secures $1.3m for generative AI analytics
• 2024 ACT and NT award recipients announced
• AURIN, QUT team wins ArcGIS StoryMaps contest
• Modernising the telecom industry with GIS
• Victoria completes major airborne gravity survey
• BYDA calls for better data to reduce utility strikes
• US releases updated GEOID22 geoid model
• Results of recent Queensland survey audits
• Faster, cost-effective GNSS in the field
• C.R. Kennedy now distributor for Vivax Metrotech
• TAFE surveying graduate takes on transport projects

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