Big Issues, Big Talk speaker series
Our standout opening Panel Discussion “Collect, Connect, Capitalise – how diverse spatial applications help me build my community” set the benchmark for the conference. The session motivated our industry professionals to converse and create real engagement. It emphasised the extent that GIS inspires and influences society today. Sue Vardon provided a real insight into the user perspective, giving a 360 degree view.
The panel comprised: Greg Babinski from King County GIS Center, Seattle /URISA Past President; CDRE Brett Brace, Hydrographer of Australia; Mark Crosweller AFSM FAIM, Director General Emergency Management Australia; Anne Gawen CEO, Connecting Up; and Sue Vardon, Chair South Australian Red Cross and Connecting Up.
Some highlights from the keynote speakers included:
David DiBiase, Director of Education & Industry Solutions, ESRI Inc USA gave us some serious insights talent management, an obstacle that challenges most. He empathised with industry problems in attracting students into the surveying and spatial courses and demanded attention for training and development, especially when also considering the professional standards we need. Despite these challenges, David gave us hope for the future with his creative solutions and international perspective.
What of this city that we conference in today? This question was answered by Dr David Headon, Centenary of Canberra, ACT Government as he gave us a fascinating insight into the origin of our Nation’s Capital. Informative and exciting, Dr Headon led us through the beginnings of a city built to govern.
Mentions from SSSC attendees and chairs
We, the SSSC team, welcomed nearly 90 speakers over the 3 days in 5 concurrent sessions – phew! Feedback from our delegates and session chairs has been enthusiastic, with a general hurrah for all. We have received specific mentions, which we outline below – however, please understand that there are many not included below who were very impressive.
Rachelle Winefield of LINZ highlighted the significant issues related to the reestablishment of geodetic survey control following a major tectonic event. She challenged the audience to think about the process of how to re-establish coordinates, what to treat as fixed, though nothing actually is, and the very difficult issue of communicating changes in coordinates to all users. The necessity of publishing a time stamp related to all coordinates was raised and the audience discussed the impacts to all survey applications, including cadastral operations.
Peter Kinne from Digital Globe, standing in for Kumar Navular, excited the audience with the forthcoming 2014 launch of the satellite sensor World View 3 and its “super spectral” sensor at 1.24m (VNIR) and 0.34m (Pan) spatial resolution, with automated atmospheric correction and with SWIR capability. The presentation by Alex Cowdrey from AAM covered the application of high resolution LIDAR to map the shape of deep holes in a karst topography on an island in French Polynesia, really highlighted the capability of fine beam active remote sensing
‘The next generation radio telescope.’ Martin Russell (Aurecon) a huge radio telescope array with over 300 12.5m radio telescope dishes, funded by a world-wide consortium of over 70 countries and is being built in conjunction with a deep space facility in South Africa. This was a stand-out paper due to its significance on the world stage; the complexity of the analysis; the scope of works involving members of our profession; and the skilled presentation by Martin.
Different perspectives on Lidar processing were provided by Gordon Summerling from ESRI Australia gave an overview of handling big Lidar data files in ArcGIS software. Stephen Swabey from Umwelt gave a fascinating presentation on how his company have developed a methodology for finding endangered Mallee Fowl mounds using Lidar – a cheap, efficient way of mapping this endangered species in potential mineral exploration areas.
Inspiring professionals from across the industry
Land surveying, engineering & mining surveying, cartography, hydrography, remote sensing and GIS and spatial information experts united to tell their stories. The conference provided a platform for theoretical and practical applications to converse. Passionate presenters gave new insights and thoughts into our industry today and its impact tomorrow. The program covered topics of immediate importance including:
- Issues such as the availability of open data and information, especially with the use of social media
- How our industry and spatial systems can improve the lives of the disabled
- Demonstrating the extent of the capabilities of our technologies including satellite and derivation of terrain cover
- Next Generation Datum – its impact and its benefits to our industry was the subject of learned discussion and debate.
- Case studies revealed the importance of GIS Analysis & Mapping in the planning and implementation of diverse programs from health budgets, water management, identification of client market to the management of emergency recovery
- The great advancements in mapping, modelling, the cloud, web and mobile apps and the greater opportunity for growth as the industry moves to mainstream
- Exposure to issues of local, national and international significance as we move further into globalisation – geodesy can keep us updated on this with their research on earth plate movements!
Our Young Professionals
Our YPs are the future of the industry, and it was exciting to see their enthusiasm to participate in SSSC. Using state of the art spatial technologies kindly supplied by CR Kennedy, they were able to discover the important role of surveying in founding of Canberra.
“….a great opportunity to meet experienced spatial professionals. I got some connections with people from around the globe which most important to me as a young professional and greatly appreciated” – Wilbet Simbila, Young Professional
