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The Western Australian Spatial Excellence Awards Dinner was held last month, and the winners of the awards have now been announced.

 

McMullen Nolan Group recently collected several awards during the 2012 Western Australian Spatial Excellence Awards, including ‘Overall,’ ‘Industry’ and ‘Individual’ category awards.

 

McMullen Nolan Group claimed ‘Overall Winner – Industry’ and ‘Industry (Infrastructure and Construction)’ category honours with its ‘Mobile Laser Scanning – Mitchell Freeway Widening’ submission.

 

Main Roads Western Australia hired McMullen Nolan Group in March 2011 to survey a section of the Mitchell Freeway between Hepburn Avenue and Hodges Drive. Mobile Laser Scanning technology was used to carry out the survey, as the technology provided the required level of accuracy using a proprietary multi-pass system.

 

In addition to this, Terrestrial Laser Scanning was employed to transfer control stations on suitable overpasses to the freeway road surface. This technique allows the entire survey to take place without a single surveyor being present on the freeway carriageways. This results in zero impact to the traffic flow and significantly reduced safety issues, both for the survey team and the general motorist.

 

The judging panel said MNG’s Mobile Laser Scanning technique demonstrated overall excellence for the way information was gathered, its short timeframe, lack of disruption to road users and enhanced safety to survey personnel.

 

“The Western Australian Spatial Excellence Awards – Overall Winner – Industry title win was the second time within three years MNG has claimed that particular award, so we’re truly humbled our contributions to spatial services within WA are being recognised,” said McMullen Nolan Group director, John McMullen.

 

In addition to claiming the Industry Awards, MNG also saw success with employee Murray Quakernaat collecting the Individual Award (Spatial Student Award – Undergraduate) at the presentation dinner.

 

Murray’s project (Mean Sea Level Change Around Australia: Observed from Satellite Altimetry Measurements) was the detailed study of sea level change around Australia through a combination of background research and application of complex data and novel processing approaches. This study focussed on the use of satellite altimetry data providing, with respect to tide gauge observations, a complete coverage of the oceans around Australia. The thesis focusses on the Australian region and quantifies both the underlying long-term climate signal and shorter timescales typical to climate variability. One of the most important outcomes of the thesis was the demonstration of a direct link between sea level variations around Australia and El-Nino-Southern Oscillation. This is invaluable information to understand past and present sea level changes and to predict future sea levels.

 

Congratulations are extended to the following companies and individuals for their excellence.

 

INDIVIDUAL WINNERS and FINALISTS
Ray Watson – Service to the WA Surveying and Spatial Sciences Community Award
James Spath – Professional of the Year Award
Chris Schroder – Young Professional of the Year Award
Michael Kuhn – Education Development Award
Murray Quakernaat – Undergraduate Student Award. Finalists: Shawn Jenkin, Timothy Vlasschaert, Fletcher Blythe
Jacob Delfos – Postgraduate Student Award. Finalists: Sandra Rech and Shing Hei Chan

 

INDUSTRY WINNERS and FINALISTS
Environment and Sustainability – Winner: DEPARTMENT OF WATER – 3D Aquifer Modelling
Spatially Enabling Government – Winner: SKM and DEPARTMENT OF WATER – Farm Dams. Highly commended: Department of Planning – DevNet
Innovation and Commercialisation – Highly commended: Whelans – Western Power transition power line management
People and Community – Winner: DIGITAL MAPPING SOLUTIONS and CITY OF PERTH – Culture and the Arts Portal
Infrastructure and Construction – Winner: MCMULLAN NOLAN GROUP and MAIN ROADS – Mitchell Freeway Road Widening
Land Titling and Development – Highly commended: Fugro and BHP – OneMap Web Mapping Portal

 

FINALISTS:
Water Corporation, We Do It, CSC, Mercury Project Solutions – Cadastral realignment
NGIS – Building geospatial capacity in the developing world
Whelans – 3D deformation survey, All Hallow Church
Western Power and Esri Australia – Enterprise GIS

 

The Western Australian Spatial Excellence Awards was inaugurated in 2007 and, since then, finalists from WA have been submitted to the Asia Pacific Spatial Excellence Awards each year. WA projects and individuals are consistent winners at the awards, which clearly show the high standards within the Western Australian spatial industry.

 

The WASEAs are hosted by the Western Australian regional groups of the Spatial Industries Business Association and the Surveying and Spatial Sciences Institute.