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Kind regards

Gary Maguire

SSSI SA Chair

The Surveying and Spatial Science Institute Consultative Committee and Board recently endorsed free student membership for full-time students. This will give students an opportunity to participate in industry events, broaden their networks with spatial professionals and introduce them to external learning outside academia.

 If you know a student or students that would benefit from been a SSSI Student Member please direct them to SA Newsfeed, SSSI or download the membership form. 

Want to attend a conference for FREE? 

Students will see that the SA Committee has approved several Conference Scholarships. These scholarships will provide funding for several students to participate in conferences in South Australia and New Zealand. Click for more information….

SA Chair

Gary Maguire

This event was held on 10 February at the Flinders University campus in Adelaide. The event was a showcase of remote sensing research in the University’s new School of The Environment. The event attracted around 35 attendees from industry, universities and government agencies.

The speakers included Prof Andrew Millington, Dean of the new ‘School of the Environment’, Dr Simon Benger (Senior Lecturer), Stephen Fildes (in remote sensing and spatial information science) and Prof Jorg Hacker (Director/Chief Scientist of Airborne Research Australia). The new school brings together Earth Sciences, Geography, Population & Environmental Management, Environmental Health, Airborne Research Australia (ARA) and the National Centre for Groundwater Research & Training (NCGRT)

Professor Millington gave us an impressive overview of his own international research interests in land use dynamics, biogeography and human impacts on the environment. He presented on his international research for International Geosphere-Biosphere Programme on rainforest clearance (or agriculture extensification) in South America which involved working with cocoa growers in Colombia to verify land use maps.

Dr Benger research interests are Geographical Information Systems and Remote Sensing of Environment, Water Resources, Rivers and Wetlands and GeoHealth. He is currently involved in the Coorong, Lower Lakes and Murray Mouth (CLLAMM) ecology Project – funded by CSIRO. This is a large multi-disciplinary project involving Flinders University, University of Adelaide, Department of Environment and Natural Resources and SARDI. His work involves modelling sediment in the Coorong to characterise species habitats.

Stephen Fildes is lecturer in remote sensing and spatial information science. His is involved in a range of research areas including 1) camel grazing impact in the Western Simpson Desert, 2) estimating groundwater recharge on Eyre Peninsula and 3) using fascinating night-time imagery to produce an urban sprawl index.

Prof Hacker gave a visually impressive overview of ARAs high altitude research capability using a combination of high spectral and spatial resolution sensors. Using full waveform LIDAR in combination with hyperspectral sensor ARA have been mapping bushfire regrowth in Victoria. Also, they have mapped blue-green algal blooms in the Torrens River. Prof Hacker also uses microwave scanners to map soil moisture and vegetation.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank Flinders University for sponsoring the event and all the speakers, Prof Millington, Stephen Fildes, Dr Simon Benger and Prof Jorg Hacker for providing such informative presentations on their research. Also thanks to Kaye Hampton for doing such an amazing job looking after the catering and venue set up.

Anna Dutkiewicz, SA Chair RS&P Commission

“Penny Baldock has been an extremely active and influential member of the former Spatial Sciences Institute and today, in the Surveying and Spatial Sciences Institute at both Regional and National levels. Penny’s involvement with the Institutes started back in 2004 as a regional committee member and immediately took up the role of Chief Editor of the Topology Magazine (SSI SA publication). Since this time, she has become instrumental in developing the profession in South Australia and building the identity of SSI and now SSSI, at the regional and national level.

In late 2005 she took up the additional role of South Australian Young Professional (YP) Chair (2005 – 06). In this role she was able to demonstrate her leadership skills and her ability to make a difference to the young professional community in SA. To this very day her influence and desire to make a difference to the YP group is acknowledged by many younger members of this Institute who have joined because of her and wish to continue her legacy. Penny continued to support this group as a YP Committee member in (2006 – 2007) while she became more involved at the National level.

During her time as South Australian YP Chair, she also became SSI Young Professional National Vice Chair (2005 – 2007) and National Spatial Information Commission Representative (2005 – 2010). Penny’s willingness to volunteer and become an active national committee member saw her attend and facilitate many meetings throughout the years. During this she became familiar with and an integral part of the organisation’s direction, policies and delivery of member benefits.

With a desire to learn more about the Surveying and Spatial industry and her willingness to influence the importance of the female professionals in a male dominated industry, she was nominated to the SSI board in 2006. She took up the role of Board member for two years (2006 – 2008). During this time she was instrumental in shaping and developing the special interest group “Women in Spatial” along with Dr Marne Laybourne and Dr Renee Bartolo. Through a series of surveys throughout the industry, Dr Renee Bartolo and Penny were able to profile women in the spatial industry. The survey results provided benchmark data that had never been collected in the past about members and potential female members. This provided an understanding of the demographic work profile of spatial professionals across Australia, what women’s working patterns were and what they seeked in becoming members of the Institute. These findings were developed into a report for the board with recommendations. This work and recommendations were presented at the Women in Spatial Workshop in Sydney (October 2008).

In 2006, Penny’s contribution to SSI in South Australia and at the National level were acknowledged through nomination by regional committee members, for the South Australian Young Professional of the Year. She was rewarded for her contribution to the profession as the 2006 South Australian Young Professional of the Year and the 2006 Young Professional of the Year for Australia and New Zealand at APSEA.

In 2007, there was a need to fill the role of Regional Chair in SA. Even though Penny already had commitments at the National level and increased responsibilities with her employee at Primary Industries and Resources SA, she took up the role of SA Chair in 2007 until 2009. Penny was able to take her learning from the National level and develop a vision for a collaborative working model for SSI / SSSI SA and the Institute of Surveyors SA / Surveyors Board of SA. The forging of this close working relationship with the Surveying profession has developed into one of the best working models in Australia. This vision has been seen in recent times with the MOU between SSSI and Surveyors Board of SA.

Penny has been instrumental in professional development for the spatial community at large. She has been Chair of the Spatial Information Day (SID) and SA Spatial Excellence Awards in 2006, 2007, 2008 and 2010. The success of this event in South Australia can be contributed to Penny’s desire to see this as the best showcase of surveying and spatial sciences in South Australia. In 2006 SID attracted 50 delegates and in 2010 there were 380 delegates, 15 exhibiters and 70 students participating in a student forum at the Adelaide Convention Centre. Penny understands that through leadership and commitment many things can be achieved. This was demonstrated when she became a significant member of the SSC09 organising committee.”

“Penny continues to volunteer her time and support the industry with her continued involvement with the South Australian Regional Committee, the SA Representative on the Spatial Information Commission and mentoring of Young Professionals in SA. She has demonstrated to the profession her knowledge, understanding, professionalism and contributions when she became the forth South Australian to receive GISP-AP Certification.”

The South Australian SSSI Committee congratulate Penny on this achievement.

Gary Maguire

Chair SSSI SA

 During a disaster, data quickly becomes information of varied formats and accessed by a wide range of groups. It therefore becomes a very important commodity. The general population want to know where the event is, where it is moving, and how it will affect them. On the other hand, decision makers and operational emergency personnel need information to plan and protect people from harm – and in extreme cases to evacuate them to safe zones. Finally, there is the unenviable part of a disaster that is identifying loss, and the process to recovery. All sectors throughout the process need spatial data to maximise the likelihood of the best possible outcome.

I put this question out to our members: where are South Australia’s core spatial datasets? Where is the single point of truth of this information? And, can we deliver this information to the public in minutes or hours? What position would South Australia be in

GIS Maturity Level. Why are people rated so low?

if an extreme disaster stuck us tomorrow? Would government be able to deliver information through its investment in GIS technology and data? Or, would the private spatial industry, or social media sharing, become the window to the world?

 While asking these questions, I reflect on something we take for granted, not appreciating the importance of them until they’re gone – the people; the glue of our organisations. People add value to our business and are the knowledge custodians of our business information. When a crisis hits, these are the people we trust to do the job right, and to know the right people to talk to. They understand the importance of professional networks, both informal and formal. It is unfortunate that a few weeks back South Australia lost SICOM (Spatial Information Committee), the only remaining forum where all these people could meet and discuss sharing of spatial information. For all involved its great worth in creating a collaborative forum for the public and private sectors, academia, and industry bodies like SSSI and SIBA, SICOM had no legislative mandate to action change in South Australia.

I challenge members and the spatial community in South Australia; if we don’t share our information freely or don’t have collaborative working groups with authority to act on behalf of South Australian’s, what are we doing with all the information?

I would like to congratulate Penny Baldock who became a Fellow of SSSI last month and the first female Fellow in South Australia.

 Gary Maguire

Chair SSSI SA

The ‘Breakfast with Bite’ Careers Breakfast presented by Women in Spatial was held on the 9^th of March and was a great success.

Over 20 participants enjoyed a full cooked breakfast whilst guest speakers, Sue Vardon, AO and SSSI President, Gypsy Bhalla spoke to us about their careers.  They offered inspirational insights into their experiences and shared with us tips and tricks for success.

Gypsy spoke first about her technical career as well as growing into more consultative and then managerial roles.  She gave advice and examples of ways to best manage the transition into changing career pathways as well as insights on ways of letting go of the old and embracing the new.  Gypsy shared with us the achievements to be gained from taking on a challenge as well as the fulfilment of  being part of a team with a common cause, in the form of the SSI and SSSI team.  She also spoke of her experiences with both private and public sector employment, the differences between them and the challenges of both.

Sue was very insightful and entertaining and I am sure all of us would have been happy to sit for the rest of the morning listening to her anecdotes and advice.  Having been a CE for 23 years and dealing with a variety of people and situations, gave her a wealth of experience and stories to share.  She was most generous with her wisdom and guidance and very entertaining in her delivery.  I am sure much of her advice will come to mind at times when most needed and her delightful way of seeing situations and solutions will stay with me for a long time to come.

Both speakers encouraged taking on new opportunities and experiences and were a shining example of having done so.  There was a common theme of resilience, risk taking, having faith and confidence in yourself and putting things into perspective, which was very motivating.

After the formal breakfast, attendees remained for networking.  I am sure that this kind of event inspires people to stay around for networking as there is so many ideas to share after listening to such interesting and informative speakers.

After talking with many of the attendees after the event I believe that they were inspired and entertained by the two speakers and would welcome and recommend another such event in the future.

Mary Lewitzka

TopoMap SA

This DVD-based product is a compilation of all the topographic maps depicted in the Emergency Services and CFS Map Book series and is planned for release by April 2011. 

This includes seamless map images of the Mount Lofty Ranges, Kangaroo Island, South East, Yorke Peninsula and Mid North, Riverland and Murray Mallee, Southern Flinders Ranges, Eyre Peninsula and the West Coast.

Mosaiced map images are at scales of 1:100,000, 1:50,000, or 1:250,000 depending on the region and larger scale maps include the Adelaide foothills at 1:25,000 and selected country towns at 1:20,000.

OziExplorer Lite software is provided to view the map images and this also provides the ability to measure distances and areas, determine coordinates, add comments and search place names.

More details at www.environment.sa.gov.au

 

Maptek^™ played a critical role in the rescue operation at the San José copper-gold mine near Copiapó in Chile recently and this seminar was given by Simon Ratcliffe with help from other members of Maptek. The Miners were trapped some 600m underground.

Simon spoke of how, when the disaster happened, a rescue team tried to reach them through the mine and 6km of tunnels, while on the surface, drilling teams started drilling holes feverishly with little or no control on the direction of drilling. Maptek already had personnel in Chile and these team members quickly came in and set up a base there. They started by doing a laser scan of the surface and combining this with a complete 3D model of the mine which they calculated by utilising existing 2D and 3D design and as-built information of the underground mine. The surveyor who had carried out the as-built surveys was one of the Miners trapped underground and he helped to manage the trapped Miners throughout the rescue operation, and was therefore the last man out. He also did a “Mud Map” of the Garage area to enable fine tuning of the resue hole direction. The Miners themselves played an integral part in the rescue, by moving rock and debris and providing information to the surface, and working shifts to ensure that rock was removed 24 hours a day.

Maptek soon began to coordinate the drill holes and downhole logging information was fed to the Maptek team to enable them to hit the “Garage”. This hole, which was called the “Hand of God”, was eventually enlarged and, via a special chamber made by the Chilean Navy, all Miners were rescued alive.

The presentation, like the rescue was very well done with spectacular 3D visualisation of the rescue being shown to the audience. The seminar was well delivered and a very informative event. The magnitude of their work held the audience captive.

There were informal drinks and nibbles and networking time after the event. All in all, a good show.

Grantley David Leith  BTechSurv

Dorothy Turner, David Floreani, Matt Brown, Joel Dillon, Simon Callaghan

Over the next few years companies will be looking for high quality resource to join their teams. As an individual what will distinguish you from the other candidates. GISP-AP certification is just one way to standout from the crowd. As a GIS-AP certified professional you are demonstrating that you follow a code of ethics as set by the industry peak body and a willingness to continue your learning’s after you have left the education environment. Click here for more…

We are currently organising a presentation by Maptec, who carried out the Surveying and Mapping involved with the successful Chile Mine Disaster Rescue at the San Josè copper mine. Simon Ratcliffe will be talking about the technology that they used and the specific utilisation that was employed. This will be held on February 16th 2011 at the Skydeck on Hindmarsh Square. All are welcome and a flyer will be sent out soon with more details.

For those who are interested, the new Certification for Engineering Surveying documentation is available on the SSSI website. They can be found here for all who would like to do the certification level.

If any of you out there have any ideas as to future events, or have ideas that they would like to put forward or would like to become involved then by all means, let me know and I will do my best to put the ideas forward. If you wish to contact me, my email address is grantley.leith@fyfe.com.au .

Grantley David Leith  BTechSurv