Position 115 October-November 2021

October/November 2021 – No. 115

The Australasian magazine of surveying, mapping & geo-information

GNSS

Upstream, downstream, mainstream

Official publication of

inside Everything shipshape Hydro surveying the Port of Newcastle

POS cover collage.indd 1

Precise positioning Australia’s NPIC is a game-changer

Australian Height 23/9/21 2:26 pm Datum Where to next for the trusty AHD?

www.mapgear.com.au

contents

October/November 2021 No.115

26 22

32 features 13 Simplifying GIS for airports Melbourne Airport is reaping the benefits that aerial LiDAR brings.

14 Q&A with Daniel Zhang

High-speed 3D visualisation of data is opening up new possibilities.

regulars 24 Autonomy in the air

More range and higher accuracy with the WingtraOne GEN II.

26 Keeping the channels open

Hydrographic surveying is crucial for operations at Port of Newcastle.

16 Precise positioning unleashing Australian innovation

29 Regulatory roadmap for the RPAS sector

20 GNSS: Upstream, downstream, mainstream

30 Five drivers of change in geospatial information

22 All systems go

32 Saving the Australian Height Datum

Australia’s NPIC is a gamechanger for a raft of industries.

As demand for precise positioning grows, reliable GNSS is critical.

A round-up of recent space industry news from across Australia.

4

Upfront

4

Upcoming events

5

From the editor

7

News

36

New products

38

SSSI updates

CASA has outlined ongoing regulatory work and industry consultations.

Research into impacts on the geospatial data management landscape.

Efforts are underway to maintain and modernise the AHD in NSW. www.spatialsource.com.au 3

upfront Upcoming Events 11–15 October: 27th ITS World Congress 2021 https://its-australia.com.au/ events/27th-its-world-congress-2021hamburg/

15 October: SSSI NSW & ACT 2021 Regional Conference https://sssi.org.au/events-awards/ events/sssi-nsw-act-2021-regionalconference

19–21 October: 12d Technical Forum https://events.12dsynergy.com/ Floods inundated much of coastal NSW in March 2021. Image courtesy ADF.

Flood maps made in 24-hour international effort

I

n March 2021, areas of New South Wales stretching from the North Coast to Sydney were hit by devastating floods, described by meteorologists as a one-in100-year event. Roads were blocked, houses were underwater, people were stranded and electrical power was cut.

Essential Energy had a mammoth task ahead to restore electricity as quickly as possible, while also ensuring its crews on the road were safe. In the early stages of the emergency, the utility company contacted two10degrees for help. The latter firm supplies an in-vehicle monitoring system solution for around 2,000 Essential Energy vehicles using a Global Alerting Platform, which can quickly and easily locate people and devices anywhere in the world.

Essential Energy needed to know where its flood-affected vehicles and customers were, and wanted to know if two10degrees could integrate maps of the flooded areas into its platform.

Integrating the maps would be relatively straightforward. But finding high-quality, accurate and reliable data was the complex challenge. So two10degrees sought help from its sister company, geospatial specialists Geoplex (both are part of the Nova Group of companies).

An initial search of existing data did not produce anything suitable, and the team considered creating its own flood maps, which would take time. But in a fortunate and unusual move, Geoscience Australia publicly released a dataset just 4 position October/November 2021

a day after the initial flood. Geoplex was able to pass on the vital information to the two10degrees team, which then simply needed to integrate it into the Global Alerting Platform.

To speed things up, two10degrees contacted colleagues in the UK who set to work overnight Australian time, so the product was ready to go first thing the next day. It provided a visual representation of the flooded areas and helped with planning for crew safety.

The availability of the dataset — and Geoplex knowing where to look — saved a huge amount of time in an unfolding emergency. This type of satellite imagery and data is usually created as the event unfolds but is not made public until after the event, given the rapidly changing environment.

Ultimately, it helped Essential Energy keep its crews safe and respond faster to people affected by the crisis. The flood map overlays were also used by Disaster Relief Australia to help with its flood support and clean-up efforts. n

A flood map overlay produced by two10degrees.

22–23 October: 2021 NSW CSA October Conference https://www.acsnsw.com.au/ eventdetails/9118/2021-nsw-csaoctober-conference

27–29 October: HydroSpatial2021 Conference http://ahs.wildapricot.org/ event-4262936

15–16 November: World of Drones & Robotics Congress 2021 https://www.worldofdrones.com.au

6–8 February 2022: Geo Week https://www.geo-week.com/

23–24 March 2022: Geo Connect Asia 2022 https://www.geoconnectasia.com/

24–26 May 2022: Locate22 https://locateconference.com/

22–27 August 2022: FOSS4G 2022 https://www.osgeo.org/foundationnews/foss4g-2022/

from the editor The Australasian magazine of surveying, mapping & geo-information

Publisher Simon Cooper Editor Jonathan Nally jnally@intermedia.com.au National Advertising Manager Anna Muldrock amuldrock@intermedia.com.au Prepress Tony Willson Production Manager Jacqui Cooper Subscribe Position is available via subscription only.

A 12 month subscription (6 issues) is AUD$49.50. To subscribe visit www.intermedia.com.au, phone: 1800 651 422 or email: subscriptions@intermedia.com.au website: www.spatialsource.com.au Position is published six times a year, in February, April, June, August, October and December by Interpoint Events Pty Ltd. ABN: 9810 451 2469 Address: 41 Bridge Road, Glebe NSW 2037 Ph: +61 2 9660 2113 Fax: +61 2 9660 4419 Reprints from Position are permitted only with the permission of the publisher. In all cases, reprints must be acknowledged as follows: ‘Reprinted with permission from Position Magazine’, and must include the author’s byline.

The opinions expressed in this publication are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of the publisher.

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The Intermedia Group takes its Corporate and Social Responsibilities seriously and is committed to reducing its impact on the environment. We continuously strive to improve our environmental performance and to initiate additional CSR based projects and activities.

As part of our company policy we ensure that the products and services used in the manufacture of this magazine are sourced from environmentally responsible suppliers.

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Positioning us to get through COVID

A

s I write these words, there is some hope that those parts of Australia that have been in lockdown will soon return to normal once again. Vaccinations rates are steadily climbing and there’s a sense of optimism (tinged with maybe a little cynicism) that the worst of the COVID pandemic will be over by the end of the year. Let’s hope so, and let’s hope the economy and our communities bounce back quickly in 2022.

It’s looking good for a return to face-to-face meetings and conferences next year, with plans firmly in place for major events such as Locate22 and Geo Connect Asia 2022.

I suspect we’re all eager to get out and about once more, catching up with colleagues and exchanging views and ideas in person rather than over a video link.

I’ve been reflecting on how geospatial technologies have played a vital role in helping us all get through these difficult times. Those who work in the surveying, spatial and space industries are well aware of how these sectors and their technologies play their part in keeping our society ticking along. From the government apps that help record our movements so that we can be notified if we become exposed to COVID, to the nowcommonplace navigation devices and apps that underpin transportation and the home delivery boom. Positioning, navigation and timing services have become essential to the smooth running of modern societies.

Finally, with this issue we bid a sad but fond farewell to our advertising sales manager, Jon Tkach. Jon had been with us for many years, but with an active young family has decided its time to change direction. We’re sure you’ll join with us in wishing him all the best in his new endeavours.

Taking over from Jon is Anna Muldrock, who comes to the role with a wealth of sales and business development experience. If your company needs to promote its goods or services, I encourage you to get in touch with her. Welcome aboard, Anna.

Don’t forget you can keep up to date with all the latest industry news by regularly visiting www.spatialsource.com.au, and/or sign up for our free weekly e-newsletter at https://www.spatialsource.com.au/subscribe.

Jonathan Nally Editor

NEXT ISSUE

December/January 2022 – Issue 116 Spatial data in the field – tech to build multi-disciplinary teams 3D capture, processing and modelling – multi-modal data acquisition and processing Augmented reality – bringing the digital twin to life Advertising booking date: 5 November 2021 Advertising material date: 10 November 2021 Publication date: 7 December 2021

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sales@survey.crkennedy.com.au

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news C.R. Kennedy becomes distributor for Matterport C.R. Kennedy has announced that it has signed on as distributor for Matterport in the Australian market.

Founded in 2011, Matterport develops hardware and software for reality capture, with its spatial data platform able to transform spaces into accurate and immersive digital twins.

Matterport has extended its market reach beyond its initial residential real estate market to include multifamily and commercial real estate; architecture, engineering and construction; retail; insurance and restoration; travel and hospitality; and facilities management.

The company says that millions of buildings in more than 150 countries have been transformed into immersive digital twins using its platform, improving the building lifecycle from planning, construction and operations to documentation, appraisal and marketing. ©stock.adobe.com/au/ink drop

Initial Locate22 conference details announced Initial details of the program for next year’s Locate22 conference and exhibition have been announced. The event will be held in an in-person format at the National Convention Centre Canberra from 24 to 26 May 2022.

The theme will be ‘Location in Action: Positioning the nation for a brighter future,’ reflecting the vital role spatial data and location services play in all aspects of modern society.

Locate22 will have dedicated streams according to broad industry themes, with the organisers saying this will “enable focused discussion from across industry sectors on how location technologies and practices are being used, highlighting the fundamental role they play in shaping Australia’s future”.

Those streams will include: • The future of data • Delivering smarter infrastructure • A spatially enabled society

• • • • • • •

Transforming digital skills Enabling societal transformation Policies and standards Designing the places of tomorrow Building a safer society Space Emerging trends and applications There will also be a focus on important issues such as Indigenous cultures, natural disaster management, mental health and design thinking.

Plus there will be a return of the Locate Hub, Q&As, a business leaders’ breakfast, a ‘Technology of Locate22’ exhibit, site visits, technical tours and more.

Locate22 will be hosted by Geoscience Australia, with the Australian Geospatial-Intelligence Organisation supporting as a local co-host. www.spatialsource.com.au 7

news AAUS queries CASA over drone rego levy Following the introduction of $40 registration fees for certain types of remotely piloted aircraft systems (RPAS), the Australian Association for Unmanned Systems (AAUS) is seeking more details of CASA’s RPAS costs and revenue.

In its 2021–22 annual budget, the federal government announced the introduction of the annual drone registration levy for drones flown for business or on behalf of an employer.

The $40 levy applies to drones weighing more than 500 grams and registered on or after 28 July 2021. There is no levy for drones weighing 500 grams or less.

Commercial drone registration was brought in on 30 September 2020 and became mandatory on 28 January 2021.

For drones registered prior to 28 July 2021, there will remain no charge for the registration term, which is valid for 12 months.

The levy is part of CASA’s cost recovery plan for aviation regulatory services.

According to the AAUS, “… CASA forecasts expenses of $28m per annum under the unmanned aircraft levy and is projecting full recovery of $28m from industry from mid-2022. However based on current figures, CASA is only currently recovering $1.4m for 2021–22 from registration fees.”

Fugro’s Maali uncrewed surface vessel.

Fugro receives Subsea Business Award Fugro has been awarded the Craig Black Award for Innovation and Technology at Subsea Energy Australia’s 2021 Australian Subsea Business Awards.

Fugro was presented with the award for successfully completing the first entirely remote inspection project on 125 km of Woodside’s gas trunklines utilising its Blue Essence uncrewed surface vessel (USV), the Fugro Maali, earlier this year.

Deploying USV technology on the project reduced carbon emissions by 97% and sheltered personnel from the high-risk offshore environment.

“Fugro is extremely proud to receive this award, which represents the culmination of many months of hard work, dedication and collaboration from the team,” said Paul Mullins, Fugro’s Director of Remote Operations in Asia-Pacific.

Fugro’s Blue Essence USVs are operated remotely from onshore remote operations centres. The Fugro Maali is the first Blue Essence USV in service anywhere in the world.

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©stock.adobe.com/au/zephyr_p

“As a result of this information, AAUS is seeking greater transparency on CASA RPAS costs and revenue and has recently submitted a request under the Freedom of Information Act 1982 for detailed breakdown of costs and revenue that are contained within the CRIS,” the organisation says in a statement posted on its website.

“The CRIS raises a number of concerns for the RPAS Industry relating to the cost of CASA regulatory oversight and also government’s policy settings on cost recovery from industry.

“If indeed full cost recovery is being directed by government, it would appear to be inconsistent with the government’s recent National Emerging Aviation Technology (NEAT) policy statement in relation to phased cost recovery in recognition of the nascent sector.”

The AAUS has promised to “keep members and the broader Australian industry informed as details are clarified”.

Infinity expands into highresolution space cameras Canberra-based Infinity Avionics has announced that it will develop high-resolution cameras for applications such as earth observation, space-based space surveillance and spacecraft monitoring.

Igor Dimitrijevic, the company’s CEO and co-founder, said the cameras will improve Australia’s “earth observation and space domain awareness capabilities”.

“We’ve seen great success with our existing products, the SelfieCam and SelfieCam-Video, for spacecraft monitoring. These have already been used in many Australian and international space missions to monitor spacecraft deployments,” he said.

“We have a team with extensive spacecraft design experience and advanced flight-proven processor capabilities, so Infinity Avionics is well poised to design and manufacture world-leading space camera solutions in Australia.”

The first camera system, developed in partnership with HEO Robotics and the Australian National University, is set to be launched in 2022 to expand the on-orbit capabilities for HEO Robotics.

The imaging system will be used to conduct space-based inspection operations in orbits which are currently not covered by the HEO sensor network, achieving a new key milestone.

“Cameras owned and operated by HEO Robotics, like the Holmes imaging system developed in collaboration with Infinity Avionics and ANU, allows us to further expand our coverage in LEO and provide our customers with timely insights,” said HEO co-founder and CTO Dr Hiranya Jayakody.

USQ survey students benefit from new tech University of Southern Queensland (USQ) students are being given a taste of the most modern survey and mapping instruments as the institution upgrades its entire technology fleet.

Supplied and supported by Position Partners, the upgraded fleet includes total stations, GNSS and field tablets, along with 3D laser scanners, CAD office software and field software.

With more than 650 survey and spatial science students, USQ has the largest surveying degree program in Australia.

“Industry expects students to have been exposed to the equipment that they themselves use,” said Dr Glenn Campbell, Surveying and Spatial Science Program Director. “This arrangement gives us confidence that we can continue to meet that expectation.”

Position Partners designed a flexible model for the university to help minimise capital outlay and ensure students are always utilising current equipment.

The new instruments include twelve Topcon GT robotic total stations, twelve Topcon HiPer VR GNSS, 24 Topcon FC-6000 field tablets, all powered by MAGNET Office and Field software, along with two Z+F 5016 laser scanners and a range of survey accessories.

All systems are connected to Tokara, Position Partners’ remote access platform that enables support technicians to

view and control the user’s device to provide training and technical assistance.

“We are so pleased that Position Partners has been able to work with us to develop alternatives to the large capital outlays we have faced in the past,” said Dr Campbell.

“Working with Position Partners to put together this equipment package has meant we’ve been able to balance the needs we have for teaching — ease of use, intuitive and robust design; alongside the industry need for students to be skilled in current technology and its application the minute they start work,” added Chris McAlister, Professional Fellow (Surveying) at USQ. “Now that we’ve got this fleet of current equipment that’s all the same, remotely supported by Position Partners’ Tokara service, our teaching can focus on the concepts more, rather than spending time trying to get equipment to do what we need.”

Professor McAlister added that the partnership with Position Partners has allowed for more flexibility for the University to meet the needs of its students with specific technology needs.

“The relationship we now have because of this program means that if we want to explore something new — a student wanting to do research with a drone and a cutting edge sensor, or analysing new GNSS signals — exploring that opportunity is just a phone call away, and that’s a great outcome for our students all over the country,” she said.

Martin Nix, CEO of Position Partners, said engaging with the next generation of surveyors is an honour for the company.

“It has been a pleasure to work with the USQ team on a solution that gives them maximum flexibility and the ability to keep their systems current, not just at the start of the partnership, but over the longer term,” he said.

“We are excited to work with the next generation of surveyors, learning how best to support them with their evolving equipment needs.”

From left to right: Matt Thomas, Geospatial Sales Manager QLD at Position Partners; Dr Glenn Campbell, Surveying and Spatial Science Program Director at USQ; Chris McAlister, Professional Fellow (Surveying) at USQ; Greg Frankish, Australasian Regional Manager at Topcon Positioning Systems.

Buy Online Direct

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news

The winners of Survey and Spatial New Zealand’s annual awards. Courtesy S+SNZ.

Survey and Spatial New Zealand award winners Survey and Spatial New Zealand’s annual awards night in August was a resounding success, with almost 300 people gathering to celebrate professional excellence and outstanding service to the sector. The event, sponsored by GSI Partners, was a black-tie evening held at the Cordis Hotel Auckland.

Rachelle Winefield was awarded the premier award for the night, the Supreme McRae Award for Professional Excellence. The judges cited her leadership and vision, which has positively influenced the sector, economy and community.

The Supreme Award winner was selected from within the ranks of the winners of each stream’s Professional Excellence award: • Lyndon Telfer, Cadastral Award for Professional Excellence • Elaine McAlister, Spatial Award for Outstanding Service • Timothy James, Land Development & Urban Design Award for Outstanding Service • Bruce Walker, Engineering Surveying Award for Outstanding Service

aland’s and

• Rachelle Winefield, Positioning and Measurement Award for Professional Excellence • Emily Tidey, Hydrography Award for Outstanding Service.

The Bogle Young Professional of The Year Award was awarded to Emma Cook, with the judges citing her initiative, innovation and leadership, and contributions to the professional community. The two other finalists were Bailey McNutt and Adam Musa.

This year’s Percy Dyett Award was given to Jason Zhou and Rachel Charlesworth, both of whom earned the accolade for excellence in the preparation of projects for the Professional Entrance Exams, which is part of the process of qualifying to become a Licensed Cadastral Surveyor.

The State Sector award for the highest placed candidate in the Cadastral Law Exam went to Mateusz Baranski.

Finally, the Cadastral Survey of the Year Award was awarded to Wally Sanford.

Congratulations to all the award recipients.

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Image: NASA

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27/9/21 9:29 am

NZ’s new cadastral survey rules take effect New Zealand’s Cadastral Survey Rules 2021 (CSR 2021) came into effect on Monday, 30 August 2021, setting the standards on how cadastral surveyors define and describe land boundaries.

There will now be a six-month transition period to 25 February 2022, during which field work can be undertaken and CSDs certified and lodged under either the old Rules for Cadastral Survey 2010 or the CSR 2021.

After 25 February 2022, only CSDs certified in terms of the CSR 2021 will be accepted.

The Landonline website has been updated to support the capture and validation of surveys under CSR 2021 as well as to support the transition period.

Toitū Te Whenua Land Information New Zealand systems and processes have also been updated to support the new rules.

Support material for both sets of rules is available during the transition period: • Transition details as part of the Cadastral Survey Rules 2021 (CSR 2021) implementation.

• Cadastral Survey Guidelines

©stock.adobe.com/au/Zerophoto

www.euclideon.c

om

news LINZ releases Marlborough 3D mapping data The first set of high-resolution 3D mapping data for New Zealand’s Marlborough region has been released as part of the Provincial Growth Fund LiDAR elevation data capture project.

The data, which includes the Marlborough Sounds, will deliver a range of benefits for the region, including supporting coastal ecosystem management and forestry planning.

Marlborough District Council is one of ten regions partnering with Toitū Te Whenua Land Information New Zealand to obtain a baseline elevation data set.

Co-funding from the Provincial Growth Fund is supporting the regional expansion of Toitū Te Whenua’s 3D mapping programme to provide a significant increase in national coverage.

“The new LiDAR data will be a game changer for farming and forestry,” said Marlborough District Council Environmental Scientist, Matt Oliver.

“Now foresters will be able to better plan their harvests to reduce environmental risks. LiDAR can also help farmers’ understanding of erosion risks on-farm and help with farm planning.

“Council has already used the data to evaluate debris flow risk from steep catchments and help with mapping soils in Marlborough Sounds’ valleys. The data will also be used to better understand natural hazard risks such as flooding and landslides,” added Oliver.

“This is especially relevant after the recent storm event.”

Alongside data from recent high-tech marine surveys jointly undertaken

by Toitū Te Whenua and Marlborough District Council, the elevation data completes the 3D picture of the Marlborough Sounds coastal ecosystem.

“The LiDAR coverage will enable Council and landowners to better understand the topography of our region, in the same way that the undersea

TRUSTED IN THE MOST DEMANDING PLACES

Image courtesy Toitū Te Whenua Land Information New Zealand

data has helped us to manage and protect the Marlborough Sounds marine area,” said Oliver.

“Covering 40 per cent of the Marlborough region, including the entire Marlborough Sounds, this makes a significant contribution to the national LiDAR elevation dataset,” said Toitū Te Whenua’s Group Manager Topography, Ben Doherty-Jones.

“At the moment, our LiDAR data coverage across the country sits at about 20 per cent. We expect to have around 80 per cent coverage by 2024 when the PGF-LiDAR elevation data capture project is due to be completed,” he added.

The first Marlborough dataset from the project is now publicly available on the LINZ Data Service.

LiDAR data for the rest of the Marlborough region will be released as it becomes available.

High-resolution imagery and spatial accuracy with frequent captures make MetroMap ideal for the everchanging environments like Melbourne Airport. Keep your operations running smoothly and manage your future developments with MetroMap.

metromap.com.au 12 position October/November 2021

partner feature

Simplifying GIS for airports T he Melbourne Airport presents a spatial management challenge as Australia’s largest and still-growing industrial park and the nation’s second busiest airport. There’s a substantial need for data precision, volume and frequency to ensure the airport maintains operational capacity and manages the rapid development. That’s why Melbourne Airport chooses multiple spatial data services from Aerometrex.

Melbourne Airport’s GIS Manager Dustin Edge spoke about why he chose Aerometrex’s MetroMap aerial imagery subscription and aerial-captured LiDAR and the benefits that spatial data will bring over time.

METROMAP AERIAL IMAGERY FOR THE EVERCHANGING ENVIRONMENT

Melbourne Airport uses MetroMap in two ways, the first being MetroMap’s native browser-based platform and the other being the airport’s own GIS portal which pulls in MetroMap data. This flexibility to use imagery compounds the value of the MetroMap partnership because the product packages suit multiple end users’ needs.

MetroMap aerial imagery in the GIS portal replaced the airport’s legacy CAD drawings as a schematic representation of the precinct. MetroMap’s aerial imagery now provides precise geolocation, a more accurate rendition of the real imagery, and change monitoring over time with the historical imagery and frequent captures.

Within the precinct, MetroMap’s highresolution, frequently captured imagery is critical for current and future operations.

The imagery lets Melbourne Airport monitor beyond its boundaries, including surrounding roads and buildings that could affect operations.

“When we have real imagery to work with, we can see developments clearly and thus plan better and speak to our clients in

a much better manner. For us, obtaining frequent imagery is critical, whether it’s for the airfield or the business park,” says Dustin.

Airport Operations rely on MetroMap imagery’s fine detail for simplified asset monitoring over time, especially the airport’s runways.

“We do a lot of work on the runways — our aprons and taxiways are changing, and we need to show that in snapshots over time. We monitor cracks in pavements for safety and assess how much we’re patching over time, and whether we’re patching small or large sections,” adds Dustin.

The airport’s Airfield Team uses MetroMap imagery to model future activities and test viability before making significant investments. Imagery is the ideal background layer for testing any airport development.

The Business Park has significant spatial management needs, and the planned developments will see it grow. “From the Business Park’s perspective, we have a lot of operating tenants including warehouses and businesses, so we need frequent highresolution imagery. This data helps us show the landscape changing because we are constantly building. Half of it is still green fields so we have a lot of development to go,” explains Dustin.

LIDAR – KEEPING THE AIRPORT RUNNING SAFELY

The Civil Aviation Safety Authority (CASA) has stringent safety standards that airports must adhere to, for which precise spatial data is crucial validation. Dustin explained just how vital the LiDAR capture was for Melbourne Airport, and indeed any airport.

“The LiDAR capture played an integral role in a compliance reporting to CASA. If we don’t meet compliance, we run the risk of losing our aerodrome licence or being downgraded. It was that level of importance.

One of the reporting criteria is to prove

that our runway, aprons, and taxiways are effectively flat at 1% grade or less.”

The Melbourne Airport LiDAR can now give accurate data by request when required, and Dustin is expecting the resolution to provide them with all of the detail they need for compliance.

“At 16 points per metre the triangles are really small. So that gives you that level of confidence that our runway is in good condition. We can report back in much better detail from that resolution. So that was the reason I wanted the LiDAR.” Melbourne Airport is challenging to capture from both aerial and terrestrial platforms. The solution was a single nighttime capture when the airport isn’t functioning. LiDAR scanners capture as accurately at night as during the day. The entire capture was completed within a single sortie by Aerometrex, with rapidly processed data.

“From one capture and a week of processing, we’ve got all the runways, aprons and taxiways. Now I could do the slope analysis on any part of the airfield I wanted. I can just pull up a cross-section anywhere I wanted and generate that data,” explained Dustin. n Information provided by Aerometrex.

LEARN MORE www.metromap.com.au www.aerometrex.com.au www.spatialsource.com.au 13

q&a

Q&A with Daniel Zhang High-speed 3D visualisation of geospatial data is opening up new possibilities across the industry.

T

here was a time not too long ago when, due to limited computing capabilities, efficient and speedy 3D visualisation of geospatial data would have seemed like a pipedream. But modern information technology has turned that dream into a reality. Many companies and researchers across the globe are using 3D daily to solve real-world problems and boost commercial outcomes.

Australian company, Euclideon, is a local success story in this field. Founded in Brisbane in 2010, it has gone from enabling high-definition graphics for computer games to being able to provide detailed visualisation of the entire world on a laptop.

To find out more about how Euclideon sees 3D visualisation benefiting the geospatial industry, we spoke with the company’s CEO, Daniel Zhang.

POSITION: Tell us the Euclideon story.

DANIEL ZHANG: Euclideon was established

in 2010 in Brisbane after Bruce Dell invented a special searching algorithm for use in three dimensions. We then created ‘unlimited detail’ technology that can load and render an unlimited amount of 3D data

“4D will be next, where we overlay another dimension of data on top of the geo-location information.”

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instantly with an ordinary computer. The technology was initially intended for trying to solve the limitation of data size in the gaming industry. As the algorithm is based on point cloud format rather than polygons, it became more valuable in the geospatial industry where laser scans are broadly used.

planning and management purposes. And integrating the IoT sensor data, so we can help safety management, transportation management and mining.

POSITION: How does high-speed streaming work?

DZ: Because the algorithm efficiently

Sustainable Minerals Institute (SMI) at the University of Queensland, we’re continuing to improve our technology by creating a seamless Digital Earth Visualisation of the state, which is part of an initiative to provide advanced 3D decision-making tools for the resources industry. Euclideon is working alongside SMI to solve some of the big issues around data interoperability and visualisation — key components to helping achieve a more sustainable and lowerimpact minerals industry.

retrieves only one point for every screen pixel, it can display models of previously unimaginable sizes at interactive framerates without the need for a powerful graphics card. By removing the hardware bottleneck from the process of 3D visualisation, we’ve simultaneously removed any limitations on the amount of detail that a scene can contain.

Data capture can be in many formats — BIS, sonar, radar, GIS, GPS, LiDAR scanned point cloud, photogrammetry and others.

Some formats are older and not used much anymore, while some like LiDAR from drones are the latest.

We’re working on merging more BIM data into the geospatial data for better

POSITION: Can you give an example of its use?

DZ: Through partnerships like the

POSITION: How will your new Microsoft partnership change things?

DZ: We realised that industries using 3D

data visualisation were facing a very big problem. Rapid growth was creating stress points in historic data management and storage solutions, which were not designed

to handle the amounts of 3D geospatial data now being collected. We identified data availability as the main challenge, limiting the ability to visualise everything at once.

This situation created a new opportunity, so we launched udCloud powered by Microsoft Azure. It’s still in its early days, having only just launched, however early customer acceptance is very promising.

POSITION: How can point cloudstreaming change the way clients work?

DZ: The cost of LiDAR 3D imagery has

recently come down. This reduced price and the increased use of drones is attracting increasing numbers of users across many industries. The whole surveying industry is moving rapidly from 2D to 3D. It is the next phase, overlaying geospatial 3D data with other scanned data to create 4D images, where new jobs and actions are being implemented… ones that could have been too difficult or dangerous to do before.

Underground mine gas or movement sensors, when added to a 3D digital twin, can save lives, whereas previously staff may have had to go down and visually check or measure.

Another area is that of measuring change — how does today’s image of the same geography differ from the last seven days images? The dam now has more water, the fence has fallen down, the rail line is broken, the stockpile is larger. Decisions are being made at a desk using LiDAR 3D imagery and enhancement tools.

POSITION: What’s next for 3D visualisation, eg. quantum computing?

DZ: Firstly, anything reported historically

in 2D can now be in 3D, and as humans naturally see everything in 3D this means information can be visually understood much more quickly. Therefore surveyors, engineers, architects, town planners, road and rail infrastructure, the military and miners have been the first users of 3D data visualisation. For instance, our defence customers have used us to build their command centre data platform so that the commander can share the same piece of data and its view with soldiers.

4D will be next, where we overlay another dimension of data on top of the geo-location information; for example the IoT sector will be a growing user of bespoke geospatial 4D solutions.

Yes, we may leverage quantum computing and other new technologies as and when the time is right. However, what is more important is the direction, value and use of geolocation in a multidimensional future… where overlaying of data onto geospatial information will drive demand, such as IoT, sensor integration with specific types of movement and the complexities of smart cities. At this stage we haven’t seen that quantum computing can be relied upon in the near future.

Today we have several PhDs in our R&D team pushing forwards with AI and machine learning enhancements. We are also leveraging partners like Riegl and Microsoft for future co-development, and our larger clients are today investing in developing bespoke competitive 3D custom solutions. n

POSITION: Are people aware of the benefits that 3D visualisation can bring?

DZ: The geospatial industry is one of the

fastest growing sectors globally. New technological advancements are delivering interactive insights that were not possible even a decade ago. Advanced geospatial analytics has become ingrained in countless sectors.

The 4th Industrial Revolution — which includes things such as big data, AI, advanced robotics, automation etc — has geospatial at its core, as ‘location’ becomes the key.

We have been educating the market of the benefits and possibilities of digital twins and 3D visualisation. The COVID-19 pandemic has also driven increased use of digital twin technology, since traditional approaches have faced more challenges.

“We identified data availability as the main challenge, limiting the ability to visualise everything at once.” www.spatialsource.com.au 15

location services

16 position October/November 2021

Precise positioning unleashing Australian innovation Australia’s National Positioning Infrastructure Capability is a gamechanger for a raft of industries.

W

hen you’re building a robot to traverse difficult terrains and negotiate traffic there’s not a lot of room for error.

That was the challenge facing NxtGen Industries, a Sydneybased start-up that builds robots which move autonomously to monitor and maintain assets such as buildings or industrial infrastructure, in both rural and urban environments.

Managing director, Daniel Messina, has positioned his service to span the gap between the robotics and industrial sectors using precise positioning technology.

Continued next page ➤

A GNSS ground station on Lord Howe Island.

All images courtesy of Geoscience Australia except where noted.

www.spatialsource.com.au 17

location services

“Having previously worked in robotics and building services, I experienced how advanced technology had accelerated the robotic automation industry and also how the buildings and infrastructure industry operated,” said Messina.

“I identified big gaps between the two industries and saw opportunities to introduce robotic technology. Our vision is not to replace humans with robots but to augment our capabilities using advanced systems to enhance our perception and ultimately our understanding of the world we live in.”

Key to this robot revolution is breakthroughs in positioning technology.

Businesses across Australia are now able to draw on centimetre-accurate location data to guide autonomous vehicles as they inspect mines, make deliveries, travel across farms or operate in busy city environments.

NxtGen Industries’ AGV robot relies on precise positioning technology to achieve centimetre accuracy.

Image courtesy NxtGen Industries.

At the heart of this is the National Positioning Infrastructure Capability (NPIC) component of Geoscience Australia’s Positioning Australia program.

The Australian Government initiative is improving the accuracy of location data to three to five centimetres for industry users in areas of mobile or internet coverage.

This is being done by expanding, upgrading and standardising hundreds of Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS) reference stations across Australia and its territories.

Once this is completed mid-next year, there will be there will be one or more stations approximately every 300 kilometres in remote areas of Australia and 150 kilometres in regional areas, creating a truly national positioning capability for the very first time.

Geoscience Australia will also roll out new open-source software for processing GNSS data, making accurate and reliable location data available.

“Our mission is to bring the benefits of space and spatial to all Australians,” said Geoscience Australia’s National Positioning Infrastructure Branch Head, Dr Martine Woolf.

“We know making the positioning, navigation and timing data from GPS and other global navigation satellites more accurate and reliable will unlock a wealth of opportunities for Australian industry.

“From enabling surveyors to take accurate measurements for construction to supporting remotely operated vehicles to manoeuvre through farms, ports and mines, we anticipate this improved positioning infrastructure will add at least $6 billion to the Australian economy over the next 30 years.”

National network

Ryan Ruddick, Director of Geoscience Australia’s National Positioning Infrastructure Capability, says that to obtain precise positions using GNSS, you need to overcome errors caused by the complexity of the Earth’s atmosphere and the dynamic nature of orbiting satellites.

“This is typically done by connecting to data streams from fixed reference stations with precisely known positions,” said Ruddick.

“Users can connect to the raw data streams from these reference stations via techniques such as real-time kinematic positioning to get a precise location.”

Countries around the world are using 18 position October/November 2021

We anticipate this improved positioning infrastructure will add at least $6 billion to the Australian economy over the next 30 years.

Dr Martine Woolf, Geoscience Australia

A GNSS ground station on King Island, Tasmania.

Diagram of how Geoscience Australia’s GNSS technology enables a location-enabled Australia.

similar technology to enable precise positioning.

What makes Australia’s national positioning capability interesting is the fact that government and industry are working together.

“As part of the National Positioning Infrastructure Capability, Geoscience Australia is expanding our number of ground stations to 200,” said Ruddick.

“We’re also supporting the modernisation and standardisation of up to 500 third-party GNSS reference stations located in key areas of Australia.

“We’re fortunate that over the last decade Australian businesses and government agencies have already built a lot of this infrastructure. What we are doing is bringing it together for the first time to enable truly national coverage.”

“What we’re doing in terms of increasing accessibility of data is world-leading, and the reason we’re doing that is to strengthen the positioning sector within Australia and encourage innovation,” said Ruddick.

“Companies working in other parts of the world, building autonomous vehicles and robots, have had to establish their own positioning infrastructure to support their services.

“Here in Australia, we’re making our world-class positioning infrastructure

available to all. We’re hoping it will make it more enticing for companies to launch their products here, or for start-ups to be able to connect and experiment. We’re excited to see what people will do with this data.”

On the move

NxtGen’s Messina said Geoscience Australia’s positioning data had helped them reduce the overall cost of their operation.

“We configure our systems to receive the RTK correctional data received from Geoscience Australia’s network over 4G, which improves the accuracy of the inertial navigation system in estimating the vehicle’s absolute position to centimetre accuracy,” he said.

“In addition to aiding our self-driving vehicles to make safe motion decisions, precise positioning systems are important for other tasks our systems need to do such as mapping and inspection in outdoor environments.

“Relying on Geoscience Australia’s positioning data helps reduce the overall cost of our vehicles. The alternative solution to maintain the high-precision positioning would require additional sensors and processes such as setting up temporary base stations to provide RTK positioning correctional data.”

Messina said his team will continue pushing the boundaries of industrial automation.

“I believe that modern day robots are progressing towards a collaborative paradigm where people and machine work together to achieve a common goal,” he said.

“Robotic technology is simply enhancing our capabilities and our goal is to revolutionise the way vital infrastructure and assets are inspected, monitored and maintained.”

Accessing the data

“Geoscience Australia provides open access to the historic data and data streams observed from all stations that contribute to the National Positioning Infrastructure Capability,” said Ruddick.

“If you are experienced in integrating GNSS data solutions, you can connect directly to Positioning Australia’s precise positioning data service through our GNSS Data Centre (https://gnss.ga.gov.au/).

“The GNSS data is also available for access via subscription through a network of Australian-based third-party service providers. These value-added resellers combine our data streams with their own infrastructure to provide supported positioning services.” n Article supplied by Geoscience Australia www.spatialsource.com.au 19

partner feature

GNSS: Upstream, downstream, mainstream

As satellite constellations grow and downstream demand for precise positioning expands across multiple sectors and into mainstream use, ensuring the reliability and accuracy of network GNSS services is critical.

I

nitially used for military navigation when first introduced in 1973, with a full constellation of 24 operational satellites by 1993, GNSS is now becoming commonplace across an ever-expanding number of industries and applications. The advent of smart devices that collect and transmit data over the Internet without human intervention (The Internet of Things or IoT) has opened further opportunities for the use of accurate positioning infrastructure.

As a downstream service provider to industry, Position Partners offers a range of solutions and services that deliver reliable positioning at the required accuracy for any given application.

AllDayRTK is the company’s Continuously Operating Reference Station (CORS) network, providing GNSS correction services across the geospatial, construction, agriculture, and mining industries. AllDayRTK incorporates GNSS infrastructure from both government-run and privately owned reference stations, to provide subscription-based services throughout metro and regional Australia and New Zealand.

“Although our geographic reach is extensive, the focus for AllDayRTK has always been to prioritise reliability of 20 position October/November 2021

service over network coverage,” said James Millner, Position Partners GNSS Infrastructure Manager. “The network provides the highest reliability of any service provider in Australia and New Zealand, consistently achieving 99.98% uptime, so our customers have peace of mind that the network is extremely robust.”

Positioning-enabled innovations

The use of accurate GNSS services in automated machine guidance for heavy earthmoving, precision farming and mining machinery, as well as land surveying and other geospatial use, has now become mainstream in these industry sectors.

Recently, Position Partners has been involved with several projects using GNSS positioning in innovative ways.

AllDayRTK correction services were used for the first Australian trial of an autonomous shuttle bus in Darwin, January 2017. The Northern Territory Government launched the six-month trial of a driverless shuttle transporting visitors from the Waterfront district to Stokes Hill Wharf.

The fully autonomous vehicle provides zero emissions when operating, is fully air-conditioned and capable of carrying up to 12 passengers at one time, with up to

12 hours of operation per charge. Position Partners is involved in other successful trials involving autonomous shuttle buses as similar projects are rolled-out across Australia.

As robotics emerge from the science fiction genre into commercially viable solutions, Position Partners has introduced a line marking robot called Tiny Surveyor.

Used to mark out more than 50 kilometres of linework on Brisbane Airport’s new runway, Tiny Surveyor accomplished five weeks of usual manual surveying work in just five days.

In regional councils including the Shire of Esperance in Western Australia and Central Darling Shire Council in New South Wales, the robot has delivered enormous safety and efficiency benefits for the field survey crews.

“Our capital works projects are normally 5-10 kilometre sections at a time,” said Reece Wilson, Director of Shire Services for Central Darling Shire Council. “With Tiny Surveyor we can drive in the car next to the robot so we are more protected than walking on the road to mark it out.”

Another example of innovation with robotics involves the use of autonomous crop spraying for vineyards, along with microclimate and growth stage predictions,

to optimise wine grape yield. The Yield Technology Solutions (The Yield) has joined forces with Yamaha Motor Co and Treasury Wine Estates on a trial to improve harvest prediction accuracy and use robotics to maximise spray efficiency and effectiveness. Whilst not involved with this particular project, Position Partners has the capability to provide GNSS services to applications such as these involving robotics and automation.

Contribting to Positioning Australia

To facilitate the rollout of accurate, reliable, and real-time positioning data across Australia and its maritime zones, Geoscience Australia through its Positioning Australia program is delivering positioning capability through a network of ground station infrastructure and satellite technology.

Positioning Australia improves positioning accuracy to 3 to 5 centimetres from 5 to10 metres, including in areas with poor mobile phone and internet coverage.

The increased availability, accuracy and reliability will benefit a wide range of industries and services, including but not limited to farming, transport, emergency services, mining, construction, maritime and logistics.

The Positioning Australia program comprises of two complementary projects: The first is the Southern Positioning Augmentation Network (SouthPAN), which is a system of space and ground infrastructure that augments the positioning signals provided by GPS and other global navigation satellite systems to significantly improve accuracy and reliability. SouthPAN overcomes gaps in mobile and radio communications by delivering data to users via satellite.

The second is the National Positioning Infrastructure Capability (NPIC) program, which establishes a ground network of positioning infrastructure across the nation. The NPIC network infrastructure when complete will comprise 700 reference stations and partners with existing network operators to maximise coverage and avoid unnecessary duplication.

Position Partners will be a partner in the rollout by delivering 53 of the reference stations. This will include ‘future proofing’ existing infrastructure to track all satellite constellations and install new reference stations in key areas, notably South Australia with 32 new sites and 5 upgrades required in the next year.

“Our work with Geoscience Australia’s National Positioning Infrastructure Capability (NPIC) project is an opportunity to build new and upgrade existing reference stations to meet government standards, such as

Regulation 13 certificates,” Mr Millner said.

“The sites we contribute will also be futureproofed to access all available GNSS signals and be on the national datum GDA2020.”

Regulation 13 Certificates are a Verification of a Reference Standard of a Position-Measurement in Accordance with Regulation 13 of the National Measurement Regulations 1999 and the National Measurement Act 1960 issued by the Verifying Authority Geoscience Australia.

Position Partners strives to obtain Reg 13 status for all new installations to meet ICSM (Inter-government Committee Survey and Mapping) standards, which are continually monitored for quality and availability.

In addition to the NPIC project, Position Partners is also supporting Geoscience Australia with other aspects of the Positioning Australia program and its coordinated rollout. CEO of Position Partners, Martin Nix is the Co-Chair of the Federal Government’s Space Cross Sector Interest Group which assesses the risk mitigation management of space infrastructure on Australia’s critical infrastructure. He contributed to the National Positioning Infrastructure Advisory Board, established by Geoscience Australia to provide strategic guidance on the design and implementation of national positioning infrastructure.

As part of the SBAS correction service project, Position Partners worked with FrontierSI and Geoscience Australia to perform an 18-month trial on the performance of SBAS in real-world construction applications. The trial encompassed precise navigation, enhanced asset tracking, remotely piloted aircraft and proximity detection safety systems.

“Our work with Geoscience Australia is about helping to deliver the backbone of future positioning information systems in this country across industry, government and the wider community,” Mr Nix said.

Position Partners is also working with FrontierSI on a new $1.1 million 5G testbed project, part of a wider $20 million 5G Innovation Initiative that supports 19 projects from remote-controlled firefighting tanks to lifesaving pathology supply tracking via Remotely Piloted Aircraft.

Position Partners will assist in testing and showcasing 5G capabilities in real-world positioning applications including machine automation and robotics.

“Positioning information already underpins so much of our daily lives, from tracking the next share ride to supporting emergency services” said Martin Nix, Position Partners CEO. “The future applications for high accuracy positioning data are exciting and will only increase in coming years.” he added. n Information courtesy of Position Partners.

Position Partners is supporting Geoscience Australia with other aspects of the Positioning Australia program and its coordinated rollout.

www.spatialsource.com.au 21

space Artist’s impression of how the Binar-1 satellite will look once it is released into its own orbit later this year.

Courtesy Curtin University.

Australian SpaceX payload for 2022

All systems go Here’s a round-up of recent space industry news and developments from across Australia.

T

wo Australian-designed and -built CubeSats have reached the International Space Station (ISS) aboard a SpaceX Dragon cargo spacecraft.

The Binar-1 and CUAVA-1 satellites will now wait their turn for deployment from the ISS and into their own orbits later this year.

Binar-1 is Western Australia’s first homegrown spacecraft, designed and built by staff and students from Curtin University’s Space Science and Technology Centre (SSTC) under a program run in partnership with Fugro and supported by the Australian Remote Operations for Space and Earth (AROSE).

The primary objective of the mission is to test all the critical systems that will help with eventual missions to the Moon, including two cameras that will capture images of the WA coastline and relay them back to Earth.

“We will be able to control and command our missions from Perth through Fugro’s Australian Space Automation, Artificial Intelligence and Robotics Control Complex (SpAARC), which will use Binar CubeSats to test remote operation protocols on a spacecraft in orbit,” said SSTC Director and John Curtin Distinguished Professor, Phil Bland.

“The Binar Space Program has six more launches planned over the next 18 months,” he added. “Our ultimate goal is to have a WA-built spacecraft at the Moon by 2025.”

“The launch of Binar-1 is our first real step towards that goal. Being able to build 22 position October/November 2021

spacecraft affordably means that we can rapidly iterate technology, which is a key element in developing advanced systems for exploration, that then also benefit other industry sectors.”

CUAVA-1 is the lead project of the Australian Research Council Training Centre for CubeSats, Uncrewed Aerial Vehicles and their Applications (CUAVA). It will be the first spaceflight managed by Saber Astronautics through the Responsive Space Operations Centre (RSOC) in Adelaide.

The CubeSat’s four experimental payloads will give scientists and university students, insights from near-Earth orbit during its 12-month mission, in which time it will: • Investigate Earth’s plasma environment and space weather using radiation detectors • Observe Earth using novel imaging technology • Test equipment designed for use in a future satellite that will search for signs of life on planets around Alpha Centauri “This mission shows that Australian universities are at the forefront of our emerging national space industry,” said the Director of CUAVA, Professor Iver Cairns from the School of Physics at the University of Sydney.

“Our CUAVA Training Centre is leading in the development of near-Earth space technology and is a critical link in training the next generation of space engineers and scientists.”

Australian space services company, Skykraft, has announced that it will launch a 300kg satellite on SpaceX’s upcoming Transporter-5 mission, scheduled for May 2022.

The satellite will itself carry numerous small satellites that will form the early phase of the company’s planned constellation of 210 satellites.

The Skykraft constellation aims to provide space-based Air Traffic Management services, with operations due to commence in 2023.

The company is offering the opportunity for other small, hosted payloads to ride along on this and following launches.

“Skykraft is very pleased to ride with SpaceX, the most reliable and effective launch provider in the world, to deploy our Air Traffic Management constellation,” said the Executive Chair of Skykraft, AVM (retd) Mark Skidmore.

“We also congratulate the SpaceX team on their transformative approach to small satellite launch and the rapid cadence of their rideshare opportunities.”

Skykraft operates out of the innovation precinct of the UNSW Canberra City Campus on the edge of the Canberra CBD.

Launch setback at Whalers Way

There was disappointment in midSeptember as the first planned test flight of tiSPACE’s Hapith I rocket from Southern Launch’s Whalers Way Orbital Launch Complex ended in failure.

According to Southern Launch, “At 4:09 pm (ACST) on 16 September 2021, Southern Launch and TiSPACE attempted to launch the Hapith I from the Whalers Way Orbital Launch Complex.”

“During ignition, the launch vehicle suffered an internal fault causing the vehicle to catch alight. The fire was contained to the launch pad and was attended to by the South Australian Country Fire Service, who were onsite.”

Southern Launch was able to quickly determine that neither personnel, members of the public nor the environment were put at any risk.

Southern Launch had received formal approval earlier in the year from the

“This mission shows that Australian universities are at the forefront of our emerging national space industry.”

Professor Iver Cairns, Director, CUAVA

Australian Space Agency to conduct operations at Whalers Way, which is located on the tip of the Eyre Peninsula in South Australia.

The company plans to offer launches for small satellites into polar and sunsynchronous orbits, directed onto southern trajectories across the Great Australian Bight.

The Australian Government had given Taiwanese company tiSPACE formal approval for September’s sub-orbital test launch of the Hapith I, a 10-metre-tall, twostage rocket. tiSPACE is currently considering shifting manufacturing of complete rocket systems from Taiwan to Australia.

“We have devoted ourselves in the past five years in the technical developments of the most cost-effective launch capabilities,” said tiSPACE’s CEO, Yen-Sen Chen.

“But we will not stop at launch. Instead, our launch capabilities are our keys for opening the tremendous opportunities in commercial applications in space.”

“And, only through versatile launches and space applications, can tiSPACE be among the key players in the new frontier of the global commercial space market.”

IR sensing takes flight in Adelaide

SITAEL Australia has announced a partnership with the University of Adelaide’s Institute for Photonics and Advanced Sensing (IPAS), for cooperation in research into space-based infrared sensing instruments.

The two entities will work on using multi-aperture infrared sensors with intelligent processing to achieve low-cost, high-resolution thermal imagery.

“We are taking an innovative pathway to the collection of thermal imagery from space, combining the small satellite and infrared instrument knowledge of SITAEL, with the unique expertise and capabilities in sensing from IPAS,” said Executive Director and General Manager of SITAEL Australia, Mark Ramsey.

“IPAS is pleased to partner with SITAEL Australia, with this new research further increasing IPAS’ space domain instrument expertise in Adelaide,” added Associate Professor Martin O’Connor, Defence Technologies Theme Leader at IPAS. “Furthermore, we are strongly aligned

to the commercial outcomes focus of the project, connecting technological development with end-user application.”

The 18 month project aims to help develop an Australian sovereign spacebased infrared imaging capability, with applications across defence and surveillance, water monitoring, fire monitoring and agriculture.

“Innovative space-based thermal imagers will be used for wide-area, bushfire early warning and tracking.

Algorithms will interpret data in real time to help immediately pinpoint fires in areas obscured by smoke,“ said Associate Professor O’Connor.

The technology will have other applications such as checking inland and coastal water quality and monitoring industrial energy use and its effect on climate change.

The project will create new space research positions in Adelaide for both SITAEL and IPAS.

Artist’s impression of the CUAVA-1 CubeSat in Earth orbit.

Courtesy University of Sydney.

Top End ambitions

The Northern Territory Government has released its draft Territory Space Strategy for 2021–25, which aims to support the growth of the space industry, attract investment and identify potential projects.

The NT government has cited a number of projects that highlight the Territory’s capacity in the space sector, such as the Arnhem Space Centre, support for the Australian government grant of $1.25 million to develop 3D printed rocket engines and the construction of two ground stations in Alice Springs.

The ground stations are hosted by the Centre for Appropriate Technology Satellite Enterprises, Australia’s first and only Aboriginal-owned and -operated ground station service provider.

The Arnhem Space Centre is under construction and will be ready for NASA’s sounding rocket campaign in mid-2022.

“We are still in the space race, because it means more investment and more jobs for Territorians,” said Minister for Northern Australia and Trade, Nicole Manison.

“As the Arnhem Space Centre shows, the Territory is perfectly positioned to service the space industry and the jobs it will bring.

“We also know that investing in the local space industry will improve

Southern Launch and tiSPACE personnel pictured in the run-up to the September launch attempt of the Hapith I from Whalers Way. Courtesy Southern Launch.

local mobile connectivity, remote health, bushfire tracking, emergency management and agriculture.”

The NT government has ambitions for the Territory to be recognised as: • The home of high-altitude pseudosatellites in the Indo-Pacific region • Australia’s premier space launch location; and • A leading regional centre for ground station facilities.

This strategy aligns with Territory Economic Reconstruction recommendations to develop the Territory’s space industry, maximise foreign and domestic space investment, encourage job creation and diversify the economy. n www.spatialsource.com.au 23

partner feature

Autonomy in the air The WingtraOne GEN II VTOL has more range and higher imaging accuracy, making it ideal for aerial mapping.

Droneit is an early user of the WingtraOne GEN II. The company’s CEO, James Jones, says it is “30% more efficient than its predecessor”.

T

ime is money, both for the service provider and for the client. And nowhere is this more true than in aerial mapping sector. Anything that can be done to improve efficiency and reliability is a boon for both parties.

Enter Wingtra’s latest offering, the WingtraOne GEN II twin-rotor VTOL, purpose-designed for the surveying sector.

Featuring a large wing area that provides lift during forward flight, and a simple yet robust tail-based take-off/landing system, the GEN II builds on Wingtra’s short but impressive pedigree in the drone business.

Wingtra hails from Zurich, Switzerland, and the GEN II is a prime example of the legendary Swiss reputation for precision and reliability.

“It’s a very simple, easy-to-use craft,” says Quentin Visentin, National Sales Manager for Agriculture UAV at C.R. Kennedy & Company (the Australian distributor for Wingtra).

24 position October/November 2021

Capability plus efficiency

Set up is a snap, taking only about five minutes. Attach the tail, switch it on, and the drone then goes through its self-check routine, ensuring all systems are functioning prior to flight. “It’s checking all the avionics, all the servos, all the GPS systems, the whole system on the craft before it says ‘Yes, you can fly me’,” says isentin.

The GEN II is fully autonomous — once the flight path is programmed in, it will launch on command and go about collecting the data without needing any operator interaction. That’s not to say the operator can’t take control if needed — they can. Should the flight need to be curtailed for any reason, a simple command will bring the GEN II back to base for an automatic landing.

The flight efficiency provided by its powerful batteries and fixed-wing configuration gives the GEN II a mission endurance of up to 59 minutes — around

double that of many other drones. No more stopping to change batteries every 25 minutes.

A GNSS-based navigation and heading unit has boosted accuracy and vastly improved landing accuracy, which is now down to just two metres.

A selection of cameras is available, including the Sony RX1R 42MP full-frame, the oblique Sony α6100 and others such as the MicaSense Altum multispectral (five bands) camera. There’s also a built-in PPK GNSS receiver for each camera.

Swapping between RGB, oblique and multispectral cameras is easy and can be done within minutes, using the standard USB-C interface.

The Sony RX1R provides sharp and undistorted nadir images with high pixel density, resulting in a GSD of down to 0.7 cm/px and absolute horizontal accuracy down to 1 cm without the need for ground control points.

The VTOL GEN II has an endurance of up to 59 minutes, and can land within two metres of the programmed spot.

Small but powerful — the GEN II pictured after assembly in the Droneit offices.

Swapping between RGB, oblique and multispectral cameras is easy and can be done within minutes.

The wide-angle oblique Sony α6100 is mounted on a tilted axis and is optimised for mapping vertical structures, enabling the user to generate high-resolution 3D meshes. It provides horizontal absolute accuracy down to 2 cm/px and vertical absolute accuracy down to 4 cm/px.

Wingtra says the MicaSense Altum’s synchronised multispectral and thermal sensors are especially useful for water management, hot-spot detection and environmental research. Together with the high-precision PPK module, the Altum provides centimetre-level accuracy.

The GEN II also has integrated daylight sensors for radiometric calibration (for both Sony cameras) and for thermal calibration (for the Altum only).

Images and geolocation information are stored on a single SD card and can be inspected in the field on the supplied tablet (a Samsung Galaxy Tab Active 3) via the WingtraPilot software, and downloaded back at base into WingtraHub, an integrated image geotagging software suite. If you choose to use the PPK module, the processing will provide centimetre-accuracy geotags for flight images — and those images can be geotagged in any Earthcentred, Earth-fixed coordinate system such as WGS84.

With WingtraHub, “You can design and ‘fly’ missions on your computer and just load it up into the craft. You can do all your mission planning either at your office or in the field,” says Visentin.

Wind-compensation algorithms provide stable data collection in sustained winds of up to 12 m/s (43 kph) and gusts of up to 18 m/s (64 kph). “When it gets above its wind limit, it will tell you the wind up there is too strong and you may not get good enough

data, so you can bring it home and wait for the wind to drop and then resume the flight,” says Visentin.

With the earlier GEN I model, “You used to have to buy the PPK system as a kit or separately,” says Visentin. “Now when you buy the GEN II it has the PPK automatically in there, so you buy a licence to run it. So it’s all PPK ready, and that’s for all its payloads.”

The in-built ability to use the PPK with the multispectral camera means “you’ll get much better accuracy for your files when you’re doing your processing,” says Visentin.

The GEN II also has, ready for activation, the UTM system, which means it will be able to present itself to other airspace users, saying ‘I’m here’. Other operators will be able to see its position, thereby leading to greater flight safety.

The GEN II at work

One of the earliest users of the GEN II in Australia is Brisbane-headquartered Droneit, a prominent player in the drone flight training sector as well as a service provider in its own right.

James Jones, CEO of Droneit, is already singing the praises of the GEN II after only a few months of using it. For him, the drone has a number of stand-out features.

“The in-built PPK makes the GEN II 30% more efficient than its predecessor,” he says. “And the higher-speed cameras mean the drone can fly a lot faster, covering more ground in the same amount of time.”

That, coupled with the up-to-59-minute endurance, makes a huge difference.

Droneit does a lot of survey work for mines and quarries, and the GEN II’s efficiency means “we can do two or three

quarries in a day instead of just one,” says Jones.

Couple that with imaging accuracy of 2 cm, and the GEN II is a clear winner. “The quarries and miners love the 2 cm accuracy, mainly because it enables them to plan their blasting patterns more accurately, leading to less wastage in explosives and more efficiency by being able to do one blast and get it right,” says Jones.

One curious benefit provided by the GEN II is that it doesn’t seem to bother birds as much as other drones, particularly noisy multi-rotors, do. That’s good for avoiding damage to the drone from bird attacks, while also being safer for the wildlife.

One important improvement in the GEN II design is that Wingtra has removed the pitot tube. “They were concerned about dust and other foreign bodies getting in it, and therefore not getting the correct speed accuracy,” says Jones. “So now they use the avionics inside instead to calculate airspeed.”

Because the GEN II takes off like a multirotor and then transitions into a fixed wing, CASA have classed it as a powered lift vehicle. That means it requires a powered lift accreditation, so Droneit is also using the GEN II to train client’s pilots who need such accreditation.

Jones is also full of praise for Wingtra and the support the company provides.

“They answer queries very quickly,” he says. “We once got a detailed answer to a tricky problem with one hour. They gave us an entire, custom-made PDF workbook with step-by-step instructions. Not bad for a company that’s based on the other side of the world.” n Information provided by C.R. Kennedy www.spatialsource.com.au 25

hydrography

Keeping the P channels open Hydrographic surveying is a critical component of keeping operations running at Port of Newcastle.

JONATHAN NALLY

26 position October/November 2021

ort of Newcastle is the largest deepwater global gateway on Australia’s eastern coast and one of the country’s busiest ports, responsible for shifting more than 164 million tonnes of cargo worth roughly $26 billion each year. Imports include alumina, cement, fertiliser, machinery, vehicles, fuels, wind turbines, grains and steel. Exports include aluminium, coal, machinery, grain, wheat and many others.

Keeping cargo trade moving safely and efficiently in and out of the Port is vital to its operations, and this is where hydrographic surveying plays an important role, providing Port of Newcastle with the right information to make informed decisions.

The Port of Newcastle has a port-side land area of 792 hectares and numerous berths.

All images are courtesy of Port of Newcastle.

In charge of the hydrographic surveying is Hydrographic Survey Manager, Robert Kelly. We spoke with him to find out all about the Port’s survey operations.

Allan. The David Allan operates seven days per week, so making up-to-date survey information available improves the dredger’s productivity.

POSITION: Can you give us an overview of Port of Newcastle and its operations?

ROBERT KELLY: Port of Newcastle (PON)

POSITION: What sort of survey equipment do you use?

RK: Our survey platform is an 11-metre

entered into a 98-year lease with the NSW government in 2014. PON manages the 792 hectares of port-side land and the channel (including berths) and is equally owned

by The Infrastructure Fund (an Australian superannuation fund managed by Macquarie Infrastructure and Real Assets) and China Merchant Ports. The Port handles around 4,400 shipping movements each year.

POSITION: How vital are surveying operations?

RK: For safety of navigation, it is critical

for the Harbour Master and pilots to be aware of the available water depths within the channel and berths. The Port is at the mouth of the Hunter River, so there are suspended silts that deposit within the channel. This is due to the water slowing in velocity due to the deeper water in the Port channel compared to that of the upstream river system.

POSITION: How frequently do you conduct surveying operations?

RK: We have a survey schedule that is

determined by risk assessment. The historic rates of siltation in particular areas and the use of different berths determine the frequency of surveys. We would generally be on the water two to three days per week, with processing of data on the other days. Beyond the survey schedule, the survey team conducts progress surveys for Port of Newcastle’s dredger, the David

catamaran with twin 250hp motors. From this vessel, the JT Gowlland, we deploy a R2Sonic 2024 multibeam echosounder (MBE). The MBE is supported by an Applanix Oceanmaster POS MV inertial motion unit and navigation system.

POSITION: How many people are involved in the effort?

RK: We have a team of three surveyors,

all of whom are also qualified coxswains.

To conduct survey activities, we have two people on the vessel, one as the surveyor and the other as the coxswain/vessel master.

The roles will alternate over the course of the day or week. Processing of the collected data is completed in the following days to generate charts for navigation.

The survey schedule provides for a base load of survey operations and frequently triggers a dredging response if silt accumulations are identified. The dredging operation in a particular area will then (in turn) require progress surveys to ensure required depths are achieved. During a flood event an intensive survey program is mobilised to provide up-to-date survey data to the Harbour Master and the dredger.

Fortunately, we have a lot of experience with flood events within the harbour and can prioritise known areas of siltation.

POSITION: Are there any potential hazards or safety concerns?

RK: On the water it is the coxswain’s

responsibility to navigate the survey

Members of the Port’s survey team aboard the survey catamaran, JT Gowlland.

“For safety of navigation, it is critical for the Harbour Master and Pilots to be aware of the available water depths within the channel and berths.”

Robert Kelly, Hydrographic Survey Manager, PON www.spatialsource.com.au 27

hydrography vessel safely. As a city port, Port of Newcastle is shared with a reasonable number of commercial and recreational users each day, from fishing vessels to kayakers, so the coxswain must always be aware of other Port users. There is also the risk, particularly during flood events, of the vessel impacting floating debris.

Offshore there is the risk of capsize with swell events, so it is important to be aware of the weather forecasts and warnings. We have rigorous safety procedures in place, and it is factored into the way we approach all our work, particularly on the water during surveying operations.

as the shallowest point, so this becomes the governing location for safety of navigation.

The 3D model is transferred to the David Allan and the Dredge Masters are tasked with removing the excess silt that has been identified during the survey. The QPS software Qinsy interfaces with the dredge control systems and updates the on-board 3D model as dredging is conducted. In this way, the Dredge Masters can monitor progress and target remaining areas. Once the Dredge Masters are satisfied that enough material has been removed, the survey team returns to conduct a progress survey and a new chart is created.

POSITION: Once you’ve surveyed the Port, what are the next steps?

RK: During routine surveys,

POSITION: How long have you been involved surveying?

RK: Originally from Newcastle,

from the 3D model, a fair sheet chart is created — both electronic and paper — for inspection and promulgation by the Harbour Master. Essentially the Port channel is only as deep

I worked with a local surveying consultancy during university and a surveying consultancy in Dubbo before heading overseas and working in construction surveying and management in

Plan view showing the concrete scour matt and rock revetment during berth construction.

London, St Lucia, the Bahamas and Jamaica. Following my return to Australia in 2007, I was a NSW cadastral surveyor in Tweed Heads. I have been on the water at Newcastle since 2011, initially with the Newcastle Port Corporation and then moving across to Port of Newcastle during the 2014 lease transaction.

last decade have allowed the surveyor to spend less time on the processing of data and more time concentrating on how to use the data. I see this continuing as the hardware vendors automate many of the features, allowing the surveyor to gather cleaner data that is processed quicker and can be shared more easily.

POSITION: Has much changed during your time in the industry?

RK: I entered the industry

POSITION: Does Australia have enough hydrographic surveyors?

RK: Personally, I think that it is

several years after multibeam technology had been firmly established. Since 2011 I have seen many new features on multibeam echosounders, such as sector rotation, automatic gates and range settings. From the motion units, the addition of post processing has allowed surveys to be completed when GPS solutions drop out in real time, which previously meant the job would have had to be abandoned.

The technology changes that have occurred in the

encouraging that a long-term commitment is being made to the HIPP scheme. This will give industry the confidence to invest in training of staff and for the creation of domestic education programs. Whilst I always see hydrographic surveying as an attractive option to other experienced spatial professionals, I think it is beneficial that a school leaver or surveying graduate can have the opportunity to have an entire career in hydrographic surveying. n

“Essentially the Port is only as deep as the shallowest point, so this becomes the governing location for safety of navigation.”

Robert Kelly, Hydrographic Survey Manager, PON

A 3D view with bathymetry, showing dredge progress and extents of the shipping channel.

Plan view showing the siltation to be dredged within a shipping berth box.

28 position October/November 2021

uncrewed systems

Regulatory roadmap for the RPAS sector At September’s AAM Summit, Pip Spence discussed ongoing RPAS regulatory work and outlined consultations with industry.

JONATHAN NALLY

Image ©stock.adobe.com/au/bannafarsai

C

ASA CEO Pip Spence has outlined work on a regulatory roadmap to give the uncrewed aircraft sector direction and understanding of likely regulatory requirements.

“Historically, aviation regulation has been prescriptive… Today we understand the need to have outcome-based regulations and an approach that recognises that regulators don’t have all the answers,” Spence said in an address to Australia’s first Advanced Air Mobility Summit in September.

“This approach allows the aviation industry to have the flexibility to use the most appropriate systems and procedures to achieve the safety outcomes the community expects that are set out in the rules.

“The fast-growing and changing nature of the uncrewed sector means new safety and regulatory issues will emerge, demanding fresh thinking on behalf of the regulator, operators and individuals,” Spence added.

“I guess what is really being said is that how we regulate safety in the world of advanced air mobility is still evolving and will mature over time.”

CASA’s Aviation Safety Advisory Panel has set up a technical working group to codesign the roadmap with CASA. The working group is addressing nine principles that cover issues such as regulatory cost, acceptable levels of safety,

streamlining processes and supporting innovation.

The group has been asked to consider four core questions: • Where should CASA regulate?

• Where can technology be leveraged to assist in regulation?

• Where are non-technology solutions best suited?

• How does Australia’s regulatory framework compare with the rest of the world and what needs to change to support global harmonisation?

“Today we understand the need to have outcome-based regulations and an approach that recognises that regulators don’t have all the answers,” said Spence.

“This approach allows the aviation industry to have the flexibility to use the most appropriate systems and procedures to achieve the safety outcomes the community expects that are set out in the rules.

“You can choose to use a means of compliance provided by the regulator or you can find a different way to comply as long as the equivalent safety outcomes can be achieved.”

Spence added that “For the uncrewed sector, which is the embodiment of innovation, freedom to work with the safety rules and not butt up against them as a hard barrier is essential”.

Spence noted that to date, almost 2,200

organisations have gained a Remotely Piloted Aircraft Operators Certificate, ranging from sole traders to large multinational organisations.

Those organisations have nearly 30,000 drones registered, and there are around 22,000 Remote Pilot Licences on issue, with about 300 new licences issued on average each month.

“It won’t take long before that overtakes the number of traditional pilots in Australia,” she said.

With regard to ongoing work with regulations, Spence noted that “Safety is of course the number one priority, but we also have a responsibility to ensure regulations and requirements do not stop businesses and individuals reaching their potential and being rewarded for their efforts”.

“This is particularly important in fast growing and innovating sectors where the burden of unnecessary red tape can stymie new ideas and discourage investment at critical points.”

Spence also said that it is “vital that open dialogue between CASA and the uncrewed and Advanced Air Mobility sector continues as we all understand there is no end point for these discussions, but rather they are steps along a path to a future we are still defining.

“Despite the fact that we are designing a future in aviation without knowing the what the full picture looks like, there are some areas of focus for CASA and other regulators right now,” she added.

Those areas of focus include: • the design, certification and airworthiness of new aircraft • the design and implementation of future airspace arrangements • training and licensing standards for pilots/controllers • standards for ground infrastructure Spence acknowledged that “Australian Association for Unmanned Systems members have expressed concern about the time it takes for applications like this to be assessed and processed.

“This is an entirely valid concern…,” she said, adding that “it is obvious smarter solutions are needed to efficiently deliver the appropriate safety outcomes without becoming a red tape hurdle”.

“We’ve now created standard scenarios for assessment which can be applied to a wide range of situations — particularly for beyond-visual-line-of-sight applications,” she said.

“For each standard scenario there is guidance material, including information about how to assess an area, and the risk mitigations and procedures required to support the application.

“In this way we are making the whole process simpler.” n www.spatialsource.com.au 29

geospatial © iStockphoto/hxdyl

Five drivers of change in geospatial information

New technology, industry structural shift and legislative change are some of the issues facing the sector.

T

he United Nations Committee of Experts on Global Geospatial Information Management (UNGGIM) has published the third edition of its ‘Future trends in geospatial information: the five to ten year vision’.

The report highlights the increasing role that geospatial information and technology will play as part of the UN’s 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

The pandemic has accelerated many of the trends highlighted in the report, with the global response to COVID-19 reinforcing the greater need for human and physical geographies to work alongside one another in the geospatial sector.

The impact of the last year has also underlined how geospatial infrastructures have become an essential component of disease prediction, prevention and response: • analysis of spatial big data to trace people’s movements • contextualised data, digital maps and technologies to predict behaviour • visualisations that make data easily accessible • machine learning techniques that use aerial and

satellite data to assess how environmental changes may impact infectious disease transmission.

In addition, areas such as data interoperability, real-time information and connectivity have gained in momentum, reinforcing how interconnected our world is and improving the global understanding of the interactions between people and places.

“During the last year, COVID-19 accelerated the application of many of the trends in the report in ways that could not have previously been imagined — from the temporary halt in on-theground data collection which required the rapid identification and use of alternative data sources, to the need to integrate data from multiple sources whist maintaining its provenance and trust,” said David Henderson, the UK Ordnance Survey’s Chief Geospatial Officer.

“In the post-pandemic future, it is likely that a number of trends will be accelerated to an even higher status of both ‘high impact’ and ‘high predictability’ sooner than expected.”

The report aims to establish clarity as the diverse influences

30 position October/November 2021

on geospatial information management continue to grow.

Based on a high-level analysis, the report has identified the top drivers and trends that are likely to affect geospatial information management over the upcoming decade.

Recognising that disruption and change in the geospatial community are likely to occur as a result of the linking up of multiple trends, the report explores a diverse set of emerging and developing themes. These include data privacy and ethics, digital twins, artificial intelligence, data analytics and capacity building.

All countries and all sectors need geospatial information and enabling technologies for making decisions on national policy, strategic priorities and sustainable development.

However, many countries still need to bridge the geospatial digital divide.

Thus, the report is strongly aligned to the Integrated Geospatial Information Framework (IGIF) and its nine strategic pathways, helping to ensure that the IGIF integrates and takes advantage of the latest innovations and trends identified in the Future Trends report.

“The report has already

proven to be a valuable resource for many countries in highlighting the importance of geospatial information, and reflecting a wide set of emerging and developing trends that could be harnessed by all Member States to increase the use of geospatial information for societal, technological and economic welfare,” said Greg Scott, Inter-regional advisor, UN-GGIM at the United Nations.

“Recognising that continual disruption and change in the geospatial community are likely to occur as a result of the linking of multiple trends, the report explores a diverse set of emerging and developing trends.”

Five drivers of change

The report has identified five drivers for change in the geospatial sector over the coming decade, and “provides a consensus view for the professional geospatial community with the aim to forecast how these drivers are expected to evolve over the next five to ten years”.

The first driver is technological progress. The report notes that “disruption in geospatial information management is driven by automation, Artificial Intelligence, sensor technology, and the Internet of Things.

In addition, advances in technology such as highperformance cloud computing, ubiquitous high-speed connectivity, new sensor networks and sensor platforms, geospatial analytics, and autonomous smart machines have created a shift towards a more machine-centric world.

This machine-to-machine world is about location-based computing and outcomes in an essentially ‘mapless’ environment.”

“With new developments in intelligent transport systems (ITS) and the growth of Big Data and Big Data mining, there has been a significant increase in the demand for geospatial information, particularly highly detailed, (near) real-

“No one single geospatial driver is advancing change in the global geospatial information management landscape.”

Future Trends report Graphic 1.

Five drivers will advance change in the global geospatial information management landscape over the next 5 to 10 years Machine learning, deep learning, AI

HIGH

New opportunities for data gathering

Ubiquitous connectivity

Digital intrastructure

High-resolution highrevisit Earth Observation Immersive technology Real-time information and visualisation Big Data processing Digital platforms Digital twins Pace of digital change Urban environment Data cubes

Talent & consumer shift Licensing harmonisation

United Nations Committee of Experts on Global Geospatial Information Management

Impact on the global geospatial industry

Quantum computing

Incubator spaces Edge computing Intelligent mobility

Data integration & interoperability Smart cities

Linked data

Regeneration of business ecosystem Digital ethics & privacy

Multiple data sources Cybersecurity

Outdoor & indoor mapping New collaboration agreements

Crowdsourcing & VGI Digital divide & exclusion

Pressure on government institutions Diversity at work

LOW

UN-GGIM |

time data.” In addition, “developments in BIM enable urban planners to monitor the building information, facilities, infrastructure, and indoor environment to enable seamless indoor-outdoor mapping, modelling, and data handling”.

The second driver is the rise of new data sources and analytical methods. The report says that it is “anticipated that mobile data collection, crowdsourcing, and social media are likely to have the greatest impact over the coming decade.

These forms of data collection will enable accurate, (near) real-time applications that are increasingly demanded by various users of geospatial data.”

“The availability of low-cost, high-quality, high-frequency Earth observation satellite data has contributed to the everincreasing volumes of data,” it says. “Combined with Artificial Intelligence and computational capabilities, developed and developing nations will witness productivity increases in the processes of data obtaining, maintenance, and management.”

But this range of data represents “a real barrier to interoperability and solution development based on different data sources,” the report says.

“Integrating different datasets when the terms of the licences differ remains a significant challenge. Over the next decade, the industry anticipates the developments in licensing harmonisations towards a set of simple, standard and concise licences.”

The third driver comprises what the report’s authors describe as “industry structural shift”. They note that geospatial information management has “undergone significant disruptive change in terms of map generation technologies, use cases, business models and user requirements”. This means that expertise in “consolidating

LOW

HIGH

Predictability of the trend’s medium and long-term trajectory

Five prevailing drivers and an underlying set of trends

Technological advancements

Evolution of user requirements

Rise of new data sources & analytical methods

Legislative environment

Industry structural shift

17

This matrix provides an overview of the effect each of the top trends discussed in the text is likely to have on the geospatial industry.

large numbers of data sources, understanding of mapping requirements, and new toolsets developed to automate map creation will be critical for the future”.

An example given is that of intelligent transport systems, driven by the automotive and telecommunication industries.

“Developments show that GPS-assisted tracking systems may be used for car tracking, traffic control and monitoring for alternative road selection on demand. This technology can assist moving object modelling and mitigate the number or severity of car accident and fatalities,” the report says.

The fourth driver is the evolution of user requirements.

The report says that demand for near real-time data is “driven by the expectation of instant and frictionless access to information on mobile devices”.

For example, city municipalities “have emerged as a highly engaged user of geospatial information, particularly since the rise of smart city solutions and Digital

Twin technology have become available. Early examples of digital representations of city infrastructure have enabled municipalities to monitor and simulate scenarios related to climate change and flooding events while mitigating risks and increasing infrastructure resilience.”

The fifth driver is the legislative environment. The report notes that the “increasing number of connected devices and data volumes have also started to raise questions around data privacy and cybersecurity which may lead to calls for changes to the legislative or regulatory environment to be addressed in some way”.

The report cites the Cambridge Analytica and Facebook data scandal of 2018, which “led to calls for tighter data privacy regulations and data ethics frameworks,” and notes that “governments and international institutions alike have created guidelines on ethical considerations when using geospatial data

and technologies”.

Crucially, the report’s authors say that “There is evidence that the immediate reaction to disruption is often to introduce legislation to address perceived risk before the potential benefits are understood and a balanced approach to the legislation can be developed”.

Finally, the report makes it clear that there are other trends that “highlight the wider impact on society, business, and policy. Nonetheless, in terms of impact and predictability, no one single geospatial driver is advancing change in the global geospatial information management landscape”.

“It is the combination of all the trends across the five industry drivers that are shaping the transformation of the industry over the next five to ten years.” n Information courtesy of the Ordnance Survey and United Nations Committee of Experts on Global Geospatial Information Management. The report can be downloaded from https://bit. ly/3lL7UNM. www.spatialsource.com.au 31

surveying © iStockphoto/simonbradfield

Saving the Australian Height Datum As the AHD celebrates its 50th anniversary, efforts are being undertaken for its maintenance and modernisation in NSW. VOLKER JANSSEN and SIMON MCELROY

I

n an increasingly digitised world, the Australian Height Datum (AHD) celebrates its 50th anniversary this year and remains Australia’s first and only legal vertical datum. This article is the third in a trilogy helping us celebrate the AHD’s golden jubilee, with a focus on NSW. The adjustment of the Australian National Levelling Network (ANLN) in May 1971 provided, for the first time, a nationwide network of physical

32 position October/November 2021

AHD heights. For most spatial professionals, the AHD has been ubiquitous for the entire duration of their careers, being the vertical datum of choice because it was the only one.

In the first two articles (Position issues 114 and 115), we outlined the achievements and longevity of the AHD, noted its shortcomings and looked ahead to a new era of vertical datum determination, culminating in the Australian

Vertical Working Surface (AVWS) as an alternative for those who need it.

This article describes the datum maintenance and modernisation efforts undertaken by DCS Spatial Services, a business unit of the NSW Department of Customer Service (DCS), through its ongoing Saving AHD projects. As the AHD is showing its age and slowly deteriorating, these projects

aim to not only preserve but improve access to it.

Present challenges

One important issue affecting the availability of the AHD is mark destruction. Despite the best efforts in the Preservation of Survey Infrastructure (POSI), entire sections of original ANLN spirit-levelled AHD have been destroyed. Mark destruction is far higher in eastern NSW, with some level runs completely lost in city regions or along highways.

In rural and remote areas, marks often still exist but can be difficult to find due to the removal of all physical connections listed on locality sketch plans (road mile posts, telegraph lines and relocated fences or gates) and road realignments, which alter chainages or deviate far from the original road corridors.

Fortunately, many ANLN marks previously identified as destroyed or not found in SCIMS (NSW’s survey control database) are being successfully recovered in good condition, maintained and upgraded using Geoscience Australia’s free online GPS processing service, AUSPOS. On some level runs, DCS Spatial Services field crews report a recovery rate of 20% or better for lost marks. Finding marks that had reference blazes cut on trees is even more successful.

Another challenge is mark movement. How well has the mark been able to hold its initial AHD height over 50 years?

Thankfully, Australia enjoys stable tectonics, where vertical movements are generally infrequent and not substantial.

However, there are exceptions, most notably in subsidence areas caused by mining, major construction activities or reactive soils.

While AHD has been lost in regions of reactive black soil and any new value would soon be invalid following the next wet or drought season, problems also occur in less obvious regions. A recent investigation into a height anomaly of about 0.14 m at the NSW-Victoria border

revealed that issues arise with constraining ANLN junction points when new levelling observations are taken between them.

Allowing for apparent mark instability at one junction point and using the new levelling data resulted in the discrepancy to be reduced by more than 50%.

Such mark movement supports the notion that, after several years, first-order levelling surveys may deteriorate to much the same order of accuracy as third-order levelling, which becomes apparent when runs are re-levelled.

The next challenge for the AHD is technology itself. The era of GNSS technology led to the development of geoid or quasigeoid models to convert GNSS-derived ellipsoidal heights to physical heights, including the current AUSGeoid2020.

Particularly over longer distances, this has made height determination and transfer more efficient than with the traditional techniques employed in the 1970s and 1980s.

While the role of DCS Spatial Services is to maintain NSW’s survey control network, in the last 10 years it has taken on a more active role in both POSI and its effort towards saving the AHD. To this end, several projects have been undertaken.

Tide gauge monitoring

The AHD was constrained by 30 tide gauges. DCS Spatial Services has continued to monitor the stability of tide gauges via precise optical levelling, then digital levelling and recently precise EDM height traversing. Generally conducted every two to five years, these surveys monitor the stability of the tide gauge compared to a near array of stable survey marks.

Port Kembla tide gauge has been regularly monitored for more than 20 years, while Fort Denison tide gauge has been resurveyed across 600 m of water from the island in Sydney Harbour to Mrs Macquarie’s Point (and then back to the 1882 survey plug on the external wall of the former

Mark destruction is far higher in eastern NSW, with some level runs completely lost in city regions or along highways.

Department of Lands building).

More recently, Eden tide gauge has been similarly connected.

Five GNSS Continuously Operating Reference Stations (CORS) were either specifically built or adopted to augment long-term monitoring of tide gauges located along the NSW coast in order to support sealevel studies: Fort Denison, Port Botany, Newcastle East, Port Kembla and Eden. This helps answer the question, “Is the sea level rising or the land falling, or both?”

Sampling ANLN level runs with AUSPOS

The AHD is not homogenous.

While multiple ANLN level runs may meet at a junction point, each has its own characteristics. Level runs may include (positive or negative) systematic errors, one-foot blunders, and may have been subject to mark movement over the last 50 years. Transferring or linking AHD heights from different ANLN runs can lead to serious complications. Sampling can model these issues.

In a dedicated large-scale effort, AHD marks were sampled across NSW, as quickly as possible, for improvement of the national AUSGeoid model.

This was conducted in a series of Saving AHD AUSPOS survey campaigns, starting in 2015.

In the first pass, every level run was investigated and sampled, generally during a single field day with five to six GNSS receivers deployed over the length of the level run. Each mark was maintained (cleared, painted, and protected using generally three painted star pickets), photographed, observed by an overnight AUSPOS session, and SCIMS was updated with current metadata.

As part of NSW’s contribution to the development of AUSGeoid2020, DCS Spatial Services collected more than 2,500 extended GNSS datasets (at least 6 hours but generally 12–24 hours duration) for AUSPOS processing on levelled benchmarks. These GNSS datasets informed the geometric (‘sliver’) component of AUSGeoid2020, helping to provide a much better connection to AHD. Note that AUSGeoid09 was based on only 100 such control points in NSW. For many of these old benchmarks, GNSS also improved their horizontal position, which was initially obtained by scaling off a map, often resulting in positioning errors of several hundred metres. This not only improved user access, but also allowed preservation efforts to be undertaken (you can only protect a mark if you know where it is).

Observing FBMs and GBMs with AUSPOS

Meanwhile, a dedicated campaign is underway to find, maintain and collect AUSPOS datasets on Fundamental Bench Marks (FBMs) and Geodetic Bench Marks (GBMs), which were installed in the 1970s.

These high-stability marks were specifically designed to maintain height, whether it be AHD, ellipsoidal or AVWS height.

Recovering lost levelling

DCS Spatial Services has invested significant resources to recover lost levelling, including first-order levelling from the Snowy Mountains HydroElectric Authority (SMA). This included approximately 1,000 marks over 1,000 km from Cooma to Tumut and on to www.spatialsource.com.au 33

surveying Figure 1: GNSS datasets of at least 6 hours duration on levelled marks observed by DCS Spatial Services, including those contributing to AUSGeoid2020.

Courtesy DCS Spatial Services.

Legend New Stations AUSGeoid2020 Stations

0

100

200

400 Km © Department of Customer Service 2020

the Victorian border, surveyed in the days of the Snowy Mountains Hydro-Electric Scheme (construction from 1949 to 1974).

To date, nearly 15% of these marks have been recovered, maintained and observed. This is a great result, considering that SCIMS basically held no levelled heights in Kosciuszko National Park and these marks are now 70 years old.

Similarly, we continue to recover, on an ad-hoc basis, 1950s National Mapping Division levelling. This data is predominately located in remote regions, with level runs reaching out to a graticule of 1° map corners that are often located in the middle of an outback paddock.

DCS Spatial Services was also planning to recover Rural Bench Marks (RBMs), installed by the Australian Capital Territory (ACT) at the same time AHD was being observed. While about 450 of the 1,200 RBMs are in NSW, only a handful is included in SCIMS. A planned joint project with the ACT Office of the SurveyorGeneral to recover these RBMs was cancelled in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. It has now been pencilled in for the 2021–22 financial year.

High fidelity (HiFi) Saving AHD

In the Central West, DCS Spatial Services is nearing completion of its HiFi Saving AHD project. In this area, every rural ANLN mark has been searched for, then maintained and upgraded. To date, approximately 1,200 km of levelling has been audited and surveyed, while another 400 km is planned.

The number of recovered ANLN marks has exceeded expectations, with evidence that some have been used by other surveyors. While it is fortunate to recover these marks, it is disappointing that surveyors have not reported these finds, so they can be shared for everyone’s benefit. This project may be expanded to other parts of the state.

Overall, the ongoing Saving AHD campaigns have to date yielded 900 additional extended GNSS datasets on levelled benchmarks since the computation of AUSGeoid2020 (see Figure 1). While the Intergovernmental Committee on Surveying and Mapping (ICSM) currently does not plan to update AUSGeoid2020 into the future, these datasets will be very valuable for the continuing improvement of AVWS.

34 position October/November 2021

Digitising historical levelling records

In NSW, the AHD is simply a set of numbers printed on some 3,600 cardboard sheets, which are now safely stored in State Archives. These levelling cards summarise each level run and are abstracts of the original field notes, detailing the measured and adjusted height differences between benchmarks and junction points.

At some stage, these AHD values were manually typed into SCIMS (naturally including unknown typos associated with all manual data entries), and an electronic master version does not exist. Despite the efforts by academics and federal agencies over the years, the original AHD values cannot be reproduced. The value on the card is the AHD, for better or worse.

These historical levelling cards are progressively being preserved and digitised.

First, they were scanned and safely archived in a digital environment. Optical character recognition (OCR) failed to convert these files to smart digital files, so each card was then manually converted to Excel files (one per level run).

Quality assurance of this laborious manual data entry process is currently underway.

Once complete, the values in SCIMS can themselves be checked to remove any typos that have laid dormant for decades.

Building the NSW levelling adjustment

Together with the results of data-mining existing levelling files in the DCS Spatial Services archive, the digitised historical levelling data is being used to generate a single, statewide levelling adjustment for NSW. Currently, it comprises about 132,000 measurements and 98,000 stations (see Figure 2).

While still underway, the enormity of this task and its benefits to the profession should not be underestimated. Victoria has already completed a state-wide levelling adjustment, and other jurisdictions are now also starting similar projects.

It should be emphasised that there are no plans to readjust the AHD. Under the original rules, jurisdictions cannot modify the height of junction points without federal approval. The height of intermediate marks can be updated if a blunder or mark movement is detected and proven, which is part of the day-to-day maintenance.

Figure 2: Location of benchmarks included in the NSW levelling adjustment.

Courtesy DCS Spatial Services.

Legend NSW Levelling Network

0

100

200

400 Km © Department of Customer Service 2020

In NSW, the AHD is simply a set of numbers printed on some 3,600 cardboard sheets, which are now safely stored in State Archives.

Ongoing datum modernisation in NSW

DCS Spatial Services is responsible for the maintenance of the NSW survey control network. Datum modernisation and further improvement of survey infrastructure is required to accommodate the increasing accuracy and improved spatial and temporal resolution available from modern positioning technologies to an ever-broadening user base.

This has led to the establishment of CORSnet-NSW, Australia’s largest state-owned and operated GNSS CORS network. CORSnet-NSW is not only the backbone of GDA2020 across the state but also provides fundamental positioning infrastructure for a wide range of applications. Furthermore, it comprises a fundamental, high-density and long-term component of AUSPOS

infrastructure within NSW. Consequently, AUSPOS campaigns have developed into a capable and reliable alternative to traditional static GNSS baseline surveys. This has substantially accelerated the process of including additional survey marks into the GDA2020 state adjustment to improve user access to GDA2020 coordinates and uncertainties on public record through SCIMS. AUSPOS has become the primary survey technique used by DCS Spatial Services to preserve the AHD. DCS Spatial Services is currently building an updated passive survey control network (in the Eastern and Central Divisions) with a minimum of one fundamental survey mark observed by 6+ hour AUSPOS every 10 km. Its vision is to ensure that any future user is no further than 5 km (and often much less) from such a

fundamental mark providing direct connection to datum.

Similarly, levelled AHD marks are observed by 6+ hour AUSPOS every 10 km, often at far greater density. This will enable users to achieve DCS Spatial Services’ vision of a Positional Uncertainty of 20 mm in the horizontal and 50 mm in the vertical (ellipsoidal height) component anywhere in the state and easily apply transformation tools to move between current, future and various historical datums and local working surfaces.

Fifty more years ahead?

As the AHD celebrates its 50th anniversary this year, efforts continue to be undertaken for its maintenance and modernisation in NSW, not only preserving but also improving user access.

Through its Saving AHD

projects, DCS Spatial Services helps ensure that users have continued and easy access to the AHD, while also providing a solid foundation for the continuing improvement of AVWS as an alternative for those requiring higher-quality physical heights.

There can be only one legal vertical datum, and currently there is no planned push to replace AHD. DCS Spatial Services has yet to implement AVWS but continues to investigate and contribute towards it. Our ongoing Saving AHD projects ensure that users have access to their vertical datum of choice. These efforts may also help the AHD celebrate more milestones in the future. n Dr Volker Janssen and Simon McElroy work at DCS Spatial Services, a unit of the NSW Department of Customer Service. www.spatialsource.com.au 35

new products Rules engine now supports 3D 1Spatial has increased the capability of its rules engine, 1Integrate, with added support for 3D data. 1Integrate 3.0 now supports full 3D data in its data stores, rules and actions. The updated data visualiser enables users to explore data in 3D, with validation and transformation capabilities able to process 3D data just as easily as 2D and 2.5D. 1Spatial says that this enhanced capability, available via an additional licence, will enable users to more accurately manage aspects such as sunlight availability, noise propagation, building heat loss, solar panel capacity or building occupancy… typical requirements for facilities management, smart cities or infrastructure management sectors.

The new capability enables inspection and validation of 3D data (such as checking for overlapping buildings or ensuring that the walls, floor and roof of a building form a closed shell); assurance of alignment between 3D and 2D data by checking and improving positional accuracy; and automatic capture of 3D objects to perform change detection using fuzzy spatial comparison with existing data.

Imagery tool for disaster recovery Nearmap has released ImpactResponse, a new tool that it says will bolster planning, rebuilding and recovery efforts following major natural disasters by providing high-quality, city-scale aerial imagery and location data within days of such events. Released ahead of the coming peak bushfire season, ImpactResponse aims to provide aerial imagery following every major natural disaster in Australia that has a significant impact on property, infrastructure and communities. So far in 2021, Nearmap has captured more than 6,200 square kilometres of disaster-affected land, including the NSW floods, the Perth hills fires and Cyclone Seoja.

New post-disaster imagery will be available exclusively for 30 days for Nearmap ImpactResponse customers, enabling them to promptly and remotely inspect affected areas to understand the extent of damage and carry out response and recovery efforts. After this time, the content will be made more widely available to other customers with a general Nearmap subscription.

Robot and flying laser scan units Leica has announced BLK ARC and BLK2FLY, the latest additions to its BLK series. BLK ARC is an autonomous laser scanning module that integrates with robotic carriers to enable mobile laser scanning with minimal or no human intervention. The Leica BLK2FLY, an autonomous flying laser scanner, captures building exteriors, structures and environments from the air, producing 3D point clouds while flying.

BLK ARC captures both static and mobile scans during the 36 position October/November 2021

same mission, can repeat missions autonomously for up-to-date project progress and site changes, and uses LiDAR SLAM, Visual SLAM and an IMU for reality capture and autonomous navigation through complex environments. The BLK2FLY has GrandSLAM sensor fusion of LiDAR, radar, cameras and GNSS for complete scan coverage, optimised flight paths and shortest return to home.

Both units connect from the field directly to Hexagon’s cloud-based visualisation platform HxDR.

Airborne laser scanners RIEGL has announced an upgrade to its VUX-1 Series, the VUX-1LR22 and the VUX-1UAV22. Intended for airborne laser scanning using manned or unmanned platforms, the compact online waveform processing laser scanners offer a full field of view of 360° and are now available with increased laser pulse repetition rates of up to 1,500 kHz for the VUX-1LR22 and up to 1,200 kHz for the VUX-1UAV22. This results in measurement ranges of up to 1,845 m and operating flights of up to 1,050 m (3440 ft) for the VUX-1LR22, and measurement ranges of up to 1,415 m and operating flights of up to 800 m (2640 ft) for the VUX-1UAV22.

Further possibilities are offered with the ability to integrate up to four cameras. The company says the units’ high performance and engineering-grade mapping capabilities result in improved efficiency and usability.

GNSS receiver in a ruggedised enclosure Septentrio has introduced the AsteRx SB3 ready-to-use, multi-frequency GPS/GNSS receiver family. Enclosed in IP68 housings, the units are suitable for integration into machines and autonomous equipment requiring high-accuracy positioning and heading. They offer high-accuracy RTK positioning due to their ability to track a wide variety of signals from all currently operating GNSS, including not only GPS and GLONASS but also the European Galileo and Chinese BeiDou. In dual antenna mode the AsteRx SB3 family uses triple-frequency tracking to maximise robustness and availability of heading angles.

The family includes two types of receivers. The first, AsteRx SB3 Pro, is a high-performance rover receiver featuring the latest core GNSS+ algorithms for reliability and availability in challenging environments, such as near high structures or under foliage. The second, AsteRx SB3 Pro+, adds to the Pro version with base station functionality and internal logging. It also offers higher update rates and ultra-low latency. Both units are pin-topin compatible with Septentrio’s AsteRx SB ProDirect receiver and with the recently released AsteRx SBi3 GNSS/INS system.

Point cloud processing on macOS PointCab has released what it says is the first commercial software for comprehensive LIDAR point cloud processing on macOS. The

company’s Origins software for macOS works almost identically to its Windows counterpart. It can read all open laser scanning formats and its results are compatible with all prevalent CAD software, the company says, noting however that since some hardware and software providers do not supply their own macOS solutions yet, they also don’t have a SDK readily available to enable PointCab’s software to read their native formats.

So far, Origins has been tested successfully on macOS Big Sur 11, Catalina 10.15 and Mojave 10.14, and it works on any Apple computer with an Intel-based processor (x64). The company says that compatibility with the latest Apple M1 ARM-based Chip will follow with the next updates. And as with the Windows version, Origins does not require highperformance hardware components in order to run smoothly. www.spatialsource.com.au 37

sssi

News and views from the Surveying and Spatial Sciences Institute

SSSI Board – 2021 Paul Digney President Dr Lesley Arnold President-Elect & Director – WA Wayne Patterson Director – NSW Dale Atkinson Director – Qld Nicholas Brown Director – ACT Michael Grear Director – SA Neil Hewitt Director – HC Andrej Mocicka Director – Vic Inga Playle Director – Tas Dr Zaffar Sadiq Mohamed-Ghouse Company Secretary Roshni Sharma YP Observer

President’s Report

D

o you drive change and reform within your company? Do you often think about your value within the market? What is your competitive advantage? Ultimately, how can you improve the way you do business in a holistic and sustainable way while continuing to provide value to your customers?

These are common questions that owners, business leaders and/or managers ask themselves on a regular basis. The current pandemic has made us think about the way we do business. And nearly all of us have had to make some significant changes in order to survive.

Professional associations are no different. We have had to review and revitalise the way we do business. Becoming President of SSSI was an honour, and prior to taking on the role I had a clear idea of how I could provide value to the Institute.

Then the pandemic struck. Our world is a different place. Our members are in a different place. As an Institute we need to adapt and change.

Let’s not forget, professional institutes play a key role in any industry sector.

There are four broad areas where we play a pivotal role: Representation: A professional organisation represents the members of that profession and, in doing so, uses the power of their collective voice to influence and shape policy, both in the interests of the profession and in the public interest.

Standards: These include the standard of entrance to the profession, professional recognition and the ethics that guide

38 position October/November 2021

professional behaviour. In some respects, these standards define the profession by accrediting the skills required to practice in that profession and by establishing and enforcing the ethical standards by which practice is undertaken.

Education and development: Providing learning opportunities and continuing professional development to ensure the professionals maintain their knowledge and competency.

Connecting members: This is achieved through a multitude of means, including organising events and online platforms.

Shifts in the world of business are challenging the role and nature of professional associations. Typically, organisations have failed to adapt to the changing landscape when challenged by external forces coupled with internal barriers to change.

I recently came across the paper, ‘Associations Evolve: Aligning membership models to purpose’ written by Belinda Moore, a consultant who assists industry associations with strategy development and implementation. In this paper, she addresses several external forces which are impacting the way professional bodies operate. I’d like to share with you these forces (and think about how some of them are affecting your own business): Digital disruption. Technology is being developed and adopted at an increasingly rapid rate. Tools such as marketing automation enable internal operations to be streamlined, and those associations not embracing technology can be left behind.

SSSI sustaining partner

Transformations in the way people connect. The ability to connect people has long been the value proposition for most associations. Yet, people can now use technology to connect without an association in the middle. Technology has enabled people to connect rapidly and create a core group of contact instantly.

The need for a third party to provide the opportunity to network is proving redundant. So, what other ways can an association provide value?

Significant generational shifts.

Finding the balance between appealing to emerging leaders and not estranging the more experienced generation can be quite complex. How do you make your association, relevant, valued and approachable to all members at different stages of their career?

Rapid changes in cultural, work and lifestyle norms. Since the 1990s we have seen a massive shift in cultural, work and lifestyle norms, with COVID-19 even further disrupting the expected norms. Trends such as the casualisation of the workforce, the emergence of online marketplaces, greater acceptance of diversity in all forms, and the implementation for flexible work arrangements have transformed how we live and work. Associations must be mindful of these changes when considering member offerings.

Shift to communities and tribes.

Our member community is our largest asset. Emotionally engaged members are less likely to engage with competitors and more likely to consider themselves an ‘active’ part of the association. If a member feels neglected, they may choose to leave the association or create or find their own tribe that they resonate more strongly with.

Transformations in the way we communicate. How many ways can you be reached? We are constantly receiving messages via phones, email, social media channels, just to name a few channels. It is increasingly challenging to compete for the time and attention of members. It is no longer enough to have a compelling offer. Associations also need an equally compelling communications strategy. Great communications can grow enthusiasm, deepen bonds, and inspire action.

Competitors eroding the traditional value proposition of associations.

Where associations have failed to benefit from an opportunity, a competitor has emerged. Sometimes these have been direct.

More often they are indirect — competing

with a single product line (eg. an event or publication). Competitors come in many forms. They can be other associations, informal Facebook groups, for-profit entities and even government agencies.

Rather than from a single direct attack, the decline in the value proposition for many associations has been slow.

Internal forces can also mitigate growth and development of member associations.

Many professional associations have outdated policies and governance, cultural norms, traditions, and bureaucracy built over many years. In many cases these are entrenched and there is strong resistance to change. Again, you may have worked (or may even be working) for a company which exhibits similar traits. Often, it can feel easier to maintain the status quo and avoid the pain of change.

Let’s be clear. Change is scary. Change is uncomfortable. Change is inconvenient for many. But, let’s not forget, change is necessary.

Thinking back over your career, have you ever thought, ‘Wow, this company could be really great, if only it changed one thing’.

Okay, in most cases, it is probably more than just one thing! Change is only possible when those in leadership roles comprehend the need for change, and are committed to the level of change required, and are able to champion and lead change from within.

So, where to from here?

Using SSSI as an example, where are we heading? How do we stay relevant in this current landscape? What change is imminent? As I head in to my second year of being President, I will champion ongoing change with a focus on redefining and strengthening our purpose. We also need to identify the various pathways we can follow to fulfil that purpose.

Once purpose is understood you can identify the various pathways you can follow to fulfil that purpose. There will be a lot. More than you can possibly undertake.

Success is rarely achieved following all available pathways. Instead, it is important to review all the possible options and select those where you can realistically make the most impact.

A sense of purpose is deeply connected to branding and positioning strategy. Think about it, if your company was person, would it be a friendly, ambitious person seeking to make a positive difference in the world? Or would it be anti-social and out of touch?

Yes, change is scary, uncomfortable and inconvenient, but to me, having no purpose or clear pathways for growth is even more frightening. Embrace change and see where it takes you.

Paul Digney President

Commission Chairs Engineering & Mining Surveying Chair Andrew Edwards chair.emsc@sssi.org.au Hydrography Commission Chair Neil Hewitt chair.hc@sssi.org.au Land Surveying Commission Chair Lee Hellen chair.lsc@sssi.org.au Remote Sensing & Photogrammetry Commission Chair Dr Petra Helmholz chair.rspc@sssi.org.au Spatial Information & Cartography Commission Chair

Robert Campbell chair.sicc@sssi.org.au

Regional Committee Chairs ACT Regional Chair Noel Ward chair.act@sssi.org.au NSW Regional Chair Mary-Ellen Feeney chair.nsw@sssi.org.au NT Regional Chair Rob Sarib chair.nt@sssi.org.au QLD Regional Chair Noel Davidson chair.qld@sssi.org.au SA Regional Chair Graham Walker chair.sa@sssi.org.au TAS Regional Chair

Inga Playle chair.tas@sssi.org.au VIC Regional Chair Andrej Mocicka chair.vic@sssi.org.au WA Regional Chair Darren Mottolini chair.wa@sssi.org.au SSSI National Office 27-29 Napier Cl, Deakin, ACT 2600 (PO Box 307) Phone: +61 2 6282 2282 Email: info@sssi.org.au

www.spatialsource.com.au 39

sssi © iStockphoto/Elena Nelyubina

Championing the interests of our profession Have your say in the future of the industry through SSSI’s Special Interest Groups.

W

hether it be representing a specific group, issue or topic, SSSI welcomes the opportunity to lead the conversation. Over the past few years, SSSI has formed Special Interest Groups comprising representatives from government, industry, academia and the not-for-profit sector, who work together to achieve better outcomes and opportunities for our profession.

Young Professionals Special Interest Group

Our Young Professionals (YPs) have been a dominant force in providing students and young members the knowledge and skills required to transition into the workforce and help build the foundations for a successful career. Our YPs realise the importance of building technical capability but also of nurturing soft skills, such as communication, problem solving etc.

The contributions the YPs have made to SSSI have been many, but one of its greatest successes is the SSSI National YP Mentoring Program. Now in its third year, it has grown from strength to strength. This year, over 105 mentors are participating with 160 mentees from all over the world.

SSSI realises that for it to effectively grow and maintain relevance within the industry, our YPs must have a strong voice and be well represented within all our various Commissions, Committees and also the National Board. More importantly we need to listen and act on their advice.

It is the YPs who are taking leadership in our next challenge — how do we make 40 position October/November 2021

surveying, spatial and space an attractive career option?

Building capability within industry is important, but building capacity and skills is essential. How do we attract students or those considering a career change to our profession? This is a question currently being asked of SSSI’s Careers Committee, chaired by SSSI YP National Chair, Roshni Sharma. The brief is simple: seek out creative ways of promoting a career in surveying, space and spatial that have not been tried before. Finding the best approach is complex. Challenge accepted.

Spatial Digital Twins Special Interest Group

The formation of SSSI’s Spatial Digital Twin Special Interest Group, Chaired by National Board Member, Wayne Patterson, has caused much interest within the profession.

This Group is proving to be the ideal vehicle to educate, leverage and develop capabilities for professionals in this emerging field and to provide highly relevant learning and development opportunities for members.

Six working groups have been established to champion activities: • Events — Identify digital twin-specific or -related content, topics and speakers.

• Advocacy and Communications — Scope ideas and prepare content for communications.

• Partnerships — Nurture and develop partnerships with stakeholders and other industry sectors. (Chair: Adam Beck) • Education and Training — Identify gaps that exist in digital twin education

and training and identify what is required to fill these gaps.

• Standards — Work with standards bodies to create a National Standard for digital twins. (Chair: Sisi Zlatanova) • Capacity — Identify technology and data available to effectively produce and maintain spatial digital twins, and monitor programs and developments in ustralia and overseas.

(Chair: Marie Truelove) SSSI looks forward to being part of and championing the digital transformation conversation.

Disaster Management and Recovery Special Interest Group

The catastrophic bushfires of spring and summer 2019–20 highlighted the important role the surveying and spatial profession can play in disaster response and recovery.

This might be via immediate efforts such as mapping fires and modelling fire trajectory scenarios, or surveyors re-marking lost boundaries at the recovery stage.

There is a wealth of volunteer capability available, but how do we marshal these forces when required? The success of SSSI’s National Bushfire Recovery Mapa-thon — which demonstrated how the geospatial community, private industry and government could work together to gather meaningful data to assist with recovery efforts — made it clear that more can be achieved by our volunteer base if a coordinated approach is adopted.

From this, the Disaster Management & Recovery Special Interest Group, chaired

by SSSI President elect, Dr Lesley Arnold, was established to coordinate volunteer surveying and spatial science activities that support disaster preparedness, response and recovery efforts.

So far, this Group has organised two Map-a-thons, participated in the Maxar Spatial Challenge, won the Association’s Forum 2020 Achievement Award for the SSSI FireWater Map-a-thon, plus presented at numerous webinars. Its current focus is on the development of a volunteer strategy and establishing a framework that will stimulate and coordinate volunteer efforts during future disasters. Our profession is filled with those wanting to make a difference. SSSI has the capability, through this special interest group, of making this possible.

Everyone within the surveying, spatial and space community is invited to participate in SSSI’s various Special Interest Groups. Enthusiasm, diversity and new ideas are always welcome! If you would like further information or if you would like to keep updated on SSSI’s upcoming events and activities, contact info@sssi.org.au. n

SSSI sustaining partner

SEMUT

The untold story of a secret Australian operation in WWII Borneo

By Christine Helliwell Penguin, 560pp Reviewed by Peter Byrne, Hon Fellow, SSSI, and Gordon Andreassend, FNZIS

S

emut is the first of two volumes describing a remarkable behind-thelines commando operation in Borneo in 1945. WWII books abound, so why would a review of this one be included in a publication like Position? Read on.

Eight Australian, New Zealand and British commandos parachuted into the highlands of Sarawak in March 1945. They didn’t know what awaited them. Japanese soldiers? Unwelcoming locals? (Generically known as Dayaks, the locals’ headhunting reputation was renowned.) Another eight commandos followed in April, not knowing if the first group had survived. The mission was to gain Dayak support in ‘encouraging’ Japanese invaders downriver from hinterland to coast. This was operation Semut. Semut is ‘ant’ in the Malaysian language.

Two of the small band were surveyors — and J.K. (Keith) Barrie of Australia in the first insertion and Gordon S. (Toby) Carter of New Zealand in the second.

Christine Helliwell is an anthropologist who has spent considerable time with the people of Borneo. She heard stories from locals who were alive in 1945 and became captured by the Semut story. From official records, interviews, diaries and memoirs, and meeting with the few survivors in Australia, she has pieced together the operation.

Her book is more than a history of what was done by whom. She has brought to the reader the soldiers’ challenges, terrors and privations. The terrain and vegetation were a constant challenge. Radio communications were sporadic. Sleep, such as they had, was in ready-for-armed-action should they encounter the Japanese, whose location, at the start, was unknown. There were periods of such food scarcity that starvation threatened.

That such a small, lightly equipped and armed band could gain the support of the Dayaks is astounding, and speaks volumes for their diplomacy and tenacity. That observation may seem incompatible with a particular inducement for Dayak support — the informal abandonment of the law prohibiting the taking of heads, a practice enthusiastically taken up again. Though

explained by Helliwell as having spiritual significance to the Dayaks, and less barbaric than it may seem to an outsider, the practice of taking heads added another layer of horror for the soldiers. Frustration and fear of losing support through non-arrival of expected reinforcements and equipment was ongoing.

Semut is, above all, a human story.

Helliwell’s research has revealed the personalities of soldiers who came from civilian occupations as diverse as a tailor and an academic. These were ordinary people doing the extraordinary in an alien environment. The soldiers and their Dayak counterparts developed admiration and fondness for each other. Helliwell puts great emphasis of the hundreds of unnamed Dayak fighters who willingly assisted the commandos in removing an oppressive enemy from their land.

The commandos and irregulars trekked and canoed some 700 kilometres, pushing the Japanese forces to the coast. After many skirmishes and close-calls — and the release of prisoners from a Japanese gaol — the soldiers took on administrative roles to keep order until the British administration was reinstated.

Keith Barrie spent much of his surveying cadetship in the subtropical Hastings and Manning river basins of NSW. After qualification he spent two years in New Guinea before joining the AIF in 1941. He transferred to the Z Special Unit in 1945 to be part of the first Semut insertion. He was awarded the Military Medal for his part in the operation.

Toby Carter trained in Auckland, qualifying as a Registered Surveyor (NZIS) in late 1933. In 1935 he joined Shell International Oil in Sarawak. He worked in Borneo for five years and was promoted to Chief Surveyor in 1940. In 1943 he enlisted in the Australian Engineers with the rank of captain and served in New Guinea. He was sought out for Semut because of his familiarity with Borneo and its people. His parachute descent into Borneo was his first jump! As a major, he commanded Semut until it was split into three groups, one of which he led.

Carter comes across in Semut as an effective leader and a person of sensitivity and principle. In the final stages of the operation he took vigorous issue with his superiors for denying requested reinforcements, and their strategy for extracting the remaining Japanese, fearing the retribution the local people would suffer. For his impudence he was sacked!

Helliwell touches on the untidy politics of war, and the subtleties of class and colonial attitudes toward ‘natives’. Carter’s considerable contribution was nonetheless recognised with the awarding of the DSO. Carter returned to Sarawak in 1946 to his former post with Shell. He later transferred to an administrative position.

In 1963 Shell sent him to New Guinea to join the UN team assisting in the handover to Indonesia. He returned to Wellington in 1965, and after working for an Engineering firm, joined the Wellington Harbour Board until retiring in 1976.

After ten post-war years with the Malay Survey Service, Keith Barrie qualified PhE from ITC, The Netherlands, and returned to Australia to co-found Australian Aerial Mapping in 1958. (His old firm continues as The AAM Group). He was President of the Institution of Surveyors Australia in 1976–77 and received the Institution Medal in 1994.

The Overall Excellence Award of APSEA (industry category) carries his name.

Reading Semut can only bring pride to the surveyors of Australia and New Zealand. Apart from being an extensively researched work (450 pages of text, 100 pages of maps, endnotes and bibliography) it is also a ripping, atmospheric and emotive story that both reviewers had difficulty in putting down. n www.spatialsource.com.au 41

sssi

In Conversation with

A

llison Kealy is a Professor in Geospatial Science at RMIT University and Research Capability Coordinator with the SmartSat CRC. In 2021 she was deservingly made the recipient of the ASPSEA Professional Eminence Award, which is bestowed

by SSSI on an individual who has made a significant national or international contribution to the spatial sciences, and/ or is materially advancing the practice and profession of the spatial sciences.

SSSI’s CEO, Tony Wheeler, spoke with Kealy to get her take on challenges facing the sector.

TW: A big challenge is the supply of skilled professionals. What are some solutions?

AK: The traditional idea of universities

generating curricula urgently needs updating in order to meet the skills demands of such a rapidly evolving field as spatial. We need to unify academia and industry to develop and share expertise.

Because the spatial sector is so diverse and so dynamic, we need education models that blend research, learning and industry practice. To teach industry practice also means that we need to bring the industry leaders and innovators into the classrooms, so that our students can see where they can create impact.

When we think about spatial, we need to be thinking about so many different facets.

Spatial means technologies and applications fuelled by spatial data, but it also means spatial sensors and platforms, as well as the analytics and security to allow us to trust the data we are receiving. You can’t fit all that into one three-year degree, and we shouldn’t try to.

Instead, we need to foster a culture of lifelong learning and micro-credentials.

We need industry to realise the need for professional development, and we need to ensure that universities are developing and teaching the cutting edge of spatial, in partnership with industry. We need to be 42 position October/November 2021

Allison Kealy mentoring students and young professionals quickly and providing internships to get the right people in the right position as quickly and efficiently as possible.

Lastly, we have to recognise that as our field is expanding so quickly, we need to increase the awareness of spatial technologies. University is already too late — high school, and even primary school, children are using technologies powered by spatial. We need to build awareness at the school level, so that children are excited to develop the technologies that are already a part of their world.

TW: Which emerging space technologies offer the best opportunities for Australia?

AK: Australia has a long history in space

technologies and research developments, and with the establishment of key organisations — the Australian Space Agency, the SmartSat CRC, and the Space Industry Association — we are now well placed to contribute to the international space landscape. Australia can make major contributions in the fields of advanced manufacturing, intelligence and data analytics, cybersecurity, artificial intelligence, positioning, navigation and timing and advanced sensors including quantum sensors. Our strengths are in those areas that contribute to greater resilience and autonomy in space, especially as space platforms evolve from lone satellites to low-cost, intelligent constellations.

TW: Which developments in geospatial science will be key to solving the climate change challenge?

AK: The key to managing and hopefully

solving climate change is relevant, trusted, accurate and timely data. If we don’t know what is happening on the ground, we’ll never fix it! We need to develop our technologies around collecting, processing, analysing and visualising spatial data.

This means multi-scale approaches to

pinpoint climate effects from the causes that started them.

We’re also going to see a change in the nature of the data we are receiving. Big data from Earth observation systems is being combined with in situ sensors and new distributed sensing architectures, including the IoT. What we need is the fusion of sensors, and sensors with on-board processing analytics so that the data that is collected can be converted into intelligence, and then to knowledge.

Most importantly, we must always remember that geospatial science is about our place in the world, so understanding human behaviour and helping humans make better decisions is vital. If we want to solve climate change, then we have to understand which consequences we are prepared to accept, and geospatial science is the way we make those consequences clear.

For me, the three most important factors are still people, people and people!

TW: In your SmartSat CRC role, which research into new sensors and intelligence might we see becoming a reality by 2027 (conclusion of SmartSat CRC)?

AK: The big development in sensors and

intelligence is ‘small, smart and many’.

We’re seeing the combination of sensors to develop greater data at lower cost than was possible before. I’m excited by quantum sensors and artificial intelligence and expect we will see advanced deployments of these by 2027. We’re seeing optical communications to increase the data shared between and from sensors, and hand in glove with this will be new cyber security techniques to maintain trust and resilience in the data we are provided with.

Our research investments will also be making a positive impact on bushfire monitoring and mitigation, water quality, safer communities driven by greater access to data, space situational awareness to enable satellites to work together, and defence and national security. n

24 – 26 May 2022 National Convention Centre, Canberra ACT Location in Action: Positioning the nation for a brighter future

Join us in Canberra and be at the forefront of the surveying and spatial field in Australia.

Locate22 is a great opportunity for surveying and spatial professionals to come together to learn about advances in our industry and contemporary practices. This conference is a valuable forum to meet and connect with your peers, grow new ideas and shape exciting developments in the surveying and spatial sectors. Experts and leaders will share their visions for the future and the opportunities and challenges presented by new technology.

Whether you are just starting out in the profession or have decades of experience, Locate22 is the surveying and spatial event of the year.

Register your interest via www.locateconference.com to be kept up to date about the conference linkedin.com/company/locate-conference

twitter.com/LocateConf

facebook.com/LocateConference/

www.mapgear.com.au