Queensland Spatial & Surveying Association January 2016 Newsletter

Dear QSSA Members, I hope that everyone had a great Christmas and new year. I would like to take the opportunity to thank you for your support of the QSSA to date and provide you with some information on what we have achieved as well as more on the direction of the QSSA over the next 18 months. To date the QSSA has produced some fantastic events ranging from small industry specific seminars to large, broad range events aimed to promote the spatial industry, such as STEMx (all presentations for STEMx can be viewed at www.stemx.events). The aim for all events has been to keep the cost of professional development low. Members already pay for annual membership of the QSSA, we therefore do not see the need to try and profit further from members when it comes to events. With this in mind, the QSSA will be running a number of workshops across Queensland, all at the same cost of just $99 for members. The list of events scheduled for 2017 may be seen below and on our website. There will be a few other events to add to this list and we are certainly open to any ideas our members may have. In addition to low cost and high quality events, the QSSA will be releasing a regular podcast aimed at providing additional professional development or simply to refresh those things stored way back long ago. Our first podcast will be ‘GPS PAST PRESENT AND FUTURE’ with Gary Cislowski from DNRM. I encourage members to email me directly on ceo@qssa.com.au with any suggestions for podcasts or presentations you wish to see / hear, or even if you wish to personally present on some of the work you have been recently involved with. I am also pleased to announce that the annual membership fee will remain at $300 + gst. As an added advantage, new members can join now for $300 + gst and membership will be valid until the 30th June 2018. The QSSA has now introduced the ability to pay quarterly should you wish, if you would like to choose this option simply register as normal through the QSSA website www.qssa.com.au/membership and follow the prompts during the registration process. On the 20th October 2016 the QSSA held its first AGM with a new Board of Directors voted in. The new Board consists of;

President: Chris McAlister, Business Development Manager, CRCSI

Treasurer: Les Searle, Director, True 3D

Secretary: Darrenn Medhurst, CEO, QSSA

Director: Alasdair Begley, Director, Saunders Havill Group

Director: David Copley, Director, NorthGroup Consulting

Director: Patrick O’Connor, Australia-Pacific Regional Sales Director, Carlson Software

Director: Tyronne Curtis, Director, Activate Entertainment

Director: Richard Statham, Principal Surveyor, DNRM

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Queensland Spatial & Surveying Association January 2016 Newsletter

As I am sure you are aware, the QSSA is geared to be ‘lean and mean’ and the new QSSA Board is eager to provide an unparalleled return on investment to members. We are a not for profit organisation who listens to members and implements our member’s ideas in a very short time frame. 2017 certainly saw the QSSA punch well above its weight and this is how we wish to continue. We are working on some very interesting partnerships and further developing the national and international partnerships we created in 2017. I have included a report on the successful STEMx event we held in 2016 and I am pleased to announce that we will be running the event again in 2016 with some slight modifications. Modifications include a redesigned exhibition space and the incorporation of the arts. The name STEMx will be changed to STEAMx to incorporate the additional arts content. STEAMx will highlight the significant benefit that the spatial industry has played and continues to play in every industry in Australia. As a further service to members the QSSA will be releasing establishing a new video library. This will provide members with free of charge access the back catalogue of event video presentations. Seminars include;

The Technical Surveying Seminar 10/6/2015

The Technical Surveying Seminar 27/8/2015

STEADx 09/11/2015

GNSS Control Surveys Workshop 11/5/2016

STEMx 03/11/2016

I am excited by the future of the QSSA and the spatial industry throughout Australia. We know that Australia has the best spatial professionals in the world and that 90% of those are Queenslanders! The QSSA Board and I look forward to serving your needs into the future. Kind regards, Darrenn Darrenn Medhurst CEO Queensland Spatial & Surveying Association 0408 003 194 ceo@qssa.com.au

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Queensland Spatial & Surveying Association January 2016 Newsletter

2017 QSSA Events Spatial and Surveying Seminars; Brisbane: Wednesday 1st March Cairns: Wednesday 19th April Rockhampton: Wednesday 7th June Brisbane: Thursday 27th July Gold Coast: Thursday 7th September STEAMx; Brisbane: Tuesday 10th October GNSS Workshop; Gold Coast: Saturday 19th / Sunday 20th August Further details to follow. Dates subject to change.

Partner Events in Queensland World Science Festival, Brisbane 22-26 March 2017 www.worldsciencefestival.com.au Myriad, Brisbane 29-30 March 2017 www.myriad.live

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Queensland Spatial & Surveying Association January 2016 Newsletter

STEMx Post Event Report

STEMx was established to highlight the importance of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) in our everyday life and how important STEM is in innovation. An important and key reason for hosting STEMx was to highlight the role that the spatial industry plays in every businesses operating today.

The predecessor of STEMx was STEADx (the Spatial, Technology, Engineering, Architecture and Design) Conference. This event attracted over 250 attendees and was run 2015. The feedback from STEADx was very positive and encouraged the Queensland Spatial & Surveying Association (QSSA) to run the STEMx in 2016.

While planning STEADx for 2016 it became apparent that there were a lot of commonalities with the Queensland Government’s policy and aims regarding the ‘Schools for the future’ program and the ‘Advancing Education Plan’, encouraging students into STEM.

As well as the potential for students to benefit from STEADx it was identified that STEM is used every minute of every day by professionals in the spatial and innovation sectors and that people of all ages could benefit from an understanding just how important STEM and the spatial industry is for business and everyday life. The name STEADx thus evolved to become STEMx.

The QSSA approached the Committee on Earth Observation Satellites ( CEOS www.ceos.org ) with regards to a possible collaboration. For some perspective; CEOS was established in September, 1984 in response to a recommendation from a Panel of Experts on Remote Sensing from Space and set up under the aegis of the G7 Economic Summit of Industrial Nations Working Group on Growth, Technology, and Employment. This Panel recognised the multidisciplinary nature of space-based Earth observations and the value of coordinating international Earth observation efforts to benefit society.

The Presidency of CEOS in 2016 was held by the CSIRO who were hosting 100 international CEOS representatives in Brisbane (all spatial professionals) on the 1st and 2nd November 2016. A positive partnership was established with CEOS who agreed to invite CEOS representatives to speak at STEMx. As a result of the collaboration with CEOS the date of the 3rd November was chosen (although not a perfect date for schools and universities, it was the only possible date available if speakers were to be leveraged).

STEMx received 577 registrations and feedback was very positive with an 8/10 satisfaction score. There are of course areas for improvement and in this case the exhibition requires a more open format. Feedback also highlighted the dilemma faced when organising a free event; no shows and those who only stay for a short while. The positive feedback was vast, and many attendees were amazed that there were so many incredible speakers of which an audience of all ages and background could experience free of charge. The speaker feedback has also been fantastic with a number of keynote speakers thanking the QSSA for expert technical production and Kevin Ashton telling the post event dinner audience that this is one of the best events he has spoken at.

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Queensland Spatial & Surveying Association January 2016 Newsletter

The QSSA is very encouraged from the feedback of STEMx and will host the event again in 2017. Based on feedback received, the QSSA believes it would be advantageous to incorporate the arts into STEMx and has registered the domain www.steamx.events. Incorporating the arts and into a STEAMx program will bring another dimension to the event and increase community understanding of just how far reaching the spatial industry is. All STEMx presentation were recorded and can be viewed at the website www.stemx.events

Dr Stephen Briggs, ESA / Kim Holloway, CEOS / Dr Michael Freilich, NASA at STEMx

The QSSA would like to thank the supporters of STEMx :

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Queensland Spatial & Surveying Association January 2016 Newsletter

RECENT NEWS

Congratulations to Geoscience Australia, the CSIRO & the NCI:

The Australian Geoscience Data Cube which was recently presented at STEMx has won the 2016 Content Platform of the Year category at the Geospatial World Leadership Awards. These awards recognise significant contributions made by champions of change within the global geospatial industry, and were presented this week during the gala evening of the 2017 Geospatial World Forum in Hyderabad, India. Developed by Geoscience Australia in partnership with the CSIRO and the National Computational Infrastructure (NCI) at the Australian National University, the Data Cube is a world-leading data analysis system for satellite and other Earth observation data. Chief of Geoscience Australia's Environmental Geoscience Division, Dr Stuart Minchin said the award recognises how the Data Cube is helping Australia and other countries to capitalise on the billions of dollars invested in launching and operating Earth observation satellites. Click here for more….. SIBA appoints new CEO:

The Board of the Spatial Industries Business Association (SIBA) recently announced the appointment of Ms Deanna Hutchinson to the role of Chief Executive Officer. Ms. Hutchinson has a background in emerging technology and including several years in the public sector followed by a decade in private enterprise where she led software development and consulting services to resources, health, defence and manufacturing clients. She holds tertiary qualifications in Business and has worked extensively with industry associations supporting technology-driven change. Click here for more Reminder:

The draft of the 2026Agenda Action Plan has been released for public comment and will close for public comment on the 31st January. If you would like to know more or make any comment please email info@2026agenda.com or visit https://.2026agenda.useresponse.com

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Queensland Spatial & Surveying Association January 2016 Newsletter

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