News in 2013
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FIG Commission 1 Workshop held on 11th September 2013 In
Melbourne Australia
Melbourne, Australia 11 September 2013
On the 11 September 2013 an International Federation of
Surveyors (FIG) workshop was held in Melbourne organised by the Chair and
Vice Chair of Commission 1, Leonie Newnham and Robyn McCutcheon.
It was held as a pre-summit workshop for the annual Victorian Spatial
Summit. The workshop reviewed the definition of a Surveyor as defined by FIG
in 1991. This definition is broad and includes all forms of spatial
professionals under its umbrella.
Attendees included the FIG President
Cheehai Teo, the Commission 1
Chair Elect Brian Coutts and well-known representatives from the
surveying and spatial industry. We also had a few people giving a community
perspective. This included a futurist who helped focus on the views of
external users of industry services.
In addition to the ‘physical’ attendees the workshop included a group
‘skype’ session. This allowed overseas participants including Winnie Chu,
a Land Surveyor and Commission 1 Vice Chair from Hong Kong. It gave
excellent audio for recording and listening to those online. We were a
little nervous about how this would work but it was very successful.
Commission 1 is also working on expanding use of new technology and social
media to support professional practice.
The findings were that the content is right but is missing some elements and
the wording of the definition needs updating. The group thought that the
definition’s focus was for use by an international body. Interestingly, a
number of examples were given by workshop members where they had used the
definition to support their work at a local and regional level. It does
creates a framework within which surveyors can work and define our
expertise. The role of a surveyor has changed significantly since the
previous definition was created and also international diversity makes it
difficult for a whole of profession / industry definition to work for
everyone without local additions .
The discussion had five key topics:
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New technology/Future scan,
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Young Professionals view on working and fitting into
the spatial industry,
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The future of surveying as a regulated profession,
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Education and professional development,
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Underrepresented groups, indigenous groups and those
in remote areas.
People nominated as champions for each topic and will
prepare a summary of findings for the workshop report. A redraft of the
current definition will be attached to stimulate discussion across the FIG
world wide community. Leonie Newnham reported on the outcomes at the
Victorian Spatial Summit the next day.
FIG Commision1 will progress towards a formal change of definition and
consider a policy paper to take this further. The Chair of Commission 1 Leonie Newnham will present a paper on this, jointly authored with
nominated champions, at the FIG Congress in Kuala Lumpur in June 2014.
Further discussions and input are welcome through our LinkedIn group:
http://linkd.in/16iGj8H
FIG was the major supporter of this event providing the personnel to
organise it while additional sponsors for the FIG workshop were the
Surveying and Spatial Sciences Institute, Spatial Industries Business
Association and Consulting Surveyors National. We thank all our participants
and sponsors of this event.
Robyn McCutcheon
September 2013
02 October 2013
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