News in 2022
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FIG Congress 2022 - report
11-15 September 2022, Warsaw Poland
Meeting again in person
Everyone was excitied - and some a little overwhelmed by the number of
people they were exposed to after having been "grounded" and not
together with so many at the same time for 2½ years. And it was
overwhelming being back. But a nice overwhelming feeling...
815 attendees found their way to Warsaw, Poland. Several had to stay
at home due to Covid19 restrictions , and a few defied the restrictions
and came anyway. Including the online participants the total number of
attendees was 1049 from 82 countries. Main focus was deliberately on the on-site event.
FIG Council and the local organisers wanted to bring back attendees to
all the advantages of an on-site event.
The post evaluation showed that the main reason for attending in
person is to network. You cannot get and maintain connections and
network in the same way online. It was also clear to see the joy of
being together again in the lively discussions and talks both in the
sessions and at breaks and social events.
FIG and the local organisers from Poland, SGP, had less than one year
for the preparations. It was decided at the e-Working Week 2021 to move
the Congress from Cape Town, South Africa, where the Congress should
originally have taken place to Poland. It was a good decision because
especially in Europe travels were again without restrictions and it was
possible to meet onsite.
Even through main emphasis was on the onsite activities there was
broadcast live from two session rooms throughout the congress, as well
as from the General Assembly and all 6 Keynote sessions.
Opening Ceremony and Keynote sessions
The opening ceremony took place on Sunday 11 September right after
the second General Assembly session.
At the opening there were addresses
by Mr. Piotr Uściński, Ministry of Economic Development and Technology
Ms. Alicja Kulka, Surveyor General, Head Office of Geodesy and
Cartography, Dr. Rafał Trzaskowski, President of Warsaw Prof. Janusz
Walo, President of Polish Association of Surveyors, SGP Dr. Krzysztof
Bakuła, Co-Congress Director, SGP. Masters of ceremony were the two
co-conference directors Krzysztof Bakuła and Louise Friis-Hansen. FIG
President Rudolf Staiger gave a keynote speech on the development and
undertakings of FIG during the past four years - Volunteering for the
Future Geospatial Excellence for a better living.
The Song and Dance Ensemble of Warsaw University of Technology, which
is one of the oldest student song and dance ensembles in Poland
performed spectacular dances both at the opening ceremony and the
Welcome Reception with traditional Polish dances in colourful
traditional costumes.
Watch the opening ceremony:
https://youtu.be/j-wCBVFn5V4
The keynote session were structured differently from earlier (hence
also the change of name from plenary to keynote sessions) and consisted
of six one-hour sessions arranged in three two-hour slots. Two slots
were placed in the mornings and one in the afternoon, in order to also
accommodate on-line participants from various time zones. Having six
different themes made it possible to highligh relevant and current
topics that is on top of the agenda in FIG.
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Keynote session 1: Geospatial Excellence for
a Better Living - Digitalisation and Modern Surveying and
Cadastre in a Post-Covid19 Era.
The Activities of GUGIK During the Pandemic Ms. Ewa
Surma, Director in Head Office of Geodesy and
Cartography (GUGIK), Poland [abstract]
[handouts]
Digital Transformation and the role of Land Administrations -
FAO, FIG and UNECE/WPLA joint publications Ms. Rumyana
Tonchovska, Senior Land Administration Officer, FAO of
the UN (online) [abstract]
[handouts]
Better living after Covid – the surveyor point of view Prof. Paweł
Hanus AGH University of Science and Technology, Poland
[abstract]
[handouts]
Watch the session:
https://youtu.be/SLweArIRLLA
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Keynote session 2: Urban Rural Partnership which was afterwards
followed by a special session Urban Rural Partnership - Its a
matter of territorial justice and status of mind! Prof. Holger
Magel, FIG Honorary President and TUM Emeritus of
Excellence [abstract]
[handouts]
The GLTN Approach to Urban Rural Partnership Mr. Robert
Lewis-Lettington, UN-Habitat/Global Land Tool Network [abstract]
[handouts]
Watch the session:
https://youtu.be/BoolrIfqaLs |
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Keynote session 3: Land Governance in support of the 2030 Global
Agenda
Understanding the Role of Responsible Land Governance and
Secure Land Rights in Support of the 2030 Global Agenda Prof. Stig
Enemark, FIG Honorary President and Professor Emeritus
of Land management at Aalborg University, Denmark [abstract]
[handouts]
Taking action to transform our world into a more sustainable
environment Ms. Paula Dijkstra, Director a.i.
of Kadaster International / Chair Task Force on FIG and the
Sustainable Development Goals [abstract]
[handouts]
Watch the session:
https://youtu.be/504aF_EcXWc
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Keynote session 4: How the Land profession skills may thrive in
the post 2020 pandemic world - Insights from across the
Generations: Geography, Governance and Volunteering
Ms. Victoria Stanley, Senior Land
Administrator World Bank, USA
Ms. Shirley Tendai Chapunza, Young Surveyor,
Zimbabwe
Mr. Marc Vanderschueren, President of Fédération des Géomètres
Francophones (FGF), Belgium
Mr Tomasz Malinowski, Sales and Marketing
Director, TPI, Poland
Mr. Israel Taiwo, Senior Lecture Federal
Polytechnic Ado-Ekiti, Nigeria, Church lead for youth (online)
Watch the session:
https://youtu.be/WcHIiN8e6Bk
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Keynote session 5: Mapping the Plastic
Let’s Map Floating Plastic in Waterways Before it Reaches
the Ocean! Mr. Simon Ironside, Chair, Working
Group on Mapping the Plastic, New Zealand [abstract]
[handouts]
Mapping Small Pieces of Floating Plastic in Near Real Time
Dr. Gordana Jakovlević, Faculty of
Architecture, Civil Engineering and Geodesy Bosnia and
Herzegowina [abstract]
[handouts]
Watch the session:
https://youtu.be/UJQ5wNm7LPg
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Keynote session 6: Technology and Visualisation for the Future
Surveyor 4.0 Dr. Prof. Rudolf Staiger, FIG
President (in the absence of Bryn Fosburgh, Trimble) [handouts]
Trends in the development of spatial data visualization
methods Prof. Robert Olszewski, Warsaw
University of Technology, Poland [abstract]
[handouts]
Watch the session:
https://youtu.be/rY-IzKR4Rc8
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Exhibition
The exhibition was opened after the Opening Ceremony on Sunday
evening - somewhat untraditional, but relevant because the following
Welcome Reception took place around the exhibtion area which gave the
possibility for the exhibitors to meet with the participants in a more
festive setting.
The following three days the exhibition was open. Location was
located on the ground floor of the conference centre next to the main
halls - called "Ballroom Trimble" and "Ballroom Esri". There were lively
discussions and activities around the booths and especially the
robot-dog brought by Satlab had three very busy Congress days walking
around the exhibition area and getting attention from many participants.
Several exhibitors had brough instruments that were studied carefully by
the attendees and discussed with the exhibitors.
A very big thanks to all sponsors and exhibitors.
Tecnical programme and pre-events
Six pre-events had been organised and which took place on Saturday 10
and Sunday 11 September before the actual congress started:
- Young Surveyors Conference
- Mining Surveying Workshop
- Reference Frames in Practice
- Multi-Sensor-Systems Workshop
- Surveying and BIM Classroom
- Esri ArcGIS Parcel Fabric
During the busy congress days 370 abstracts were presented in 67
sessions, most of them presented in 49 technical sessions. There were
sessions with partners such as FAO, UN-GGIM, UN-Habitat/GLTN, UN-ECE and
EuroSDR, and FIG sessions organised by Young Surveyors, VCSP, a Director
Generals Forum, Member Association Forum, a session organised by FIG
Task Force on FIG and the SDGs and other special sessions.
A well visited special session was organised by "Stand for her Land"
on women's land rights. It was a pleasure to welcome a special guest to
the Congress from Ghana, Hon. Benito Owusu-Bio, Deputy
Minister for Lands and Natural Resources, Ghana, who had travelled all
the way from Ghana to attend the Congress with the delegation from
Ghana. A special session "Ghana in Focus - Surveyors' role in achieving
the SDGs was organised to address the deveopment in Ghana.
Two prizes were presented at the Congress:
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The biennial Surveyor Review Prize were
presented to Adamu Bala, Nigeria, for the peer review paper, and
on behalf of:
Adamu Bala (Nigeria), Saied Pirasteh (China), Yahaya Abbas
Aliyu, AbdulAzeez Aliyu, Swafiyudeen Bawa and Ibrahim
Abdulwahab (Nigeria): Mapping and Suitability Analysis of
Existing Electoral Polling Units in Katsina Local Government
Area of Katsina State, Nigeria (11312) [abstract]
[paper]
[handouts]
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The navXperience price was presented by the
CEO of navXperience Dirk Kowalewski and chair of FIG Commission
5, Dan Roman to:
Ola Øvstedal, Johan Tobias Arnell, Isak Foss
Ingebrigtsen, Simen Walbækken Tangen and Bjørn-Eirik
Roald (Norway): A Comparison of Survey-Grade GNSS Receivers by
Means of Observation and Coordinate Domain Approaches;
Traditional Vs Low-Budget (11320) [abstract]
[paper]
[handouts]
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Monument of the European Geodesy
The city of Warsaw had arranged for the restauration of the survey
monument of the 52°N parallel geodesic arc in the city center of Warsaw
and change it into European Geodesy Monument. This restored monument was
opened on Wednesday 14 September with representatives from the City of
Warsaw and the national association, SGP. FIG was represented by FIG
Honorary President Stig Enemark and representative from the FIG
Permanent Institution of History IIHS&M John Brock.
Social events
The Welcome Reception took place right after the Opening Ceremony in
the exhibition area. Before a second set of performance by the talented
Song and Dance Ensemble of Warsaw University of Technology there were
greetings by the local organisers and patrons of the congress as well as
the specially invited Hon. Benito Owusu-Bio, Deputy
Minister for Lands and Natural Resources, Ghana who gave a speech
on the development in Ghana and the special focus for the FIG Working
Week 2024.
After the Young Surveyors Conference a Chairty Dance was organised,
sponsored by Trimble. The donations for the Charity dance will be
allocated to the Young Surveyors Volunteer Community Programme VCSP.
The Congress dinner took place in the spectacular inner hall of
Warsaw University of Technology. Entertainment was provided by
the Engineers Band that continued throughout the night to surprise the
participants. Per tradition 10 EUR per participant at the dinner is
allocated to FIG Foundation and Trimble was again sponsor of the event -
the sponsorship going in full to FIG Foundation.
FIG General Assembly and Closing Ceremony
The Closing marked the end of 5 vibrant days full of activities. In
his closing speech FIG President Rudolf Staiger summaried some of the
activities durng the busy congress pointing out the advantages of being
back in person. The local organisers had done a remarkable job to
organise the congress within one year.
The closing also marked the last conference of the current President
Rudolf Staiger and his Council. It has been a different term for this
council but it was good this event was not only taking place behind a
screen.
At the end of the Closing ceremony the FIG flag was handed over from
the current Local Organsers represented by Krzysztof Bakuła to John
Hohol representing FIG Working Week 2023. FIG President Rudolf Staiger
thanked the local organisers for this outstanding performance and to
establish a full Congress in such a short time and in such a successful
way.
At the end the FIG Fanfare was played to mark the closing of the
Congress whereafter FIG Working Week 2023 was host of an American lunch
prepared by the compentent kitchen of the Congress Centre in Warsaw.
Impressions by the Local Organisers
By Dr Krzysztof Bakuła, FIG Co-Congress Director
The Association of Polish Surveyors (SGP) was honoured to
host the XXVII FIG Congress in Warsaw. This important and
prestigious event for surveyors was organised for the first time
in Poland, although, in 1942, the VII FIG Congress was to be
held in Warsaw. Unfortunately, World War II thwarted these
plans, and after exactly 80 years, we got another chance.
Preparing the Congress was a huge project and a great challenge.
We had to prepare it within one year, which should stop a run of
bad luck of not being able to have direct meetings for two
years.
We hosted about 900 participants from almost 90 countries for
6 days. They presented more than 300 papers in 70 sessions
planned in 7 parallel tracks. Hours of records, hundreds of
pages of proceedings, thousands of photos, and reports on social
media, this is what will allow us to remember it. The Congress
undoubtedly engraved in the participants’ memory because it was
something that the community lost for a short time, what it had
long expected.
During the Congress, we had the
opportunity to meet and show the world that we are one community
of surveyors volunteering for the future who can cooperate with
each other. We proved once again that surveyors are part of
every investment process, we are involved in sustainable
development goals measurements, and geospatial data specialists
are directly or indirectly involved in most of the decisions
made in the world, providing us with geospatial excellence for a
better living. All this makes us very visible among other
engineers, and our participation in the economy is essential.
After the Congress, I was proud of many Polish submissions.
Still, I was also delighted that I could show my Warsaw
University of Technology co-organizing the event, not only as a
leading technical academia in Central Europe located in a
beautiful venue where the gala dinner was organised but also as
the unit promoting Polish culture. I hope that we showed Poland
from a perfect side. Every word and every smile on the face of
satisfied participants was proof that there was a longing for
the annual meetings of the FIG events. We are all the more
pleased that it happened with the participation of our
association of Polish Surveyors, SGP. I believe this Congress
will strengthen our community for a long time and make us
visible on the international stage.
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More information
FIG 2022 local organisers - a very big thanks to the organising
committee and all helpers
See you in Orlando, Florida 28 May - 1 June 2023
Louise Friis-Hansen
13 October 2022
