News in 2023

Angel Collado, YSN FIG academic affairs representative, attends 2023 EAASI Summit

21-24 November 2023, Lisbon, Portugal

The European Association of Aerial Surveying Industries (EAASI) invited our YSN FIG academic affairs representative, Angel Collado, to its annual meeting in Lisbon, Portugal.
EAASI is a non-profit association that brings together more than 50 European companies from the geospatial industry specialized in aerial surveys (https://www.eaasi.eu/). The annual meeting of this association was held in the city of Lisbon from November 21 to 24 with the aim of sharing the progress and discussing the challenges of our sector with representatives of the companies, as well as members of the academy and young students. Four working groups were established to address the attraction of young talent and increased collaboration with universities, the review of the state of the art technology and standards used in the industry, the current situation of Air Traffic Control (ATC) and Aviation Authorities, as well as the possibility of new business models in the airborne geomatics industry.

Angel Collado was invited to participate as a young professor in the round table "Universities and student's engagement" together with student Vasil Dimitrov, member of the IGSM Sofia -Bulgaria- 2024 board; Ada Perello, EEASI Communication and Social Media Manager; and Simon Musaeus, VP Business Development (GCS) Hexagon's Geosystems division and head of the Universities and student's engagement working group, who moderated the panel discussion.

Collado also gave a presentation entitled "The role of FIG YSN and Commission 2" in which he explained the work being done by FIG at the international level, as well as YSN and Commission 2. He also spoke about the in-depth work he has been doing for some years regarding the scientific, academic and professional redefinition of Geomatics and its different disciplines, as well as its dissemination at the national and international level and the global inventory in the form of a cartographic web viewer of Geomatics studies that is being prepared. 

Other presentations on instrumental technology, artificial intelligence, international standards and case studies in public administration complemented these days of knowledge exchange and establishment of connections and contacts between industry, academia and other international organizations.

Some of the conclusions, to be applied from the academic field, that were obtained from the event are the need to reformulate and update the academic curriculum of European universities regarding the contents of aerial geomatics in relation to geometric and interpretive photogrammetry or 3D surveys with LIDAR taking into account the advances of the geospatial industry to attract more recent graduates with better preparation and knowledge to this industry. Similarly, the introduction, use and impact of artificial intelligence in our sector should be studied and analyzed, as well as research and increase the applications of aerial geomatics beyond the traditional mapping of the territory. The design and implementation of a European-level university master's degree in aerial geomatics combined with business administration and management (MBA) was one of the proposals made and will be discussed in the coming months.

I would like to thank EAASI President Florian Romanowski, Vice-President Roland Stengele and Secretary General Marcos Martinez for their invitation. We have noted a good harmony between EAASI and FIG and we are committed to increase our collaboration in the coming times for the defence, promotion, improvement and strengthening of our discipline at European and international level.

Angel Collado
December 2023