In this era of unprecedented challenges at home and around the globe, the Surveying & Spatial Sciences Institute has issued an address to celebrate Australia’s surveyors and spatial professionals for Global Surveyors’ Day. We reproduce the comments of SSSI President, Dr. Zaffar Sadiq Mohamed-Ghouse below.
March 21st is Global Surveyors’ Day, which recognizes the men and women of the Surveying Profession who have shaped our history and continue to be of vital importance in the development of Australia.
Since early settlement, surveyors have been community leaders, statesmen, influential citizens and shapers of cultural standards. Former surveyors of note include: – Sir Thomas Mitchell, Charles Grimes, Robert Hoddle, George Goyder, Sir Augustus Charles Gregory, John Septimus Roe and Col. William Light. Syd Kirkby a modern-day retired surveyor, has personally surveyed more Antarctic Territory than any other explorer, including Scott, Shackleton and Mawson.
Property ownership in Australia is a key cultural icon and part of the Great Australian Dream. Cadastral Surveyors maintain the integrity of the cadastral (property) map base, a system that defines, records and delivers land parcel information in support of land ownership, land use and land value, which provides financial institutions the security to advance mortgages to fund home ownership and development projects. Without the knowledge, ability, spatial innovation and guidance of a professional surveyor to determine boundaries, this dream largely disappears.
Surveyors also facilitate the growth and application of new technologies that underpin the digital economy, including digital twins for smart cities, implementing enabling technologies such as Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS), terrestrial 3D laser scanners, drones, Augmented Reality and 3D visualisation, providing the spatial geometric and knowledge foundation that all development and infrastructure projects are built upon.
Hydrographic surveyors have made an equally contribution to the growth and development of Australia. They have been responsible for charting our coastlines and the mapping of sea floors and resources, monitoring sea levels and coastal vulnerability.
Engineering and mining surveyors are the ones who help bring developments to life, providing their professional advice and skills for the building and development of various aspects in our modern life, including the construction of our homes to the development of our towns and cities and the links between them.
Geodetic surveyors measure and derive our fundamental positioning framework, which is used extensively for mapping and navigation an increasingly across all industry sector with the use of augmented satellite precise positioning.
Cartographic surveyors or cartographers design, create and modify paper and digital maps and charts. Included are photogrammetrists who use aerial and satellite remote sensed photographs and images for measurement and map production.
Surveying is important and the community depends on it so as to ensure order in the physical world around us. It is the vital link which transforms ideas in to plans and plans into reality, shaping the future economic growth of our nation.
On behalf of the SSSI Board and Staff, I wish you all a very happy Surveyor’s Day. Looking forward to a positive and enduring impact on the globe using Surveying and Spatial Information.
Dr. Zaffar Sadiq Mohamed-Ghouse
SSSI President
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