The 7th FIG Young Surveyors Conference kicked off yesterday (10th of September, 2022) in Warsaw , Poland at the Double Tree by Hilton Hotel. The conference which is running under the theme: Volunteering for the Future: Smart Surveyors for Social Good which is a pre-event to the official FIG Congress saw a number of young surveyors from the around the world coming into one space to discuss, network, share ideas and exchange notes on how they can prepare and secure the future through volunteering.
Here we are going to provide an overview of the events that took place on the 10th of September here in Warsaw, Poland.
Opening Ceremony
Kicking off was the Opening Ceremony which saw various speakers such as Dianne Dumashie (FIG Vice President), Krzsztof Bakula (SCP Vice President and Co-Conference Director), John Hohol (FIG Foundation President), Wioleta Krupowicz (7YSC LOC Lead) and Shirley Chapunza (in representation of Ferah Koksal who could not make it to the conference)
The FIG Foundation President, John Hohol issued out FIG Young Surveyor Grant Awards to the young surveyors who were sponsored by the Foundation to attend this prestigious event.
Key Note Address
This was followed by a Key-Note Address which was chaired by Shirley Chapunza from Zimbabwe. The Keynote address was to take the audience through a journey of the theme for the conference as they shared their knowledge and experiences relating to aspects of the theme – volunteering, smart surveyors and social good. The Key Note session was delivered by Prof. Tomasz Owerko (Poland) and Craig Hill (Switzerland).
Young Surveyor Presentations
The past two years have seen little face to face interactions. However, being resilient in changing times, young surveyors were able to find ways of contributing to their society, in their own way. In this session, the delegates heard from young surveyors globally about their activities over the pandemic. Learn how others adapted to the new normal, learn from other countries and above all: get inspired to get involved within the Network or to create your own Network in your country.
A COVID-19 Hub for Zimbabwe – Kumbirai Matingo (Zimbabwe)
The presentation of the papers reviewed the challenges that were bought by COVID-19 to Zimbabwe and how the author and partnering organization managed to utilize the power of geospatial technologies to assist towards and in the fight against COVID-19.
The Young Surveyors North American Network – Jacob Heck (USA)
COVID-19 bought some challenges for the North American Network but despite these challenges, the network represented by Jacob did not stop delivering the mission of Young Surveyors across the continent. From virtual meetings and virtual activities and fun, the North American Network managed to sail through the pandemic without hesitation.
When the conditions of the pandemic were loosened by the governments, the network managed to get back together through social events, networking events and various sessions across the continent to bring back the old spirit for the young surveyors.
The Young Surveyors African Network – Shirley Chapunza (Zimbabwe)
The African network was not united at first, but it took hard-work from the African regional team to bring together different Young Surveyors from different countries into one space and this marked the beginning of regional events within the continent beginning in Botswana were Young Surveyors got the chance to restructure and rethink the African network.
This then led to several other events which occurred across the continent in Lagos and Ghana which were aimed at building the African network and uniting the Young Surveyors to work collaboratively.
Expanding the Surveyors Toolbox in a New World
New technologies and research insights have provided a unique view about how our profession can change in times of a global pandemic. The session taught the delegates about the power of geo-information, insights from research, Start-Ups as well as new technologies, which are or will be used widely in the near future, geared towards social good.
The delivering speakers for the session were Katarzyna Rędzińska (Warsaw University of Technology) and akub Markiewicz (Warsaw University of Technology) presenting on the title System thinking for sustainability development and The SfM-TLS feature-based point cloud registration respectively.
Panel Discussion: Building Relationships and Securing the Future of Young Surveyors; The VCSP Perspective
The Volunteer Community Surveyor Program (VCSP) then took the floor with a panel discussion which was aimed at securing the future of young surveyors through mentoring.
Each panelist had a time to talk about what and how best mentoring can advance the mission to secure the future of the young surveyors. The session began with an introduction of the VCSP to the audience which was delivered by Claire Buxton.
Breakout Sessions
The delegate Young Surveyors then headed straight into Breakout sessions which were each focusing on a particular topic which was in line with the event theme. The breakout session were:
- The Leica AP20 AutoPole Competition – Craig Hill (Vice President Marketing and Services, Leica Geosystems)
- The Skysnap Corner – Łukasz Czerwiński (CEO, Skysnap)
- The Volunteer Community Surveyor Programme – VCSP
For the Leica AP20 Autopole competition, the delegates were challenges by the Leica Geosystems team to collect points using the latest technology from Leica (the AP20) and in which the fastest person to collect points accurately would be the winner of the competition.
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