Last week Locate24 took place in Sydney, where it was great to have the chance to share knowledge across the geospatial sector in Australia.
As part of the awards ceremony, AURIN had the honour of co-presenting this year’s Peter Woodgate Award, a prize created with the Geospatial Council of Australia in memory of Peter, a geospatial thought leader who was chair of AURIN’s board for five years.
The winner of this year’s award was Glenn Cockerton, chair and long-time CEO of Spatial Vision, selected for his invaluable contributions to and leadership within the sector.
Glenn was appointed Spatial Vision’s inaugural CEO in 2000, leading the organisation for almost 25 years. He has also held a number of senior positions with industry associations and committees, including multiple terms as a board member of the Spatial Industries Business Association, including as Chair during 2015 and 2016.
Glenn is currently the Chair of the Industry Advisory Committee for the Department of Geospatial Sciences at RMIT, and a member of the Department of Infrastructure Engineering Industry Advisory Board at the University of Melbourne. He was a member of the Victorian Spatial Council for over four and half years, and the recipient of the Surveying and Spatial Science Institute’s Victorian Spatial Professional of the Year Award in 2007.
Congratulations again to Glenn for this award, presented in recognition of his long-term industry leadership!
Other highlights at Locate24 included:
Pascal Perez chairing a panel on digital twins
On Wednesday, AURIN’s Director Pascal Perez chaired the session ‘Converging paths – digital twin journeys across the nation’.
Digital twins are a subject we’re very excited about – if you’re working or seeking to work with digital twins, we’d love to have you join our Urban Digital Twins Community.
Industry Advisory Committee and Scientific Advisory Committee Members appearing as part of panels throughout the conference
On Wednesday, Dr Ian Oppermann, a member of AURIN’s Industry Advisory Committee, appeared on a panel on ethics and governance in generative AI, while on Thursday the panel discussion ‘Geospatial Ecosystem beyond SDIs’ included Industry Advisory Committee member Dr Zaffar Sadiq Mohamed-Ghouse as moderator and Scientific Advisory Committee Member Lisa Bush as a panellist. As the sector looks to deal with new challenges and opportunities, it was incredibly valuable to see such wide-ranging conversations featuring these industry leaders.
Launch of a preliminary report on the economic impact of geospatial services
During the conference, the Geospatial Council of Australia shared the preliminary findings of its ‘Economic impact of geospatial services in Australia’ Report. This report finds that the sector is projected to contribute an additional $81 billion in GDP, as well as an additional 22,000 jobs – we look forward to supporting work wherever we can through this exciting period of growth and impact.
For further detail on the report, see the GCA’s website.
Conversations at the AURIN Booth
It was great to have the chance to meet researchers, planners and users at the AURIN booth throughout the conference.
We’re always looking to hear about work happening in the sector and how we might be able to help – if you’d like to speak to us at any time, please get in touch.
We look forward to being there again for Locate25!