Surveying & Spatial Sciences Institute (SSSI) New Zealand Region

Author: Karl Majorhazi
Date: 9 October 2009 - 1 Comments

Tags: SSC2009, SSC2011, Surveying and Spatial Sciences Institute

I'm just back from SSC2009 in Adelaide where it was announced that Wellington would host the Surveying and Spatial Sciences Institute's (SSSI) next conference in 2011. The last time this conference was held in New Zealand, as AURISA, was in 1997 in Christchurch. We were overdue for a national, or in this case international, spatial conference. SSC2011 will be run by both the SSSI and the NZ Institute of Surveyors. We also have agreement in principle from our main GIS vendor user groups to incorporate their 2011 event into SSC2011.

At Adelaide there were over 600 delegates and almost 50 vendors - not a bad turnout during an economic recession. Some of the things I picked up at the conference included:

• The value of open standards.
• The need to decouple economic growth from carbon emissions.
• Use terms like "maps" and "location" and avoid using "spatial".
• 60% of the state of Victoria's legislation has some form of spatial footprint.
• WALIS's SLIP as a model for data dissemination.
• Using an information management approach for environmental monitoring.

However, my primary role in Adelaide was to promote SSC2011 and try to capture the imagination of the Australian delegates to encourage them to come over for the conference. It wasn't difficult. There is genuine interest in having the conference here - and bringing the family over for a holiday. People still speak highly of the 1997 conference. Then there's the date. October 17-21 is the week between the semi-finals and the final of the Rugby World Cup (both held in Auckland). We expect this to attract a few more delegates from overseas.

The challenge is to deliver a conference that exceeds our expectations. This is where you can help - with ideas and a helping hand. We might have two years, but that will go by very quickly.

If you would like to get involved, in any way, please contact me at karl.majorhazi@gmail.com.

And finally, I'd like to thank all those who supported our bid.

Karl Majorhazi
Surveying and Spatial Sciences Institute

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