SSSI SICC News - June 2019

May 31, 2019

Chair Report – Kerry Smyth FSSSI, GISP-AP

June is the time for each of us to reflect on our financial position and consider the choices and decisions we need to make. As a professional, you need to spend time planning how to invest in your professional profile: certification, networking, CPD and mentorship programs are all offerings generated by the SSSI community of members. The recent growth in SSSI membership demonstrates that a new generation of young professionals see value in joining a national organisation. I am confident that our new strategic directions are building a pathway to a new future for SSSI. So make a decision to stay on board as a member as the journey unfolds.

SICC Upcoming Elections

Nominations for the 2019-2021 commission representatives will open next month, two positions for each region. I encourage you to give serious consideration to stepping up as a SICC National representative. Professional volunteers are the lifeblood of SSSI; your time and skills can make a difference to the national agenda for this industry. Don’t underestimate the benefits to your long-term career that a national and international profile generates.

URISA Exchange Program

Teresa Townsend, the Immediate Past President of URISA, was our latest exchange delegate. She presented at Locate19 and lead a masterclass workshop in her area of expertise - Planning Resilient Communities. Her work is integrated across disciplines with a focus on community visioning, climate action plans, urban function and design, land use planning, smart cities, zero-emission vehicle (ZEV) infrastructure, urban greening to achieve equitable sustainable futures. SSSI was privileged to share the benefit of her experience across URISA priorities including strategic planning, member services, events, advocacy and certification.

SSSI President Zaffar Sadiq Mohamed-Ghouse, URISA Past President Teresa Townsend, SICC Chair Kerry Smyth

Our Commission is open to hear from you about representation and seeks to influence at a national level access to leadership opportunities for all our professionals. We are here to influence the national agenda and need your feedback and support. If you have any issues you want to bring to the National Agenda please contact me.

Kerry Smyth chair.sicc@sssi.org.au

For business matters contact the SICC executive officer Katie Le Miere who is located in the Queensland office rom.qld@sssi.org.au

Committee Meeting Report

April Committee Meeting

The Committee members reported to the group on the SICC events held at Locate19 which includes the workshop presented by the past president of URISA and the open meeting of SICC Commission members. The feedback and concerns put forward by attending members of that meeting were conveyed to the group and discussed.

Certification Process:

Brendan Henry from the GIS-AP assessment panel joined the meeting to discuss the certification process. The turnaround time for assessment has improved for both new applications and recertifications – a great result given that it’s processed by volunteers. A couple of the group members will be going through the application process themselves (new certification and recertification) which will be an opportunity to identify opportunities for streamlining as they move through. Now that SSSI will be reviewing certification right across the commissions, this will hopefully bring more resources and coordination into the certification approach as well as advocacy and support to promote the benefits of certification to employers.

Other Matters:

There was discussion about the opportunity to change the direction of the workshop series that SICC organises within Australia. For some time, a GIS Management workshop has been delivered using content sourced from URISA. The group believes it’s time to review the demand and change/update the content.

The group also discussed the importance of financially supporting our affiliations with other related industry organisations such as ICA, FIG and FOSS4G. These relationships promote SSSI in many ways including knowledge sharing, greater attendances to our conferences and highlights Australia as a potential future conference location.

May Committee Meeting

The following topics were discussed:

• 2019/20 Budget

• Potential future training programs

• Social media strategy

Event Highlights

Locate Workshop - "Planning Resilient Communities, Actionable Geospatial Data and Tools to Protect Our Climate Future" facilitated by Teresa Townsend, Past President of URISA

Review by Angus Scown

Professionals meeting in a workshop shift people from personal focus. Immediate Past President of Urisa Teresa Townsend came to Locate 2019 and presented a workshop. I have to admit, when I saw the workshop title, "Planning Resilient Communities, Actionable Geospatial Data and Tools to Protect Our Climate Future" I didn't think it was a fit for my usual technical and analytical mind. With some prompting from a wonderfully supporting group that I have the privilege of sharing the SSSI Spatial Information and Cartography national commission with, I attended.

Teresa has obviously run a lot of workshops and by the end of the day she had taken us on a journey outside our usual comfort zones and thought ruts. Using a technique which reminded us to approach problems not as our usual spatial scientist role but from our place as citizens on planet earth, we were able to more easily collaborate with strangers in the workshop. If you asked me what specific tools I take away from the workshop I would see that as the point, for me.

I can easily say I am now more engaged in Climate Change rather than as a passive observer but considering my professional and personal role in building a resilient community. I'm also humbled by the fact that my professional peers challenged me to attend. I came away with a profound engagement in the way I have a role in effecting change. What more can you ask for out of a workshop than that?

Member Highlights

Certified GISP-AP announcements

Well done to Elizabeth Moylan and Katherine Williams for recently becoming GISP-AP Certified.

New SICC Members

SICC welcomes the following new members:

Omema Khurram	SA	Student
Benjamin Rate	SA	Student
Jessica Runnegar-Mullins	SA	Student
Gan Guanyu	SA	Student
Iain Hale	SA	Student
Travis Miller	SA	Student
Hassan Akram	Overseas	MEMBER
Gabrielle Westerholm	WA	Student
Melissa Green	Victoria	Student
Bruce Harvey	WA	Student
Rebecca Heath	Qld	Student
Nicole Kiely	Victoria	MEMBER
Mark Williams	Tas	Student
Robert Gray	ACT	MEMBER
Mona Siroha	Victoria	MEMBER
Zhe (Zac) Wang	Victoria	MEMBER
Philip Whitten	NSW	MEMBER
Wilfred Waters	SA	MEMBER
Dorothy Pion	Overseas	MEMBER
Hannah Ferrier	Victoria	MEMBER

Monthly Certified Professional Profile: Reza Kalbasi Khoramdashti – GISP-AP

Reza is an experienced GIS Consultant at HARRISON GRIERSON in New Zealand with nearly 14 years of experience in both governmental and private consultancy sectors. He is truly passionate about his leadership, executive-level mentorship, project management, planning strategies, and technical roles and always eager to grow and connect with other geospatial communities in Europe, Australasia, and North America. He has demonstrated his capability in complex corporate / enterprise information systems in New Zealand government and Spatial Data Infrastructure (SDI) projects in European Union with a high level of business automation and cutting-edge technologies such as ArcGIS Enterprise, ArcGIS Online, ESRI spatial solutions, and FME.

Events Coming up

Check out the SSSI event calendar for all the events planned for this year. This is updated monthly and is a great resource for planning your professional development activities.

Other Association Events:

FOSS4G 2019 | Bucharest | 26 - 30 August 2019 | https://2019.foss4g.org/

INTERNATIONAL CARTOGRAPHIC CONFERENCE | Tokyo | 15 - 20 July 2019 | http://www.icc2019.org/

Other News

Call for Papers

The ICA Commission on Location-Based Services and Technische Universität Wien are pleased to invite you to contribute to the 15th International Conference on Location-Based Services, 11–13 November 2019 in Vienna. Built on the success of previous conferences in this series, LBS 2019 is addressed to scholars, researchers, digital industry / market operators, and students of different backgrounds (scientific, engineering and humanistic) whose work is either focused on or relevant to location based services (LBS). The conference will offer a common ground to colleagues from various disciplines and practice where they can meet, interact and exchange knowledge, experience, plans and ideas on how LBS can and could be improved and on how it will influence both science and society. Further information: www.lbsconference.org

Spatial Source Media

Spatial Source is Australia and New Zealand's web site for the geospatial surveying, GIS and mapping community. Click here to visit Spatial Source.

Recent News – Back Issues

Missed out on our recent news articles? Click the links below to have a read!

SSSI SICC NEWS – APRIL 2019

SSSI SICC NEWS - MARCH 2019

SSSI SICC NEWS - FEBRUARY 2019

SSSI SICC NEWS - DECEMBER 2018

SSSI SICC NEWS - NOVEMBER 2018

SSSI SICC NEWS - OCTOBER 2018

SSSI SICC NEWS - SEPTEMBER 2018

SSSI SICC NEWS - JUNE 2018