Locate21, Australia’s premier geospatial & surveying conference, is excited to announce a new and exciting format for their rescheduled annual conference now happening 29 March – 1 April 2021.
After months of planning and pivoting due to the uncertainty brought by COVID-19, Locate21 will see the introduction of a hybrid model – a combination of virtual and in person events at the conference’s original venue – Brisbane Convention & Exhibition Centre, as well as a range of other live sites around Australia.
“Wherever there is a large geospatial or surveying community such as Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide, Perth, Canberra, Tasmania as well as New Zealand we will be aiming to activate a live site. The live sites will be a place for people to gather in satellite events that tune into the main event, while also delivering local content and networking opportunities,” says Co-Convenor and Locate Board Director Paul Reed
Each year, the Locate conference typically attracts upwards of 900 delegates who benefit from the opportunity to learn about the latest trends and applications in geospatial technologies.
Paul says the Locate21 program will feature 4 days of virtual presentations, and 2 days of live events on Tuesday 30th and Wednesday 31st March which include:
- Program content running between 1030 – 1530 AEST each day
- Optional in person workshops and smaller sub events offered in the live sites
- All aspects of the program will be accessible virtually for those who cannot access a live site & all content will be recorded and available for viewing post event.
- Asia Pacific Spatial Excellence Awards (APSEA) presented virtually on Wed 31 March and broadcast to the live sites where drinks & catering will be provided to those who purchase a ticket
- Plenary speakers presenting live from the live sites, which will be broadcast virtually and to other live sites
Reed says himself the organising committee for Locate21 have viewed the event organising challenges they have faced this year due to COVID-19 as opportunities to innovate in the new world we now find ourselves in.
“Though it has been a lot of extra work, I’m really proud of our team and the Locate organising committee for being so flexible and innovative in their approach to this new form of the event. We all agree that now, perhaps more than ever, it is imperative that the surveying and geospatial community have the opportunity to connect, share, and continue to grow as more and more people lean on geospatial data to plan and live, and believe this innovative event model will allow us put on a multi-faceted, dynamic & safe event for all to enjoy.”
Notable speakers and topics already confirmed for Locate21 include:
- Nadine Alameh – CEO, Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) – Recently appointed CEO of the Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC), Nadine is a recognized leader in the GIS field, having built a career out of her dedication to interoperability and innovation in several domains including Aviation, Earth Observations, Public Safety and Defense. Prior to OGC, she held various roles in industry from Chief Architect for Innovation in Northrop Grumman’s Civil Solutions Unit; to CEO of a small international Aviation data business; to senior technical advisor to NASA’s Applied Science Program. Nadine graduated from MIT with a Ph.D. in Information Systems Engineering and 2 MS degrees. She holds a BS degree in Computer Engineering from the American University of Beirut.
- Adam Ferrier – Founder of THINKERBELL – Adam is one of the leading consumer psychologists in Australia, a brand strategist and an authority on Behavioural Economics. He’s also the author of “The Advertising Effect” and part of The Australian Creatives’ ‘Power 20’; A regular on the Gruen Transfer and featured on The Project, Celebrity Apprentice and ABC Radio. Through cognitive behavioral psychology and a deep understanding of behavioral economics Adam hands delegates the keys to sky rocketed motivation – whether to buy, perform or change. Adam’s talk will focus on how to build value into the customer experience with a number of examples pulled from marketing sciences and his own creative consultancy. Hewill explore how people process information, how they make decisions, and most importantly how to engage with them in a way that adds value. Featured by arrangement with Saxton Speakers Bureau.
- Kellen Crouse – New York State Police’s Senior Intelligence Analyst – Kellen Crouse is assigned to the Intelligence & Analysis Unit and is responsible for tactical and strategic intelligence products and provides support for major case investigations. He specialises in geospatial analytics for law enforcement, gang investigations and cell phone record analysis. His presentation will provide an inside look at the crucial role of geospatial analysis in solving a missing person case turned homicide. From visualising witness statements, to recovering evidence and organising search teams, GIS helped bring closure and justice to a rural New York town.
Sponsored by
See the Locate21 program outline here.
Early bird tickets for all levels of tickets (online + in person or combination) are available until 22 January 2021 from https://www.locateconference.com/2021/registration/.
KEY CONFERENCE DETAILS:
When: 29 to 31 April 2020
Where: Brisbane Convention Centre + various live sites + online
Cost: From $165 for a virtual pass and from $350 for the full conference experience, with discounts available for certain association members, speakers, corporate groups & students.
For more information about the Locate21 Conference visit:
https://www.locateconference.com/2021/
Also follow the conference social channels at:
https://www.facebook.com/LocateConference/
https://twitter.com/locateconf
https://www.linkedin.com/company/locate-conference/
Some major sponsors for the Locate20 Conference include Esri Australia, Maxar, RIEGL Australia, 1Spatial, Australian Geospatial-Intelligence Organisation (AGO), L3Harris and Omnilink. Further opportunities are still available, including exhibiting at or sponsoring the upcoming or future year’s conferences.
ENDS
ACCESS PHOTOS FROM PAST EVENTS HERE.
FOR INTERVIEWS & PHOTOS email [email protected] , Yvette Adams of The Creative Collective on 07 545 11315, 830AM – 430PM M-F.
About the organisations behind the conference
Locate Conferences Australia Pty Ltd has been established to deliver the Locate series of annual conferences by the Surveying & Spatial Sciences Institute (SSSI), Spatial Industries Business Association (SIBA) and Geospatial Information & Technology Association (GITA).
LOCATE BOARD
- Chair: Maurits Van der Vlugt (SIBA-GITA)
- Vice-Chair: Zaffar Sadiq Mohamed-Ghouse (SSSI)
- Directors: Glenn Cockerton (SIBA-GITA), Paul Digney (SSSI), Mary-Ellen Feeney (SIBA-GITA), Paul Reed (SSSI)
ORGANISING COMMITTEE
- Paul Reed, SSSI QLD Chair & East Coast Surveys (Convenor)
- Katherine Williams, FrontierSI (Convenor)
- Glenn Cockerton, Spatial Vision
- Kate Crawford, Eviva Pty Ltd
- Joanne Hansen, Department of Environment & Science, Queensland Government
- Peter James, Cohga Pty Ltd
- Laura Kostanski, Locate21 Hub Coordinator
- Alex Leith, Geoscience Australia
- Peter Lennon, DNRME
- Hannah Martin, Beveridge Williams & Co
- Zaffar Sadiq Mohamed-Ghouse, Spatial Vision
- Dipak Paudyal, Esri Australia
- Roshni Sharma, FrontierSI and SSSI National Young Professionals Chair
About geospatial technologies
Geospatial technologies is a term used to describe the range of modern tools contributing to the geographic mapping and analysis of the Earth and human societies. Systems such as Global Positioning System (GPS) and Geographical Information System (GIS) are used in geospatial work. “Geo” is a prefix that comes from a Greek word meaning earth.
Surveying and spatial sciences come together as two sides of the coin of all things related to location data (anything with coordinates, primarily on the Earth but also in space).
Surveyors have a long and well-established foundation in the history of many countries and cultures around the planet as the creators of accurate and precise records of location information that underpin the smooth operation of society – around cadastral (property) boundaries (land surveying); around building and civil construction (engineering surveying); around the planning, construction and operation of mines (mining surveying), around understanding and measuring the geography of land under the ocean (hydrographic surveying); and understanding the shape and size of the earth and it’s changing surface over time (geodetic surveying). Surveyors use many tools to undertake their work, utilising a range of technology from theodolites to photogrammetry.
Spatial science goes hand-in-hand, almost inseparably, with surveying as the management and applied use of this location data – from the creation of small and large spatial datasets of many types and capabilities, interpretation of remotely sensed images and photogrammetry, to cartography (the display of location data as maps in various mediums) to modelling (utilising location to accurately and precisely predict how a product or situation might play out in the real world) to complex analyses (for example to understand constraints or make comparisons).
Increasingly, the geospatial industry as a whole is moving towards capturing and modelling the world around us digitally in 3D and 4D, allowing a spatial data framework to become the workbench for other data that links to its location context. This is both a spatial data science and an information management art, bringing together both surveyors and spatial scientists as custodians of quality location data and its effective management. Spatial data can be related to almost any dataset in the world, and in a quiet, humble way, geospatial underpins the work that all other industries do.