Dear  Friend,
On behalf of the organising committee of the XXIV FIG International Congress and Australian surveyors, it is my pleasure to invite you to FIG 2010 which will be held in Sydney, Australia: 11 - 16 April, 2010. The FIG 2010 Congress will bring together thousands of surveying and land professionals from across the globe.
      Sydney, Australia’s gateway city and the capital of New  South Wales, is built around  one of the largest, most beautiful harbours in the world with miles of golden  beaches stretching north and south of the city on the shores of the Pacific Ocean.
      
Sydney will be at its best  in April with warm, temperate weather, waiting for you to enjoy all its  attractions including the Sydney Opera House and Harbour Bridge.
      
We will give you a  taste of these wonderful attractions during the social events and tours  arranged for Congress delegates. If you have ever considered visiting Australia,  we can offer  you and your family many  additional reasons to visit us. Australian surveyors have been preparing for  the Congress for several years and as a gesture of our ‘Aussie’ hospitality,  are inviting you for a home visit on one of the free evenings during the  Congress.
      
FIG 2010 will be the  largest surveying Congress in Australia  and the Pacific region in 2010 and will therefore be a major attraction for  Australian and regional visitors as well. We have made special efforts to get  surveyors from New Zealand, Asia and the Pacific islands to attend. FIG 2010 will  include one of the biggest trade shows in FIG history. We look forward to good  attendances at the professional program, the exhibition and customised  technical tours and workshops. 
      
The Congress will be  held at the Sydney Convention & Exhibition Centre. This large purpose-built  facility is set in 50 hectares of parks, gardens, museums, shopping malls and  amusement areas, nestled on the shores of Darling Harbour.  The Convention Centre is conveniently located within close proximity to the  Central Business District and hotels within the area.
      
FIG 2010 will offer an  excellent opportunity to visit Sydney and Australia  and a good reason to combine the trip with some relaxation and the ‘Aussie’ experience. Much will be happening between now and 2010,  so please keep visiting this site and stay up to date with all the latest news,  events 
and movements of our famous red shirt army of young ambassadors for  Sydney 2010.
      We look forward to  meeting you for an experience of a life time in Sydney in April 2010.
      
Paul Harcombe
      Congress Director, FIG 2010
Dear Colleague, 
      The FIG  Congress Sydney 2010: Facing the Challenges – Building the Capacity will  be the highlight of the four-year term of office of the current FIG Council and  Commissions. At the congress we will have a full professional programme  consisting of more than 80 technical and poster sessions, several workshops,  pre-congress seminars, and special forums. The technical programme will offer  space for 600-800 papers. We expect more than 2,000 participants from almost  100 countries to attend. Thus there is no doubt that Sydney 2010 will be the  global venue of all surveying activities in April 2010 - and the place for all  land professionals to be. 
    
From the professional programme I want to highlight the grand  style opening ceremony, the four plenary sessions focusing on the hot issues of  the global agenda and of our profession: namely the big challenges – climate  change, disaster risk management and good land governance; spatially enabled  society; and different aspects of the technological futures. As novelties at  the congress we will introduce a special Forum for the Chief Executive Officers  of National Mapping and Cadastre Agencies, and a special seminar on Small Island   States and the Millennium  Development Goals. For the first time at an FIG Congress we will offer the  opportunity for presenting both peer review and non peer review papers. We  expect that this will guarantee increasing quality of the papers and also offer  academics a more attractive way to participate in the FIG Congress. 
    
The high level professional programme will offer an unbeatable  reason to visit Australia.  This will also include the opportunity to meet with local experts, who are  contributing both to the technical programme and making introductions during  the exciting technical tours. I would also like to mention the exhibition,  which will be the biggest in the southern hemisphere in 2010 and even alone be  a major attraction.
    
I know from my personal experience through several visits that  the Australians can provide a first class congress with the special “aussie”  hospitality – something not to be missed.
    
I look forward to meeting you all in Sydney.
      
Prof.  Stig Enemark 
      FIG President 
Dear Colleague, 
The Surveying and Spatial Sciences Institute, (SSSI) is an amalgamation of the Institution of Surveyors Australia and the Spatial Sciences Institute and looks forward to welcoming you ”down under” in 2010.
This is the second time Australia is hosting the FIG international Congress in Australia, so we want to welcome all surveyors, land professionals and spatial science experts to Sydney in 2010. It is our pleasure to invite both those who have been in Australia earlier, or even attended FIG 1994 in Melbourne, again to Australia as well as those of you who are planning your first visit. I can guarantee that the Australian surveyors and surveyors in New South Wales have done their utmost to make your visit memorable. I can also assure that from a professional point of view there is lot to see and learn from our experiences in Sydney, New South Wales and Australia.
The Surveying and Spatial Sciences Institute comprises some 2,500 members across Australia and New Zealand, who work within Government, Education and the private sector. Our members are involved in a diverse range of activity, falling generally within several of the FIG commissions, and including Land administration, Cadastral Surveying, Remote Sensing, Photogrammetry, GIS, Hydrography, Mine and engineering Surveying and education.
Australian Surveyors and Spatial Scientists embrace the FIG definition of a surveyor for its broad terms, acknowledging that not all apply to all members. In addition to surveyors we also welcome other geo-related professionals to FIG 2010 such as valuers and planners.
An International Congress is for most of us a window of opportunity we rarely see. It is a time to meet fellow professionals from other parts of the world, to hear their issues first hand, and to reflect on solutions proposed or implemented by others and how that may apply to the local situation. Our issues are surprisingly similar, as are our challenges; therefore the solutions are also likely to have a degree of commonality. Much more than this, the Congress is a time to look at the bigger picture, reflect on organisations such as the UN, and World Bank and Millennium Development Goals and how Australia fits into the world picture.
    	
I cordially invite all members to attend  this event and to enjoy the technical and social aspects and the opportunities  that this event provides.
I welcome you all to “down under” in April 2010.
Michael Giudici
		SSSI President	
Standard Registration: 8 March 2010 
        Late Registration:        After 8 March 2010
        Accommodation: Deposit non refundable at 08 March 2010
        A minimum one night’s deposit must be paid or credit card details given  at time of booking to guarantee reservation. 
Please click here to view the FIG 2010 Final Invitation and Call for Papers Brochure.
Please click here to view XXIV FIG International Congress - Australia 2010 promotional video
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