News in 2011

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The participants at the conference

Over a two day workshop the African Task Force objectives were to understand what the barriers of entry to the profession are especially relating to women and young people, to add value for participants through a learning experience to enable them to act as agents of change and to outline and develop a range of tools that are capable of being used by member associations that will make a difference in their recruiting strategies. This workshop brought together decision makers and practitioners from several African nations.
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Participants at the international symposium

Structural failures such as collapses of bridges and buildings and geohazards caused by events such as landslides, ground subsidence and earthquakes are world-wide problems that often lead to significant economic and life losses. The symposium provided a forum for sharing latest research results, ideas and experiences in monitoring deformations of both natural phenomena and man-made structures. About 200 leading experts, researchers, industry practitioners and students from 27 countries and regions gathered for the Joint International Symposium on Deformation Monitoring (JISDM 2011). FIG was represented by Chair of Commission 6 Gethin RobertsRead more ...

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Keynote session of the 3rd Cadastral Congress.

President CheeHai Teo joined the 3rd Cadastral Congress in Warsaw, Poland. The theme was ‘Cadastre in sustainable spatial management’. The Congress was organized by Association of Polish Surveyors in close cooperation with the Head Office of Geodesy in Poland. About 150 participants from 19 countries joined. Issues discussed were the future of Cadastre (Cadastre 2014plus), cadastral reforms in local and global scale – integration of the technical and legal part of cadastre, cadastre in the field of disaster management and cadastre in the European Union. Read more ...

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At the opening of the Training Course

The 3rd International and Professional Training Course for Young Surveyors was an excellent and memorable event, organized and sponsored by the Consiglio Nazionale Geomtetri CNGGeL (the National Association of the Italian Surveyors) and Geoweb (the technical company which belongs to Consiglio and provides all information about the Italian Cadastre to the Italian surveyors), in collaboration with HARSE (Hellenic Association of Rural and Surveying Engineers). Altogether 50 young surveyors participated  Read more ...

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The participants at the conference

The International NSDI Conference was organized by the Agency for Real Estate Cadastre (AREC) and the Faculty of Civil Engineering. FIG and EuroGeographics were co-organizers. FIG was represented by Vice President Chryssy Potsiou, who presented the 2011-2014 Work Plan of FIG and its major targets. The conference was also supported by the World Bank, the Netherlands Kadaster, Swedesurvey AB, City of Skopje, GDi GIS Data, IGEA Mak, as well as by Asseco SEE.
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  • FIG General Assembly 2012 - Call for bids to host FIG Working Week 2015 or 2016

    The FIG General Assembly will select at its meeting in Rome, Italy 6-10 May 2012 the host and venue for the FIG Working Week 2015 and FIG Working Week 2016. The member associations have been invited to consider making a bid to host the Working Week 2015 or 2016 together with FIG. The Council has prepared bidding guidelines for making the bid. These guidelines explain in detail the information that is required for a successful bid. Decision on the host of the two Working Weeks will be made in Rome based on proposal from the Council and evaluation report prepared by the FIG Office. deadline for making the bid is 30 November 2011. Any association that is interested to host the FIG Working Week in 2015 or 2016 is requested to contact FIG Director, email: louise.friis-hansen@fig.net
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Electronic Sand Art Presentation at the Opening Session depicting the optimism and hope in this inaugural High Level Forum

The United Nations First High Level Forum on Global Geospatial Information Management was attended by 350 participants from 90 Member States together with 22 representatives from the United Nations and 37 representatives from international organizations and the private sector. At the opening session, the Prime Minister of Korea stressed that geospatial information is most fundamental and essential to support joint efforts in resolving global issues. Read more ...
President Teo also attended the UN Committee of Experts on Global Geospatial Information Management during his visit in Seoul. The Committee of Experts met for the first time after the successful conclusion of the United Nations First High Level Forum on GGIM on 27th October 2011. Read more ...

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JBGIS meeting at the UN-GGIM Forum

The Joint Board of Geospatial Information Societies held a meeting on the sideline of the United Nations First High Level Forum on Global Geospatial Information Management in Seoul. The meeting was attended by eight of the ten member organizations. Chair of the Joint Board, Professor William Cartwright, was included as a member of the “extended” Bureau for the United Nations Committee of Experts on Global Geospatial Information Management, underlying the necessity for international professional geospatial societies to work collaboratively and to have a collective voice within the United Nations system.  Read more ...

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President CheeHai Teo attended the 44th Council Meeting of the ASEAN Federation of Land Surveying and Geomatics hosted by the Survey and Mapping Society, Thailand, an Institutional Member of AFLAG in Bangkok. Dr. Wicha Jiwalai, from Thailand and President of AFLAG, chaired the meeting.
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Click picture for bigger format  The CSDILA Family

The Land Administration Forum and associated workshops was coordinated through the PCGIAP Working Group 3 on “Spatially Enabled Government” and the University of Melbourne’s Centre for SDIs and Land Administration (CSDILA). President CheeHai Teo attended this forum as well as the 4th Land Administration Forum for Asia and the Pacific “Beyond Spatial Enablement” and Tenth Anniversary Celebration of the Centre for SDIs and Land Administration, University of MelbourneRead more ...
President Teo also visited RMIT University in Melbourne
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The Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) undertakes a survey on the business value of open standards. The last OGC survey (with less focus on this topic) was in 2008, and therefore every contribution is valuable. The survey takes 15-20 minutes. More information and survey link:
http://www.opengeospatial.org/pressroom/pressreleases/1496 

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Prof. Karl-Friedrich Thöne, President of DVW making his plenary presentation.

The world biggest tradeshow in surveying and geomatics business gathered more than 16,000 visitors from 80 countries to see 800 exhibitors. The focus at INTERGEO 2011 was very much on the geodata infrastructure, sensors and 3D mapping. The INTERGEO conference titled "Knowledge and Action for Planet Earth" attracted 1,500 participants to listen to 140 presentations on 40 main topics. FIG was represented at INTERGEO by Vice President Rudolf Staiger that made a welcome address at the opening ceremony. Read more ...

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Participants visiting the German-Austrian state boundary at Zugspitze

FIG Commission 7 held his annual meetingin the wonderful city of Innsbruck, Austria culminating with the high level International Symposium Cadastre 2.0. This meeting welcomed delegates from 30 countries among them FIG Vice President Chryssy Potsiou, former Chairs of Commission 7 Andrzej Hopfer, Ian Williamson, Paul MunroFaure and András Osskó. Without any doubt, issues related to land administration and cadastral perspectives are still of very high interest, namely in regard of citizens’ involvement, crowd sourcing and social medias. Read more ...

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Vice President Greenway with the Congress organisers

The Geodetic Society of Bosnia-Herzegovina became a Member Association of FIG in 2010, and invited Vice President Greenway to attend the Congress 2011, held 28-30 September 2011 to make a presentation on the work of FIG to the delegates.Over 200 professionals attended the congress, from Bosnia-Herzegovina and surrounding countries.Those responsible for the cadastre face a number of particular challenges. Some of these relate to the loss of cadastral records in the recent war; others to the legacy of differing cadastral systems in the country. Read more ...

Click picture for bigger format  Stig Enemark and Hu Cunzhi

The FIG Office hosted a delegation from China Land Surveying and Planning Institute, Ministry of Land and Resources led by Chief Planner Hu Cunzhi, who came to visit the FIG Office, and to explore about FIG, the Danish Association of Chartered Surveyors and Aalborg University. The purpose of the meeting was to deepen mutual understanding and strengthen the cooperation between MLR and the global surveying community. Read more ...
  • FIG Commission 3 Workshop and Commission 3 Annual Meeting in Paris, France, 25-28 October 2011 - Invitation as a .pdf file

    The Empowerment of Local Authorities: Spatial Information and Spatial Planning Tools is the title of this years meeting and workshop. The aim is to study the impact of spatial information and spatial planning tools on economic, social and environmental aspects of local authorities in general, and on the empowerment of local authorities in particular. The aim is also to investigate the international knowledge and practice on how surveyors may assist real estate markets, good governance, environmental management and planning initiatives by providing reliable spatial and relevant infrastructures. Visit Web site and read full Invitation.

  • Vice President Rudolf Staiger attends FIG Commission 5 and 6 Workshop „Innovative Technologies for an Efficient Geospatial Management of Earth Resources“

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    Participants of the workshop in front of the Genghis Khan Monument

    The workshop on “Innovative Technologies for an Efficient Geospatial Management of Earth Resources” was organised by FIG Commission 5 and 6 together with the Mongolian Association of Geodesy, Photogrammetry and Cartography (MAGPC) and the Siberian State Academy of Geodesy (SSGA) in Novosibirsk. Early Warning and Crisis Management – the Role of GI and Spatial Data Infrastructure” was the title of a Round-Table-Discussion. The workshop was the first of its kind in Mongolia and was very well organised. Read more...
  • Representatives from FIG attend 11th South East Asian Survey Congress, 22-24 June 2011, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

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    FIG was well represented at the Congress

    CheeHai Teo, President FIG, Ahmad Fauzi Nordin, chair of the Organizing Committee, Christiaan Lemmen, Director OICRF, Michael Sutherland, chair of Commission 4 (Hydrography) and Robert Šinkner, Chair FIG Commission 10 (Construction) participated in the Congress which had an excellent programme. The Minister of Natural Resources and Environment opened the proceedings and urged surveyors to be ‘well prepared to take on new challenges - to venture into new areas of discovery and development, through shared knowledge and creative innovations'. The congress covered a broad range of the survey profession.  Read more...
  • UN Creates Expert Group to Consult on Managing Geospatial Information


     

    The United Nations ECOSOC made history on 27 July 2011 in Geneva by establishing a new intergovernmental body, the UN Committee on Global Geospatial Information Management, to bring together, for the first time at the global level, government experts from all member states to consult on the rapidly changing field of geospatial information. FIG welcomes this initiative, intends to contribute towards this global mechanism that aims at extending the benefits of geospatial information for the betterment of society, environment and economy. Read more...
    UN Press release
  • FIG Annual Review 2010

The FIG Annual Review 2010 is now available (32 pages, 3.55 MB) as a .pdf-file.
Hard copies have been mailed to all members together with the minutes from the General Assembly in Marrakech. To receive your personal copy, please contact the FIG office, email: FIG@fig.net.


Invitation brochure.

The third FIG Commissions 5 and 6 Workshop on “Innovative Technologies for an Efficient Geospatial Management of Earth Resources” will be held for the first time in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia, 4-8 September 2011.The Workshop is organized by the International Federation of Surveyors (FIG), Mongolian Association of Geodesy Photogrammetry & Cartography (MAGP&C) and Siberian State Academy of Geodesy (SSGA). See invitation brochure.


FIG Fanfare at the Opening Ceremony.

Moroccan ministers and President CheeHai Teo, FIG and President Aziz Hilali, ONIGT after the opening.

The biggest exhibition in the history of FIG Working Weeks at the Palais des Congrès.

Moroccan music entertained participants at the welcome reception.

The FIG Working Week "Bridging the Gap between Cultures"  and the XXXIV General Assembly was held in Marrakech, Morocco from 18 to 22 May 2011. The Working Week included also the 6th National Congress of the Ordre National des Ingénieurs Géomètres Topographes (ONIGT) that was the local host of the Working Week.
FIG 2011 turned out to be the biggest FIG Working Week ever both in the size of the exhibition and the number of participants. More than 1,500 participants from 90 countries attended. The technical programme comprised of more than 90 technical sessions, workshops and special forums. Total number of presented papers was almost 450. The Working Week was held at the fully packed Palais des Congrès in Marrakech. Read more...

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General Assembly in Morocco

FIG General Assembly 2011 was held during the Working Week in Marrakech, Morocco. 50 member associations with almost 300 participants attended the first session. The second session was attended by 48 member associations and about 250 participants representing all member categories as well as observers. At this General Assembly, FIG appointed immediate past President Prof. Stig Enemark as an Honorary President. Read more...

FIG Working Week and General Assembly 2011 was held in Marrakech, Morocco 18-22 May 2011. Technical programme included more than 500 presentations in 90 sessions and forums.

The Local Organising Committee of FIG Working Week 2011 visited Marrakech 3-4 May 2011 to discuss the security and other last minute issues with national and local authorities.

After the visit of LOC to Marrakech 3-4 FIG President CheeHai Teo has given the following statement 6 May 2011:
"FIG welcomes the efforts of ONIGT, the local co-organizer, to engage various authorities including the Ministry of the Interior and the Governor of the Marrakech Region to implement appropriate arrangements and measures aimed at assuring the security and safety of all participants at the upcoming FIG Working Week. FIG thanked the Moroccan authorities for their continuing support and assurances, as well as all the additional measures taken. We look towards a successful Working Week."

Read more in the full report.

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World Bank Land Conference in April.

The 2011 edition of the World Bank’s Land Conference continues to bring together policy makers, practitioners, professionals and participants from academia and civil societies. This year’s event included country specific focus on improving land governance at country level from Brazil, PR China, Ethiopia, Ghana, India and Rwanda. President CheeHai Teo attended the Conference and chaired the session on "Making Land Administration Accessible" on the morning of 20th April. Read more...

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ED Joan Clos, UN-HABITAT and President CheeHai Teo.

President CheeHai Teo attended the 23rd Governing Council of UN-HABITAT in Nairobi 11-15 April 2011 and met with the Executive Director Dr. Joan Clos during his visit. President Teo made a courtesy call on Dr. Clos during the Governing Council; the meeting was also attended by Mr. Mohamed El-Sioufi (Head, Shelter Branch, Global Division), Ms. Clarissa Augustinus (Chief, Land, Tenure and Property Administration Section, Shelter Branch) and Mr. Danilo Antonio (Global Land Tools Network Secretariat, Land, Tenure and Property Administration Section). It was a most cordial meeting, the first between the newly appointed Executive Director of UN-Habitat and FIG.
The resolution on “Sustainable urbanization through equitable access to land, housing, basic services and infrastructure” was adopted at the 23rd Governing Council of UN-HABITAT, Nairobi, Kenya, 15th April 2011.  Read full report ...
  • e-Consultation on the Zero Draft of the FAO Voluntary Guidelines on Responsible Governance of Tenure of Land and Other Natural Resources
    An e-consultation on the zero draft of the FAO Voluntary Guidelines on Responsible Governance of Tenure of Land and other Natural Resources will take place from 18 April to 16 May 2011. The e-consultation website and the zero draft will be available in Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Russian and Spanish. Comments may be submitted in any of those languages and will be hosted on the Voluntary Guidelines website (http://www.fao.org/nr/tenure/voluntary-guidelines/e-consultation/en/). The aim of the consultation is to gather comments on the zero draft of the Voluntary Guidelines and to allow interested parties who were not able to attend the regional consultations held over the year to contribute in the drafting of the Voluntary Guidelines. Comments from this e-consultation will be considered in the first draft of the Voluntary Guidelines which will be submitted in June to the open-ended working group of the Committee on World Food Security (CFS) for review. The work will peak in the CFS led plenary negotiations from 25-28 July 2011. Final text of the Voluntary Guidelines will be submitted for the consideration of the 37th session of the CFS in October 2011.
    As part of FIG/FAO co-operation agreement FIG is circulating this information to FIG members to allow them to comment this key document of FAO.
  • FIG President CheeHai Teo visits the Institution of Surveyors of Kenya - Nairobi, Kenya, 13 April 2011

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    President Teo together with ISK President Kuwuor and ISK board members.

    In connection to the 23rd Governing Council of the UN-HABITAT President CheeHai Teo visit the Institution of Surveyors of Kenya (ISK) as well as gave a lecture to surveying undergraduates on the 13th April 2011 in Nairobi. The event was facilitated by the Department of Geospatial and Space Technology, University of Nairobi and the audience comprised members of ISK and students from both the geospatial and land economy programs at the University. Read more...
  • FIG Working Week 2012 to Be Held in Partnership with FAO - FIG Delegation Visits Rome to Prepare the Working Week Programme - Rome, Italy, 8-9 April 2011

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    FIG, FAO and CNGGL representatives at the balcony of CNGGL in Rome.

    FIG Working Week 2012 will be held at the Rome Cavalieri Hotel in Rome 6-11 May 2012. The conference is hosted jointly by FIG and the Consiglio Nazionale Geometri e Geometri Laureati, CNGGL. The main themes of the conference will be "Knowing to: Manage the territory Protect the environment Evaluate the cultural heritage. These themes that will guide the three days of the technical conference were endorsed during the visit of the FIG delegation to Rome on April 8 and 9, 2011. The visit was at the same time the first official visit of President CheeHai Teo to a FIG member association. President Teo accompanied by Vice President Chryssy Potsiou and FIG Director met with President Fausto Savoldi, CNGGL and his board members. The visit included discussions also with representatives of UN FAO and it was confirmed that FAO will be partnering FIG at the 2012 Working Week in Rome. Read more...
  • Third Preparatory Meeting of the Proposed United Nations Committee on Global Geospatial Information Management, UN, New York, USA, 4–6 April 2011
The Third Preparatory Meeting of the Proposed United Nations Committee on Global Geospatial Information Management was held at the UN Headquarters in New York in April 2011. FIG was represented by President CheeHai Teo. The meeting was attended by 22 UN member states, primarily from geospatial or national mapping authorities, five UN entities that includes the convenor, UNSD and apart from FIG, GSDI, ISCGM, ICA, ISPRS, EUROGI, JB-GIS and IHO. Read more... 
Click picture for bigger format. The Land Administration Domain Model (LADM) has been published as a Draft International Standard by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO), as ISO 19152. P-Members of ISO/TC 211, Geographic Information/Geomatics, can comment on the draft and are in the position to vote on continuation of the development. Liaisons to ISO/TC 211, such as FIG, can also comment on the draft. The deadline for voting and comments is 20 June 2011. The development of this standard is an initiative from FIG. It is a comprehensive, extensive, formal process with a continuous review and a continuous, creative approach to find common denominators in land administration systems and included data sets. Read more...

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FIG Council 2011-2014.

FIG new Council and new Commission chairs started their four-year term of office 1 January 2011. The new Council is led by President CheeHai Teo and the members are: Vice Presidents Dalal S. Alnaggar (Egypt),  Iain Greenway (United Kingdom), Chryssy Potsiou (Greece) and  Rudolf Staiger (Germany) and Michael Sutherland (Canada/Trinidad&Tobago) as the ACCO Representative (2011-2012). The first task for the Council and Commissions is to finalise their work plans and prepare the Working Week in Marrakech in May 2011.
  • 20th Anniversary of the Albania Association of Geodesy (AAG) and 1st General Conference, Tirana. Albania, 22 January 2011  

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    Dipl. Ing. Bledi Stefa, President of AAG, and Prof. Chryssy A Potsiou, FIG Vice President.

    The Albanian Association of Geodesy celebrated its 20th anniversary since its establishment and organized a one-day Conference in Tirana on the 22nd of January 2011. The conference was a historic event as it was at the same time the 1st conference of AAG. During these past 20 years Albania and its Association of Geodesy (AAG) have both walked in the path of progress. AAG became a member association of FIG at the congress in Sydney. More than 400 participants attended the conference, most of them surveyors from Albania and the neighboring countries in the Balkan region. FIG Vice President, Prof Chryssy A Potsiou represented the Council at the conference. Read more...
  • Courtesy Visit to Director General of Survey and Mapping Malaysia - Kuala. Lumpur, Malaysia, 3 January 2011

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    Dato’ Prof Dr. Abdul Kadir Taib, Director General of Survey and Mapping Malaysia and Mr. CheeHai Teo, FIG President.

    On 3rd January 2011, Prof. Dr. Abdul Kadir Taib, Director General of Survey and Mapping Malaysia cordially received Mr. CheeHai Teo, FIG President at his office in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. The Director General also chairs the Land Surveyors Board, the regulatory authority for the land surveying profession in Malaysia. FIG President thanked the Director General for his continuing support for FIG and his attendance at the recent FIG Handover Ceremony.
    During the visit, various matters were discussed including the standing and advancement of the profession in Malaysia, the active participation of the Department’s officers at FIG events, as well as the support of the Department in particular, the Government of Malaysia in general for the XXV FIG Congress in 2014.  Read more ...
  • Four months to go - Preparations Well Under Way for FIG Working Week 2011 - Rabat and Marrakech Morocco, 11-14 January 2011

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    Local organising committee members at the conference venue.

    FIG representatives visited Rabat and Marrakech 11-14 January 2011 to discuss and agree on final arrangements of the Working Week with the Ordre National des Ingénieurs Géomètres Topographes (ONIGT) and the local organising committee on practical arrangements. The team led by Dr. Dalal S. Alnaggar, FIG Vice President are convinced that the organising committee and local surveyors had made their utmost to guarantee a big, professionally interesting and socially unbeatable conference. Read more ...

Global Land Tool Network, Partners’ Meeting 15 -16 November 2011 Nairobi, Kenya organised by UNHABITAT and GLTN

The Partners of the Global Land Tool Network met in Nairobi during November 2011 to fulfil a commitment to convene a Partner’s Meeting every two years. The meeting aimed to further strengthen partnerships towards sustaining the paradigm shift in the development and implementation of pro-poor land tools and approaches, and the adoption of alternative land tenure and land management systems to improve tenure security within the land governance framework. This was the fourth such meeting.

Special Stamps to commemorate the Struve Meridian Arc


Finnish stamps on Struve Arc.

FIG Permanent Institution on History has worked to promote the positive image of the surveying profession and has introduced the Struve Meridian Arc at the World Heritage List of UNESCO. The Struve Arc has now been introduced on special stamps in both Finland, Sweden and Latvia.
The Swedish stamp is showing a portrait of W. Struve and theodolite. The Latvian stamp is also covered with a portrait of Struve and theodolite with triangulation of Latvia and market stone. The Finish stamp is shown above.

In Estonia, the Observatory of Tartu (central point of the struve Meridian Arc) has been restored and officially opened by the President of Estonia on 27 April 2011. Together with surveyors from many countries, FIG was represented by Jan de Graeve, President of the IIHSM. Read more about Struve Meridian Arc in FIG Publication no 50 15 June 2011

2nd CROPOS Conference held in Zagreb, Croatia 8 April 2011

Click picture for bigger format The 2nd CROPOS Conference was held on 8 April 2011 in Croatia organized by State Geodetic Administration and the Faculty of Geodesy of the University of Zagreb, in cooperation with the Croatian Chamber of Licensed Geodetic Engineers and Croatian Geodetic Society. The objective of this Conference was to familiarize the geodetic and wider public with the implementation of the new, official geodetic datum and plane cartographic projections of the Republic of Croatia as well as with the introduction and application of the T7D unique transformation model that was launched in official use on 31 March 2011, upon the decision by the Director-General. There were many international invited lecturers and interesting presentations.
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