Surveying & Spatial Sciences Institute

Autumn 2011 Report

Hi Members,
Welcome to 2011. I hope those that had a summer break enjoyed their time off. As we are all aware our interstate and overseas counterparts have not enjoyed a restful summer. We have seen devastating floods and storms across the eastern seaboard, fires creating havoc across Perth’s outer suburbs, and more recently the earthquake in Christchurch. These events raise a key issue that most spatial professionals in our industry are trying to resolve every day – how do we consume and share the most valuable resource: information?

During a disaster, data quickly becomes information of varied formats and accessed by a wide range of groups. It therefore becomes a very important commodity. The general population want to know where the event is, where it is moving, and how it will affect them. On the other hand, decision makers and operational emergency personnel need information to plan and protect people from harm – and in extreme cases to evacuate them to safe zones. Finally, there is the unenviable part of a disaster that is identifying loss, and the process to recovery. All sectors throughout the process need spatial data to maximise the likelihood of the best possible outcome.

I put this question out to our members: where are South Australia’s core spatial datasets? Where is the single point of truth of this information? And, can we deliver this information to the public in minutes or hours? What position would South Australia be in

GIS Maturity Level. Why are people rated so low?

if an extreme disaster stuck us tomorrow? Would government be able to deliver information through its investment in GIS technology and data? Or, would the private spatial industry, or social media sharing, become the window to the world?

While asking these questions, I reflect on something we take for granted, not appreciating the importance of them until they’re gone – the people; the glue of our organisations. People add value to our business and are the knowledge custodians of our business information. When a crisis hits, these are the people we trust to do the job right, and to know the right people to talk to. They understand the importance of professional networks, both informal and formal. It is unfortunate that a few weeks back South Australia lost SICOM (Spatial Information Committee), the only remaining forum where all these people could meet and discuss sharing of spatial information. For all involved its great worth in creating a collaborative forum for the public and private sectors, academia, and industry bodies like SSSI and SIBA, SICOM had no legislative mandate to action change in South Australia.

I challenge members and the spatial community in South Australia; if we don’t share our information freely or don’t have collaborative working groups with authority to act on behalf of South Australian’s, what are we doing with all the information?

I would like to congratulate Penny Baldock who became a Fellow of SSSI last month and the first female Fellow in South Australia.

Gary Maguire

Chair SSSI SA