GIS, BIM, surveying & spatial applications in Southern Africa
Issue 106, July 2019
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Editor’s note: Geotech – not only a business tool but an urgent social development necessity

To deal with the Western Cape’s gang problem President Cyril Ramaphosa deployed the South African National Defence Force, eliciting mixed reactions. Citizens know all too well that the army cannot solve social and economic problems (Simone Haysom and Mark Shaw articulate the complexities underpinning the problem very well in this column). Solving socio-economic problems firstly requires quality intel on the situation, carefully-planned interventions, and assessing their effectiveness meticulously. Economic growth is the first and most important step towards starting to address our country’s many social problems.

The time and opportunity for the geospatial profession to influence economic growth have never been greater and more urgent, not only because geotech is an extremely efficient and cost-effective process/tool/solution for economic growth, but because its extremely wide range of applications in every aspect of government and the private sector offers a remarkable return on investment.

Take satellite and aerial imagery for example – the highest quality-data-to-acquisition-speed and cost-ratio available. It is of immense value to every single government department. A single dataset, made available publicly and employed widely, can unlock immense economic growth and upskilling opportunity, setting the wheels in motion for economic growth, decreasing unemployment and starting to address the myriad social problems South Africa faces. The UK’s Geospatial Commission is expecting to turn its 40-million pound a year investment into a 11-billion (with B) pound value.

With political will and decent investment, how much more value can we not achieve in South Africa?
European GNSS initial service restored

Galileo initial navigation and timing services have experienced ongoing interruptions since 12 July 2019, but the services have been restored on 18 July 2019. Update: 18 July 2019 Services recovered Malfunction explained as equipment fault at...

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New transport authority for integrated spatial development

The Gauteng Transport Authority Bill was recently adopted by the Provincial Legislature as a vital step for integrated transport planning and co-ordination of public transport operations across the province. The Transport Authority will cover the ...

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www.ee.co.za
Basic spatial unit frame to harmonise spatial datasets

The development of the Basic Spatial Unit frame is a first step in shedding new light on the complexity of the South African landscape and seascape. A technical team from Stats SA...

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Automation benefits for drone businesses

Geospatial insights are in high demand and automating the feature extraction process is key to scaling up aerial mapping services. Along with the hardware and software sectors, the drone services market is the largest segment...

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www.ee.co.za
Upcoming events

SA GeoTech 2019
22 – 23 July 2019

SA GeoTech 2019 is CPD accredited for two points and features a great speaker line-up, under the theme " Geotech to drive new business opportunities and economic growth”. Taking place at Emperors Palace on 22 and 23 July 2019, it brings together leading industry experts to discuss cutting-edge hardware and software technologies, information systems and solutions for all sectors.

Digital Transformation Congress 2019
30 July 2019

The Digital Transformation Congress will take place at the Sandton Convention Centre. Topics to be discussed include preparing your workforce for the digital age, discovering what digital transformation maturity is and highlighting its benefits, exploring the business impact of AI, and digitally transforming the manufacturing industry.

Future Leaders in Mining Seminar
6 – 8 August 2019

The Wits Mining Institute’s Future Leaders in Mining is a three-day seminar for 21st century mining held at the University of the Witwatersrand. Future leaders, especially women in mining, graduates, supervisors and managers in the mining sector are invited to attend. Topics have been designed to support, empower and develop future leaders in mining, and include the future of work, mining into the future: 21st century mining, financial acumen, transformation in mining, and personal mastery: self-awareness, mentoring, coaching and networking.

ITSSA AGM
28 August 2019

The the Intelligent Transport Society South Africa (ITSSA) AGM will take place in Pretoria, and reports back to members on the activities in the year under review, as well as elects the board of directors.

More details in Events Diary
Survey to understand South Africa’s BIM users

BIM Community Africa is conducting a survey to gather users’ thoughts on BIM adoption and its impact on their work. This information will be used to both inform the industry and to help improve the tools and information the non-profit organisation provides in order to support their members’ and the industry’s BIM efforts. The results of the survey will also be published in PositionIT once available. You can take the survey here: https://forms.gle/8x1kjBVg5pmzZkNo6droppable-1563525124596
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