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					 Most of the Participants at the 2012 FIG Commission 7 Annual 
					Meeting
 | FIG President CheeHai TEO joined FIG 
					Commission 7 Delegates at its 2012 Annual Meeting in San 
					Luis, Argentina. The annual event included a One-day 
					International Symposium with the theme “Land Governance in 
					South America and International Perspectives”. Read more...
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							 Participants at the Regional Conference
 
							
							 Tango in Uruguay...
 | The 8th FIG Regional Conference 
							titled "Surveying towards Sustainable Development" 
							was held in Montevideo, Uruguay 26-29 November 2012 
							with more than 250 participants from all over Latin 
							America and all other continents, altogether 33 
							countries. The successful Regional Conference in 
							Uruguay proved that Latin America is a very 
							interesting area both for the Surveying society and 
							for hosting a conference. The local host of the 
							Regional Conference was 
							Asociación de Agrimensores del Uruguay (AAU) 
							who organised the conference in cooperation with 
							FIG. The conference was co-sponsored by 
							UN-HABITAT,
							OAS, and the World Bank.  The main focus both in the plenary sessions and 
							the technical sessions were on the Latin American 
							region and during the conference there were many 
							professional  discussion within the different 
							areas of surveying between participants from the 
							region and from all over the world.Read more...
 
							Links: |  
		
			
				
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					 Very special greeting for President CheeHai TEO
 | FIG President made another working visit to 
					Abuja, Nigeria between 20 and 21 November 2012 as part of 
					the lead-up to the 2013 FIG Working Week. During the visit, 
					apart from continuing the discussion with the Nigerian 
					Institution of Surveyors on their preparation, President 
					CheeHai TEO delivered the 30th Annual Olumide 
					Memorial Lecture on 20th November 2012. Read more...
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					 HKIS President, Ms Serena LAU
 | The Hong Kong Institute of Surveyors held 
					their annual dinner on the evening of 6 November 2012 at the 
					Grand Ballroom of the Grand Hyatt Hong Kong. Ms Serena 
					LAU, HKIS President welcomed members and guests to what 
					was a grand evening. Read more...
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					 Most of the Participants at the 2012 FIG Commission 7 Annual 
					Meeting
 | FIG Commission 7 held its 2012 Annual 
					Meeting in San Luis, Argentina. The annual event included a 
					One-day International Symposium with the theme “Land 
					Governance in South America and International Perspectives”. 
					FIG President
					CheeHai TEO joined FIG commission 7 delegates. Read more...
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					 Acting Surveyor General of Brunei Darussalam, Awang Haji 
					Ali Bakar bin Kassim
 | The Survey Department, Ministry of 
					Development Negara Brunei Darussalam, celebrated its 60th 
					Anniversary with a one-day seminar. The theme of the Diamond 
					Jubilee Celebratory Seminar was “Geospatial for Sustainable 
					Development”. FIG President CheeHai TEO was invited 
					and delivered the keynote at the opening segment of the 
					Seminar. Read more....
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 | On 15 November 2012 the Economist awarded 
					successful innovators. Jack Dangermond, president of 
					the Environmental Systems Research Institute, ESRI received 
					the computing and telecommunications award, together with 
					John Hanke, vice-president of product management at 
					Google. Read more...
 FIG Congratulates its Platinum 
					Member, ESRI! |  
			
		
		
			
				
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  | Geo-matching.com is an initiative from FIG 
					corporate member Geomares Publishing. Geo-matching is the 
					independent product comparison website for professional 
					hard- and software for geomatics and adjacent fields. The 
					website leads you through the maze of specifications and 
					gives the opportunity to compare products of different 
					producers, read up on reviews given by users, in order to 
					reach a balanced judgment before buying. 
 For more information about Geomatching please visit:
					
					http://www.geo-matching.com/
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						| 
						 | On1 November 2012 the 'Land 
						Administration Domain Model (LADM)' was approved as an 
						official International ISO Standard . This is a 
						milestone in the development of land administration 
						systems.The proposal for this standard was submitted by 
						FIG to ISO almost five years ago. Read more....
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						 FIG Office visits Nigerian Institution of Surveyors
 | FIG Working Week 2013 is not far away 
						and the very active members of Nigerian Institution of 
						Surveyors are working intensely to organise an exciting 
						and successful Working Week. FIG Office visited Abuja to 
						coordinate the preparations and also got a chance to 
						meet the Surveyor General of the Federation and SURCON. Read more....
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						 President Teo visits The Danish National Survey and 
						Cadaster
 | The Danish National Survey and 
						Cadaster, KMS has initiated an agreement that improves 
						and links public registers of basic data and makes data 
						available to the private sector. Once the public 
						authorities have tidied up, merged all data and stopped 
						parallel registration, annual savings in administration 
						is estimated to amount to DKK 260 mio (35 Mio EUR) in 
						2020. Basic data includes private addresses, companies' 
						business registration numbers, or the cadastral numbers 
						of real properties. Read more....
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						 | The Conference was supported by FIG, 
						and held in the Hotel International in Zagreb. A wide 
						range of topics and distinguished keynote speakers 
						guaranteed interesting presentations. One of the 
						presenters was Dr. Chryssy Alex. Potsiou, 
						FIG Vice-president. Read more....
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						 Eva-Maria Unger, FIG Young Surveyors being interviewed 
						after Opening Ceremony (image courtesy of Lilia 
						D'Alesio)
 | Fifty young surveyors from 17 countries 
						participated in this year’s training course. Areas of 
						study included topographical and geometric surveys, 
						production of large-scale orthoimages, GNSS surveys, 
						geodetic reference systems, RTK, photogrammetric and 
						LIDAR surveys, geo-referencing of cadastral maps, remote 
						sensing and structural monitoring and deformation 
						surveys. Read more....
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						 Dr. Joan Clos, Executive Director of UN-Habitat
 | The theme for the Forum was “the urban 
						future”. In his opening speech, UN-Habitat Executive 
						Director Dr. Joan Clos said the Forum provided 
						UN-HABITAT with the perfect chance to listen to what the 
						stakeholders had to say and that it is the 
						responsibility of his agency to relay to governments 
						what the participants wanted done. FIG Young Surveyors 
						Network through Kate Fairlie and Eva-Maria Unger 
						actively participated in the Forum. Read more....
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						 The second session of the UNCE-GGIM was convened at the 
						United Nations Headquarters in New York
 | UNCE-GGIM was established to be the 
						official United Nations consultative mechanism on place, 
						locality and geography. UNCE-GGIM plays a leading role 
						in setting the agenda for the development of global 
						geospatial information, while promoting its use to meet 
						key global challenges. In his opening remarks, United 
						Nations Under-Secretary-General for Economic and Social 
						Affairs, Mr. HongBo WU said that understanding and 
						analysing geospatial information has become a key driver 
						of competition and underpins new waves of productivity 
						growth, innovation and services. Read more....
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						 Some of the participants at the session hosted by the 
						Moscow University of Geodesy and Cartography.
 | The International Federation of 
						Surveyors has six members from within the Russian 
						Federation, in all four membership categories. The 
						Federal Agency for Geodesy and Cartography (ROSREESTR) 
						and the Non-Commercial Partnership of Cadastral 
						Engineers are Member Associations, Moscow University of 
						Geodesy and Cartography and the State University of Land 
						Use Planning are Academic Members, the Siberian State 
						Academy of Geodesy is an Affiliate Member and Meridian+, 
						a Corporate Member. Together, they invited President 
						CheeHai TEO to Moscow and to interact with FIG’s members 
						from the Russian Federation.  
						Read more.... | 
			
			
				
					
						| 
						 Jack Dangermond, President ESRI with John 
						Hohol [right], President FIG Foundation.
 | This year’s American Congress of Survey 
						and Mapping (ACSM) Annual Conference is also the ESRI 
						Survey Summit, organised by and co-located within ESRI’s 
						Annual User Conference at the San Diego Convention 
						Centre, California. The ESRI User Conference annually 
						attracts a huge number of participants and this year is 
						no different, approximately 15,000 participants from all 
						over. Read more.... |  
		
		
		
			
				
					| 
					 Vice Minister Deming Xu showing Dr Paul Cheung 
					and other official visitors to NASG Headquaters in Beijing 
					the model of the China’s Geomatics Park being developed near 
					the Beijing Capital Airport
 | The Forum  provided a platform to discuss 
					priority issues for the regional implementation strategy of 
					the UN-GGIM initiative, and was organised by the National 
					Administration of Surveying, Mapping and Geoinformation 
					(NASG) of China organized jointly with the Secretariat of 
					the United Nations initiative on Global Geospatial 
					Information Management. The Forum provided a better 
					understanding of key issues that UN-GGIM and international 
					organizations need to focus on; an appreciation on the 
					importance of consultations at global, regional and local 
					levels to agree and pursue strategies towards managing all 
					information spatially.  
					Read more... | 
		
		 
			
						 
			
		 
		
			
				
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			 Young surveyors conference.
 
  Kate Fairlie making the welcome address.
 | More than 120 Young Surveyors from 40 countries joined the 
					first FIG Young Surveyors Conference held in Rome, Italy, 
					4-5 May 2012. The network manifests across social media, 
					which was prominent during this event. The Young Surveyors Conference created a platform for young 
					surveying professionals to explore common issues and 
					identify future opportunities. The ambition was to increase 
					young surveyor participation in the FIG Commissions, to 
					provide with a voice for young surveyors in the future of 
					the profession and  FIG, and to offer a more informal 
					platform for presenting than at the traditional FIG 
					conferences. 
	Read more....
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			 The participants at the seminar
 | The IAG, (International Association of Geodesy), FIG 
					Commission 5 and ICG (International Committee on GNSS) held 
					a technical seminar prior to the Working Week, on 4-5 May 
					2012 with 42 active participants. UNOOSA (United Nations 
					Office for Outer Space Affairs) generously sponsored 4 
					delegates to attend this seminar. The two days included 
					presentations and discussions. |  
		
		
		
			
				
					| 
					
					 Mr Justin Lin, Senior Vice President and Chief 
					Economist, World Bank and Prof. Paul Collier, 
					Professor of Economics, Oxford University at the Opening 
					Session
 | Within this year’s Conference was the joint 
					World Bank – FIG Segment, Spatial Enabling Governments and 
					Societies for Sustainable Land Administration and 
					Management, renamed as SEGS (Spatially Enabled Government 
					and Societies). The Workshop addressed four issues: Triple A 
					land administration: from concept to implementation; 
					Approaches to lower-cost land administration through spatial 
					enablement; Potential and challenges of spatial enablement 
					of land administration; and Spatial enablement to 
					sustainably support the continuum of land rights. 
					
					Read more... | 
		
		
			
				
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					 President 
					Teo visits Asociación de Agrimensores del Uruguay 
					(A.A.U.)
 | The 8th FIG Regional Conference is decided 
					to be held on 26-29 November 2012 at Radisson Montevideo in 
					Uruguay. FIG is happy to announce a Regional conference in 
					Central America and are looking forward to many participants 
					from the Central American region as well as international 
					participants. President CheeHai Teo and Markku 
					Villikka from FIG Office visited Asociación de 
					Agrimensores del Uruguay (AAU) November 2011 to start the 
					planning of the conference. The Regional Conference is 
					organised jointly by AAU and FIG. 
					Read more... |  
			
						 
			
			FIG General Assembly 2012 - Rome, Italy, 6 and 10 
			May 2012 – 
			Agenda 
			
				
					|  Rome Cavalieri in Rome waiting for FIG General Assembly.
 | The FIG General Assembly will be held 6 and 10 May in 
					Rome in conjunction to the FIG Working Week 2012. The main 
					issues on the agenda will be election of two Vice Presidents 
					(2013-2016) and election of Commission Chairs Elect 
					(2013-2014). The General Assembly will also decide on the 
					hosts of Working Week 2015 and Working Week 2016. The agenda 
					is now available and the FIG Office has sent an invitation 
					and hard copy of the agenda without appendices to all 
					members. |  
		
			
				
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					 | The first FIG Young Surveyors Conference 
					will be held in conjunction with the FIG Working Week in 
					Rome, Italy. The aim of the conference is to create a 
					platform for young surveying professionals to network, to 
					develop a vision for the future of the Young Surveyors 
					Conference and to provide FIG Commissions with ideas on how 
					best to integrate young professionals in the work of FIG. 
					These visions will be presented in a special session of the 
					Working Week. FIG and CNGeGL encourage young professionals 
					to attend. The participation in FIG Young Surveyors 
					Conference also allows easy attendance to the FIG Working 
					week at student fee. 
					Read more... |  
		
		
		
			
				
					| 
					 NIS President 
					Yakubu Maikano and President Teo 
					together with the Deputy Speaker of the House of 
					Representatives Emeka Ihedioha.
 | FIG President CheeHai Teo and FIG 
					Director Markku Villikka visited Nigeria to prepare 
					and discuss with the local organisers the arrangements for 
					the FIG Working Week 2013 that will be held in Abuja 6-10 
					May 2013. During their visit they met with the three 
					Nigerian member associations, representatives from different 
					public institutions and several local surveyors. The local 
					interest and support to the first FIG Working Week to be 
					held in Sub Saharan Africa is huge. It is expected that 
					2,000-3,000 participants will attend this main FIG 
					conference next year. 
					Read more ... | 
		
		 
			
				
					
						|  | The
						
						FIG Annual Review 2011 is now available (32 pages, 
						3.66 MB) as a .pdf-file. Hard copies will be mailed to 
						all members together with the minutes from the General 
						Assembly in Rome. To receive your personal copy, please 
						contact the FIG office, email:
						FIG@fig.net. |  
			
				
					
						| 
						
						 Daniel Roberge and Vice President of OGEC Mr. 
						Joseph Ngassa K. on the Cameroun national radio 
						network.
 | The Ordre des géomètres experts du 
						Cameroun (OGEC) organised an international event to 
						promote the profession of land surveyors in this Central 
						African country. Themes like cadastre and land property 
						in Cameroun and in foreign countries, standards, young 
						surveyors, were presented and discussed. Our colleagues 
						from Cameroun had also the opportunity to present 
						national projects that will improve land infrastructures 
						in their country: the national geodetic network and a 
						pilot cadastre project. 
						Read more ... |  
			
				
					
						| 
						
						 RICS Global President SeeLian Ong, President 
						CheeHai Teo and RICS Chief Executive Sean Tomkins
 | The Royal Institution of Chartered 
						Surveyors, RICS a member association of FIG made history 
						by having its International Governing Council Meeting in 
						Beijing, China PR, the first meeting ever outside 
						Europe. Together with this historic event, an 
						international conference was convened. The conference 
						had participants deliberating and discussing the 
						profession’s fitness for the future, the theme of the 
						two-day event. The conference had a number of sessions 
						including lively panel discussions covering economy, 
						property investment, investment infrastructure, property 
						market outlooks, affordable housing, valuation standards 
						as well as issues related to urbanization and building 
						cities of the future, impact of technologies and 
						innovation and that of land tenure and the vibrant land 
						market. 
						Read more ... |  
			
				
					
						| 
						
						 Plenary session at the Symposium
 | The premise for the symposium is that 
						spatial information and data add valuable dimensions to 
						governance decision making processes and supports 
						societies’ involvement in the governance process in the 
						pursuit of economic, social, political and environmental 
						objectives. It was clear that spatial enablement of 
						government and societies are desirable, and that these 
						desires are not only contemporary but have been 
						trumpeted by geomatics professionals as needs in the 
						governance decision making process, for decades 
						Read more ... |  
			
				
					
						| 
						 | Gerardus Mercator, born at Rupelmonde 
						(present day Belgium) on 5th March 1512 was a remarkable 
						man, a man in his times and provided solutions to his 
						times. He was a surveyor, a cartographer, an engraver, 
						an instrument maker who is best remembered by the 
						Profession for the map projection that bears his name 
						till this day, the Mercator Projection. It is fitting 
						that the Council of European Geodetic Surveyors (CLGE) 
						has chosen to celebrate the First “Day of the European 
						Surveyor and Geoinformation” on the 500th anniversary of 
						Mercator’s birth, on 5th March 2012 in Brussels, 
						Belgium. 
						Read more ... |  
		
		Securing Land Rights for All - Strengthening 
		Partnerships - Global Land Tool Network Partners Meeting, 15-16 November 
		2011, UNON, Nairobi, Kenya  
			The fourth GLTN Partners Meeting as convened by 
			UN-HABITAT in Nairobi, Kenya on 15 & 16 November 2011 and was 
			followed by a further two days of what is known as “Learning 
			Exchange”. The meeting had a theme “Strengthening Partnerships: 
			Sustaining a Paradigm Shift towards designing, developing and 
			implementing pro-poor land tools and approaches”. 
						Read more ... 
		
			
				
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					 The Twin Tower in Kuala Lumpur was the backdrop for the FIG 
					Council meeting.
 | The FIG Council had its first face-to-face 
					meeting this year in Kuala Lumpur; Malaysia 12-13 February 
					2012. The meeting was organised in conjunction to the 
					UNRCC-PCGIAP International Symposium on Spatially Enabled 
					Government and Society and a one day expert group meeting. 
					The Council confirmed nominations for elections and 
					candidates for Working Week 2015 and 2016 for decision of 
					the General Assembly in Rome in May. 
					Read more... |  
			The FIG Foundation will be providing research 
			grants of up to 20,000 euros spread over two years. Applicants 
			should be based in a surveying/geomatics academic or research 
			programme in a country listed by the World Bank as a low-income, 
			lower-middle or upper-middle income economy, have an established 
			record of published research - at least two articles in good quality 
			internationally recognised peer reviewed journals serves as a useful 
			guideline, and have experience in managing postgraduate students.
			Guidelines 
			for FIG Foundation Academic Research Grants
 
		
		Commission 4 Working Group 4 Workshop in NigeriaFIG Commission 4 (Hydrography) Working Group 4.5 
		(Hydrography in Africa) organised workshop on Hydrography Awareness in 
		Africa, Kogi State, Nigeria, 24-26 October 2011. 
		
		Read the full report...
		FIG General Assembly 2012 - Call for nominations for 
		Vice Presidents and Commission Chairs Elect - deadline for nominations 
		has passed 2 January 2012 
			The FIG General Assembly will elect two new Vice 
			Presidents at its meeting in Rome, Italy 6-10 May 2012 for term of 
			office 2013-2016. The General Assembly will also elect a Chair Elect 
			to each of the 10 Commissions for term of office 2013-2014. The 
			appointed Chair Elect will normally be elected as the Chair of the 
			Commission at the FIG Congress 2014 for the period 2015-2018. 
			Closing date for nominations has passed 2 January 2012.  
				German Initiative on recruitment of Students 
				in Geodesy and Surveying
					
						| 
						
						 | Many countries experience that young people have a 
						lack of knowledge in the field of Surveying and 
						Geodesy and face a decrease in the number of 
						student. A German initiative by DVW has resulted in 
						a web site which is now also published in English. 
						The web site gives a broad overview about Geodesy 
						and its diverse disciplines. Furthermore it provides 
						rich information regarding the study courses 
						(focused on Germany). Have a look at the web site 
						and be inspired how you could also promote the 
						profession in your country. August 2012 
						http://www.arbeitsplatz-erde.de/index.php?id=1&L=1
						 |  
				New general director at the National Agency for Cadastre and 
				Land Registration Romania (ANCPI)
					
						| 
						 | Mr. Marius Arthur URSU has been apppinted new 
						general director at the National Agency for Cadastre 
						and Land Registration (ANCPI). June 2012 
						
						Read more... |  
				The Voluntary Guidelines on the Governance of Tenure were 
				endorsed by the 38th (Special) Session of the Committee on World 
				Food Security (CFS).The Committee: 
					Expressed its gratitude 
					to the Chair of the OEWG, its Members and Participants, as 
					well as the Secretariat, for the successful conclusions of 
					the negotiations, which had been conducted in a transparent 
					and participatory way and in a spirit of understanding;Endorsed the Voluntary 
					Guidelines;Noted that, according to 
					their title, the Guidelines are voluntary and are not 
					legally binding.Encouraged all 
					stakeholders to promote, make use of and support the 
					implementation of the Guidelines when formulating 
					strategies, policies and programmes on food security, 
					nutrition, agriculture and the tenure of land, fisheries and 
					forests;Pursuant to CFS Reform 
					document (CFS:2009/2 Rev.2), paragraph 21, and CFS Rules of 
					Procedure (CFS:2011/9 Rev.1), rule X(1), decided to transmit 
					the Guidelines to the governing bodies of FAO, WFP and IFAD;Pursuant to CFS Reform 
					document (CFS:2009/2 Rev.2), paragraph 21, and CFS Rules of 
					Procedure (CFS:2011/9 Rev.1), rule X(4), decided to request 
					the United Nations General Assembly, through the Economic 
					and Social Council, to further endorse the VGGT and ensure 
					their wide dissemination to all relevant UN Bodies and 
					Agencies;Requested FAO to ensure 
					that the Guidelines are included as a priority in the new 
					Strategic Framework that FAO is developing and in relevant 
					work programmes. August 2012 
				FIG Congratulates The Bureau of Land Management, 
				USA with their 200 year anniversary
					
						|  | The 
						Bureau of Land Management, USA, who is Affiliate 
						member of FIG commemorated 200 years of the General 
						Land Office, its predecessor, on 25th April 2012. 
						The General Land Office was first established on 
						April 25, 1812. The commemoration was held at BLM's 
						Eastern States Office outside Washington DC. FIG was 
						represented by Chair of FIG Foundation
						John Hohol and FIG President CheeHai Teo
						together with BLM's Chief Cadastral Surveyor,
						Don Buhler. 
						May 2012 |  
				Real Estate Valuation Training NepalSeven weeks 'Real Estate Valuation Training' programme was 
				conducted by Nepal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (NICS), 
				who is a FIG Member Association, in collaboration with 
				Purwanchal University Geomatic Institute of Technology from 14 
				March to 30 April 2012.
				
				Read more...   |