The European GNSS Agency (GSA) takes part in the General Assembly of the Council of European Geodetic Surveyors (CLGE), laying out the benefits of EGNSS for the surveying community and helping to launch a dedicated special prize for EGNSS-related achievements in the CLGE student contest.
Speaking at the CLGE’s 2015 General Assembly in Limassol, Cyprus, GSA’s Market Development Team spelled
out the new opportunities that EGNOS and Galileo can provide for surveyors. Of particular focus was the essential role that surveying data plays for a wide range of businesses – across the private and public sectors and from land, water, marine, construction built resources to heritage, tourism, transport, planning, environment, and more.
Also read: EGNOS for Surveying GNSS Market Report
Since the 1980s, traditional surveying techniques have gradually been replaced by satellite positioning technologies based on GPS. Now, with EGNOS, and with the impending arrival of Galileo and its proposed interoperability with GPS, the precision and accuracy of survey- and mapping-related operations will be further enhanced, while those same operations will be easier to carry out.
Expressions of Interest
Participants at the General Assembly noted a “very high interest” in Galileo. A sizeable part of the reference network station providers confirm that they are Galileo-ready and are looking forward to the signal. Additionally most surveying-related GNSS receivers are also now Galileo-ready.
Other EGNSS-related topics of interest at the meeting included so-called ‘smart cities’, unmanned aerial systems (UASs) and their use of satellite data, and proactive disaster management.
Watch: EGNOS for Surveying Video
The event proved to be an excellent opportunity for the GSA to not only raises awareness of Europe’s satellite navigation programmes among the surveying community, but also to gather new requirements from this important user group.
The CLGE represents and promotes the interests of its members in both Europe’s private and public sectors and it acts as a permanent forum for European geodetic surveyors committed to European cooperation. Its activities aim to promote the exchange of technical, scientific, educational and organisational know-how among Member States, along with providing assistance to governments, national associations and EU institutions.
Every year, the CLGE organises a student contest aimed at rewarding young people for their work in various surveying-related areas. In the previous years there were three categories:
- Geodesy, Topography,
- GIS, Mapping and Cadastre and
- Students and youngsters engagement.
This year, for the first time, the organisation has added a fourth category with the support of GSA – Galileo, EGNOS and/or Copernicus. This year, with the help of the GSA, the organisation has added a fourth category – Galileo, EGNOS and/or Copernicus. This category seeks to encourage research in the field of practical applications of the European efforts in Galileo, EGNOS, Copernicus. The work can focus on one of these topics or a combination of two or even three topics. For the time being, the participation of the academic contributors is restricted to bachelor and master students (except for the third category, students and youngsters engagement).
Sign Up: More information on the CLGE Student Content
One winner in each category will receive a cash prize of €1000 and will be invited to attend the special awards event. Students must send in their papers by 3 August 2015, with prizes being awarded at the INTERGEO conference on 15 September 2015.
More Information
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