Commission 2
NEWSLETTER, October 1998
To the National Delegates of FIG Commission 2
Dear Colleagues
In this newsletter there is a lot of information about Commission 2 new
working period. I wish that you find it useful. I have collected information
about the "new staff" of Commission 2 as well as recent and forthcoming events.
Please, let me know if there is any question or other topic you want to discuss.
Introducing your new staff
The previous newsletter which you received was from professor Stig Enemark
in July. He wrote about Brighton Congress as well as closed his period as a
chairman of Commission 2. I have been very lucky to be able to work with Stig as
a vice-chair for four years and I try to follow the way he showed. However new
and unexpected situations may come as well as new challenges. I try to do my
best in chairing Commission 2 and I very much appreciate your support as well as
all communication between us. Let us be in contact and let me know if you have
any ideas concerning the development of Commission 2 work.
I give you a short introduction of myself. My name is Kirsi Artimo and I am
45 years old female professor in Helsinki University of Technology. I was
graduated as an architect in 1977 and after that made my postgraduate studies at
the Department of Surveying, where I doctorated in 1984. My specialities are
digital cartography and geoinformatics. I have now been working for 10 years in
university environment but before that I used to work in private sector as well
as in governmental offices. I have a family with two children (19 and 13) and
husband who also is a surveyor. I have been quite active with FIG since 15
years, I used to be the secretary of Commission 2 during the period 1883-86.
The vice-chair of Commission 2 is professor Pedro Cavero from Spain. The
secretary of Commission 2 is Mrs. Marjaana Laurema from Finland. I am very lucky
to have these people involved and I hope that also Pedro and Marjaana will enjoy
working for Commission 2.
The contact data of all of us you will find in the end of this letter. In all
questions, please contact any of us three, we try to help you.
Brighton Congress
Brighton congress was a success in many ways. Commission 2 had alltogteher 35
papers in 11 sessions. The main topics in the presentations as well as the
mainstream of discussion in general were focused on :
- the rapid development of information technology and other technologies
- the general trend of globalization
- sustainable development and
- the evolving requirements of clients.
Special topics in Commission 2 sessions were
- management of change, which happen in social, technological, political
and environmental sectors
- the changing role of the surveyor from the traditional static profile to
a new flexible one - we were once again reminded that instead of safe single
job for life every surveyor must be able to plan his/her careers and be
prepared for continuous lifelong training
- computer assisted learning which seems to be changing into an integrated
concept of virtual academy - this topic will be dealt with in one of the
becoming working groups
- students and their participation is an evergreen topic for our
commission - in the future there might be connections also with the new task
force on underrepresented groups in surveying under this topic.
Stig Enemark had worked hard for Brighton congress and the result was a big
success. We had largest program what Commission 2 ever had as well as very
active participation. Thank you Stig for your work for Commisson 2 - we all wish
that you will continue with us in the next period and let your experience to
support and guide our future work!
Commission meeting in Brighton
A commission meeting was held in Brighton on the 21st
July , 1998. 22 participants were present and we had a lively discussion mainly
concentrating on the new established working groups. On the home page of
Commission 2 you will find a list of the participants as well as their email
addresses.
Introducing the new working groups of Commission 2
In the following I will very briefly introduce the new working groups which
were established in Brighton. If anyone of you is interested, please contact the
chair and come to WG work. We need active members in each group.
The new working groups are:
WG 2.1 Management skills, professional competencies and CPD policies (chair:
Chris Hoogsteden, NZ)
WG 2.2 Virtual academy - distance learning (chair: Henrik Haggrén, FIN)
WG 2.3 University curricula - content competencies, trends and assessments
(chair: Jud Rouch, USA)
WG2.4 Surveying students (chair: Pedro Cavero, SP)
In Appendix 1 there is a short version of Commission 2 working plan for the
period 1998-2002. More information about working groups you will find on the
home page of Commission 2.
Seminar in Wuhan
Just a couple of weeks ago in October 14.-16.1998 we had Commission 2 Seminar
in Wuhan Technical University of Surveying and Mapping (P.R.China). The seminar
was part of WG 2.3 work with the title "University Curricula, Teaching Method,
Quality Assurance".
The seminar was organized by professor Liu Yanfang who is the dean and vice
president of WTUSM. In the seminar two days program we had 11 presentations. A
proceedings has been published with 38 written papers.
There were more than 40 participants present, mostly Chinese university
teachers but also students. From Commission 2 in addition to myself Stig Enemark
was present as well as John Parker representing Commission 1. We three gave also
our presentations as well as extra lectures for Chinese students, It was a real
experience to give an ad-hoc lecture in front of 200 enthusiastic Chinese young
people!
After the seminar we made a technical tour to Yangtse river and its Three
Gorges. This tour was something what we will remember for the rest of our lives
- a scenery which will be under water in the next future, the water level will
be raised more than 160 meters because of the new dam. We were able to walk
still once the ancient stairs which will sooner or later no more be there - more
than three hundred steps up and down - without the young Chinese boys who
carried our bags we (John Parker, Stig Enemark and me) would not have managed
this tour.
I want to thank the organizers of the Seminar in Wuhan and especially Liu
Yanfang who was the responsible organizer as well as the core person of this FIG
event. Thank You !
There will be more information about Wuhan seminar on Com 2 home page.
Future events and activities
One of the most important things in the next future is to organize our home
page. Stig Enemark has promised to support the management of our page until FIG
will have an own webmaster. So, quite soon you will find updated data about
Commission 2 in web.
Stig has also promised to continue with the development of educational data
base, you will hear about the progress later.
The next FIG event is the Symposium and working week in South Africa, Sun
City next May ( 30.5.-4.6.1999). Mr. Lance Nel is organizing the program and
Commission 2 will have there three sessions. Please, take this event into your
schedule. You will get more detailed information on the symposium in the next
newsletter. The next annual events of FIG will be held in Prague 2000, Soul 2001
and the next Congress in Washington DC in 2002.
I wish good luck and success to all of you and hope that many of us could
meet in the next future during some of the annual events of FIG
Sincerely yours
Kirsi Artimo
