Blog / Podcast

The Surveyors’ Trust has awarded Point Share Plus an Encouragement Award during its recent Intellectual Property Award round.

Point Share Plus is an online point cloud platform launched by the PointSharePlus team in 2018.

The platform was developed with the goal of making point clouds accessible for everybody in the spatial industry without the need to purchase or install expensive point analysis software.

However Nat Marsden and Majid Doost say the greatest benefit of their platform is its sharing capabilities.

“Our platform has been designed to give individuals access to large amounts of data from laser scanners and drone flights, as well as the ability to share this data across large construction teams,” said Mr Doost.

“Gigabytes and gigabytes of data including 3D models can be uploaded, measured, shared and analysed quickly across large teams locally and globally. This storage, analysis and sharing capability was very limited prior to our platform and surveying firms faced challenges dealing with slow and cumbersome files,” added Mr Marsden.

Point cloud data is the product of 3D laser scanners and photogrammetry that capture millions of points at very high speeds, creating a 3D visual environment of the points around the objects. The platform incorporates data from lidar, 3Dmodels and UAV images.

Point Share Plus allows users to browse large amounts of data very smoothly using an internet browser. The user can conduct measurements of distances, angles, heights, radiuses and coordinates. Large 3D model importing and analysis will also be released this week, which is a major development milestone.

Intellectual property ownership has also been strongly considered in the development of Point Share Plus with the owner retaining protection over their data and strong ability to determine how the data is shared and manipulated.

In the future Point Share Plus will include cloud computation for volume calculations and comparisons as well.

Anthony Schmidt, Chairman of The Surveyors’ Trust has applauded Point Share Plus on its vision and commitment to the surveying industry.

“We believe that five years from now this platform may well be adopted globally to benefit surveyors in all locations. It is our pleasure to work with Point Share Plus to bring this vision to life and add value to the spatial industry worldwide,” said Mr Schmidt.

For more information, please visit www.pointshareplus.com to see what has been created to date and to look at work samples.

The Surveyors’ Trust has instituted an annual award for projects or activities that are of significant impact to the recognition of the surveying profession in the following categories:

1. The creation, identification, and definition of new intellectual property
2. The management of existing intellectual property
3. The commercialisation of intellectual property
4. The protection of intellectual property
5. The raising of awareness of surveying and spatial intellectual property

The annual award for the project or activity with the most impact is a cash prize of $50,000. If no submissions reach the level of impact sought by the judges, up to two encouragement awards of $5,000 may be awarded in any year.

Results in 2020

Five submissions were made for the 2020 Intellectual Property Award. In the opinion of the judges none were demonstrated to be sufficiently impactful to earn the major prize.

Two submissions were awarded an encouragement award:

Ian Mathieson — Tenure Solutions

This company is developing a tenure system which is much wider than the commonly recognised land registry to take into account formal cadastral systems and other tenures based on use, custom, etc. The development seems well advanced but the application of intellectual property principles is in its early development.

It does involve measurement of the tenure and proposes the involvement of surveyors to significant extent. There is opportunity for the incorporation of surveyor’s intellectual property to be advanced with future developments of the system.

Majid Doost — Point Share Plus Pty Ltd

Point Share Plus (PSP) is an online point cloud platform for storing, viewing, sharing and analysing any type of point cloud data-sets and 3D models. It’s objective is to become a leading provider of online viewing of point cloud data across many different industries.

Development appears to be advanced and has potential to be an important tool for the surveying industry. The application does not address the issue of intellectual property ownership of the point cloud data and how that is to be handled in terms of protection, commercialisation, etc. but there is scope to complete the development to include that area for the benefit of the business and the surveying industry.

The Intellectual Property Award 2021

The Surveyors' Trust will again be running its annual award for projects or activities that are of significant impact to the recognition of the surveying profession. Entries will open in approximately February 2021 with details to follow.

The Surveyors’ Trust is a successful not for profit that has raised significant funds to grow and protect the spatial industry.

This success has been made possible due to a decision that was challenged and passed in the High Court of Australia in the early 1990s where surveyors were recognised for copyright ownership of the plans they create.

Prior to this, agencies would copy and re-use survey plans without permission or payment back to the surveyor and the situation was eroding the industry.

“It was like a recording artist who gets their music used without royalties being paid or an author having somebody else taken their written works and claim them as their own,” said Mr Anthony Schmidt, Chairman, The Surveyors’ Trust.

“The Surveyors’ Trust had a vision that it executed to champion and protect the rights of surveyors and we have been successful on that front. We now have an excellent model where members pool their royalties and we invest these funds to strengthen our industry,” he added.

To celebrate this world-first achievement and shine greater light on the importance of intellectual property rights for surveyors, The Surveyors’ Trust is running an inaugural Intellectual Property Competition.

“Professionals or firms who have been involved in identifying, protecting, innovating or commercialising intellectual property that advances the spatial industry are invited to apply for the chance to win $50,000,” said Mr Schmidt.

“This competition helps us tell the story about the world-first achievement made by the Trust and applauds the work being done by others to advance our industry,” he added.

Applications close 5pm AEST 28 March 2020. For more information and to apply, visit: https://www.thesurveyorstrust.org.au/IP-Award-2020

***Ends***

For more information, photos or interviews, please contact Megan Walker on 0417 602 390. 

In this interview, James Derksen, Surveying Associate, Surveyors at Work Cadastral, Kawungan Qld (pictured left with Caroline Morgan and Anthony Schmidt) talks about what he learned and gained from attending SEASC 2019 in Darwin.

James' attendance was made possible as he won a conference prize pack sponsored by The Surveyors' Trust.

James says:

• This was an amazing opportunity to attend the conference, especially one that had attendees from all over the world. It was interesting to talk to people from other countries and learn how they do things
• It was great talking to some of the Surveyors General. These were really interesting conversations and I felt my ideologies for the industry aligned, especially on the topic of survey mark preservation 
• I discovered lots of parallels between the surveying and manufacturing industries
• There's some great work being done to modernise and make access to cadastral plans much better
• There are self-guided drones that can take really accurate measurements and volumes than has ever been possible

Thank you to The Surveyors' Trust for the opportunity to attend the SEASC conference.  

Click here to listen to the podcast interview.

In this interview, Andi Putra from Indonesia (pictured left with Anthony Schmidt and Caroline Morgan) talks about what he learned and gained from attending SEASC 2019 in Darwin.

Andi's attendance was made possible as he won a conference prize pack sponsored by The Surveyors' Trust.

Andi says:

I am a licensed surveyor and I work for the Lands Administration and Lands Agency in Indonesia.

At the conference I learned about the soft and hard skills I will need as a surveyor in the future and the importance of investing in ourselves. I would like to work on my communication skills and  gain new abilities in the field of artificial intelligence as this will be a key part of the future of surveying.

The networking was an important part of attending the conference. I met new people and developed new relationships which was a good experience.

Thank you to The Surveyors' Trust for the opportunity to attend the SEASC conference. 

Click here to listen to the podcast interview. 

In this thought-provoking interview, Caroline Morgan, head of the International Federation of Reproduction Rights Organisations, talks about the significance of surveyors in Australia achieving protection over their intellectual property.

She talks about the challenges surveyors also face in relation to big data, database transfer and monetising their copyright.

Caroline Morgan will present (sponsored by The Surveyors' Trust) at the SEASC conference in August 2019. Her presentation will cover the topics listed above and encourage lively discussion from the surveyors in attendance.

Click here to listen to the 12 minute interview.

At the December 2018 Christmas party, members and guests were honoured to hear an engaging and inspiring address from Mr Sydney Kirkby AO MBE. Mr Kirkby is an Australian surveying and is well known for exploring the greatest amount of land mass of Antarctica.

See the video below:

 

The Surveyors' Trust is a significant sponsor of the recent Consulting Surveyors National study into the future demand, supply and skills gap of surveying and geospatial professionals.

We are delighted to present you with a copy of the report "Determining the Future Demand Supply and Skills Gap for Surveying and Geospatial Professionals".

This detailed report includes:

• Workforce capability state of play and outlook for every state and territory of Australia
• End-use sector demands across the property, construction and mining industries
• Education enrollments and qualification completions
• Demographic ageing of the existing workforce and its impact on retirement within the surveying profession
• Productivity growth driven by new technologies, practices and systems

Here are some of the key findings:

• Surveying and spatial scientists will be in a capability deficit position at the national level for the next five years to FY2023
• It will not be until the mid 2020s when the capability deficit sustainable swings back towards surplus
• New South Wales and Victoria are currently experiencing the largest workforce gaps of all states and territories in Australia
• Undergraduate commencements and completions in geomatics engineering degrees have increased
• The surveying profession has also been able to boost supply, albeit perhaps temporarily, as older surveyors have stayed in the profession for longer
• Workforce gaps are likely to remain over the next five years despite a correction in residential activity as governments roll out more transport infrastructure and as the private sector increases investment in non-residential building and mining

In our fifth podcast interview we interview Dr Karen Joyce, Education Director of She Maps.

She Maps is about bringing diversity into science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM) so that traditional sectors sector benefits from greater diversity.

The Surveyors' Trust is proud to be partnering with She Maps to introduce the concept of surveying to students in primary and public schools across Queensland.

The Surveyors' Trust interview with Dr Karen Joyce from She Maps

Kids Use Drones to Find Queensland’s Coolest Schools

In a Queensland-first, students from over 200 private and public schools will use drones and satellite data to map how much shade they have on their school grounds in the hope of winning the ‘Coolest School in Queensland’ title.

The project, run by She Maps and funded by The Surveyors’ Trust, supports the development of digital technologies education in Queensland.

Each school that participates gets free online Drone Essentials and Mapping Essentials training for their teachers, which has already been delivered to over 300 teachers online. Over $400 of resources are provided to each teacher for free.

The winner of the ‘Coolest School in Queensland’ title will be announced at the Australian Geography Teachers’ Association on the Gold Coast in October. Over $2,000 worth of prizes will be given to the winning schools.

Dr Karen Joyce, Education Director of She Maps, says that drones are fast becoming a central part of classroom learning.

"Students understand how drones can be used in industry applications and then work out how much shade they have on their school grounds using satellite images and spatial data skills. The program meets the curriculum needs of teachers and the future skill requirements of our students."

Mr Anthony Schmidt, Chairman of the Surveyors’ Trust, who are sponsoring the project, has committed to raising the profile of the surveying industry while giving teachers and students essential skills.

"This project is a great way to promote our industry and transfer practical skills to the next generation through the exciting use of drone technology."

The resources are aligned to the Australian Curriculum and support the Queensland Drone Strategy which specifically emphasises the need to bring drone technology into schools across the state. The project has been developed with an understanding of Education Queensland’s requirements and talking to their STEM team regularly.

Queensland Teachers can register for the online Drone Essentials Teacher Professional Development at any time via www.education.shemaps.com/qld (a Queensland education email address is required).

Who is She Maps?

When many people think of a scientist, they imagine someone (often male) in a lab coat working with a microscope or test tubes. Our vision of science is far broader. And we need a diversity in science disciplines beyond the labcoat, and a diversity in ideas from people of every race, colour, sex, and religion, in order to solve the problems of the future. Our purpose at She Maps is to bring diversity into how we perceive science, and who does it.

We provide online and face to face learning that gives students and teachers confidence in trying new technology and to explore solutions to real life problems. We use drones as a central part to our programs - because they are fun and are going to be a large part of our lives in the future.

Who is The Surveyors’ Trust?

The Surveyors’ Trust is a vibrant community of surveying and spatial professionals. We work together as a collective – pooling the royalties we receive from the sale of the plans that we develop. These pooled funds are invested in capital and education projects to achieve recognition and sustainability for the surveying and spatial industry.

Media Enquiries

She Maps: Paul Mead, Managing Director, 0432 469 500.

The Surveyors’ Trust: Mr Anthony Schmidt, Chairman, 0412 214 724.