Activity on the day will be getting up to date on education and skills and the need to identify exactly what is needed to make further progress in meeting the challenge of recruiting, training and providing a qualification pathway for young people in the UK who are interested in pursuing a career in geospatial.  As a profession, we need to understand what the next steps are that everyone can take, in order to build on progress already made.

This inaugural Geo:Influence event is taking place at Dudley College on Wednesday 14^th May from 10.00 until 13:00. We are delighted to say that so far sign-ups include representatives from a wide range of surveying and civil engineering companies, along with educational and academic institutions.

A panel will lead the discussion and update delegates with current excellent progress on the important education and skills initiatives already being put in place. However, the focus is very much on creating a tangible plan to take away, with key action points for everyone to carry out.

Katie Holt, TSA Manager, who has been one of the main organisers of the event, says:

“We are centring this day around identifying ways in which we can all work together to come up with effective solutions to improve education and skills in the geospatial profession. I am delighted with the enthusiasm expressed by many of those planning to come. We’re looking forward to an exciting and energising day!”

The agenda for the day is as follows:

09:30                Refreshments

10:00                Welcome and panel updates from key contacts

10:30                Discussion in groups

11:15                Break & networking

12:00                Feedback & actions

13:00                Lunch & finish

If you are interested in attending this event and collaborating with others to find effective ways to improve skills and opportunity within the geospatial profession, please contact office@tsa-uk.org.uk.

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Most of the discussion on the day surrounded the forthcoming Geo Business Show in London. The SLG was a major driver in pulling the show together in 2014 and remains one of the primary movers for the show in 2015. With just two weeks to go, the show is again looking like a real winner and a superb advert for the UK surveying market. Over twenty countries are represented in the 177 exhibitors list that have already booked and there are no stands left now despite almost doubling the floor space from last year. Pre-registered attendee figures are up from last year and the conference bookings are going well too. In addition to the conference, there is a total of 143 workshops going on so anyone attending will have a very full day. The gala dinner is almost sold out too.

One area of co-operation within the SLG has always been the cross endorsement of guidance notes and information guides produced by the members of the group. As an experiment it has been agreed to try to form a joint mapping panel to produce a document which will be promoted as an SLG note. The first one is on the subject of Monitoring and the panel will consist initially of two members from each of TSA, RICS and ICES. This panel will not replace the work that is already carried out by the three parties on behalf of their own members but will hopefully demonstrate the active cooperation that is now in place in the UK.

A discussion also took place on the question of apprenticeships following Richard Maltby’s presentation at the TSA AGM. It will be interesting to see if the new government will make it easier for these schemes to be established and how it will affect the UK’s survey industry. An update on The Survey School was given which is currently going from strength to strength and totally vindicates TSA’s decision to take over the running of it.

Further updates were given on the status of the Survey4BIM group, the progress of the ICES’s drive towards Chartered Engineer, Incorporated Engineer and EngTech and the current position in regard to the UDMG.

All in all a productive three hours well spent in excellent company. The next meeting will be held in November of this year.

The post Survey Liaison Group (SLG) Newsletter appeared first on Geospatial Survey Association.

The Survey Liaison Group (SLG) held its latest meeting in London at the end of October. For those of you that are not aware of the work or even the existence of the group, it is perhaps worth starting with a few words of introduction.

The name of the group was originally the Industry Liaison Group and was set up in the 1980’s by RICS, ICES and TSA with the intention of becoming THE voice for the UK Survey Industry. After a few meetings however it rather lost its way and nothing happened for a number of years. In 2006, with the advent of a new Secretariat at TSA, the group was reformed and named as the SLG or Survey Liaison Group. It was felt that this name better reflected the aims and intentions of the group. Since that time, the group has met twice a year and continues to do so.

It is fair to say that many organisations and individuals are blissfully unaware of the group, other than the members of the group, so at the recent meeting it was decided to issue a regular newsletter for relevant partners and groups and this is the result.

So what are the main aims of the group? The Constitution of the SLG states:-

Provide transparency as to what the three different organisations are doing to ensure we were not overlapping, duplicating or carry out conflicting activities,

Endorse each other’s documents where relevant,

Work together on industry events such as exhibitions and/or conferences,

Collaborate on endorsing survey education and training courses,

Collaborate on survey industry training and education activities.

You will note the use of the word Survey in the title of the group which it is felt more accurately describes the work of the majority of 3D data collectors. Geomatics and Geospatial Engineering are also used worldwide but are less well known, especially by clients which must always be the focus of any promotion.

The SLG as before with the ILG still comprises RICS, Chartered ICES and TSA with TSA running the secretarial services and hosting the website. It has achieved many things in the past few years such as endorsement of each other’s guidance notes and client guides and this was the ethos behind the group originally to avoid duplication of effort in the survey industry. Cooperation is vital within such a small work sector and the best example of the cooperation has been the introduction and joint promoting of the very successful Geo Business Show 2014 held in Islington last May. The group was joined by the AGI for the show and that organisation continues to have an interest in the work of the SLG.

Latest meeting

The latest meeting discussed a number of issues affecting all the parties involved which included future events, education issues, joint conferences, policy and a host of other matters. James Kavanagh on behalf of RICS has been visiting the accredited Universities to update them on the work of the RICS. Bill Pryke on behalf of ICES spoke about the recent award of the Richard Carter Prize given to Alison Watson for her sterling work in Schools. Graham Mills on behalf of TSA spoke about the recent takeover of The Survey School in Worcester by TSA which everyone in the market agrees is a very positive step forward for survey education in the UK.

One of the hot topics in the UK now is BIM and a number of conferences are being run on this topic. The RICS and ICES are both running BIM conferences in February and March respectively and it is hoped that in due course the SLG will be able to promote a joint conference on the topic. There is also slight concern about the proliferation of conferences and shows on the topic of UAVs/SUAs, or Drones as the media is determined to call them.

The last few weeks have seen two important launches. The RICS has released its latest Measured Surveys of Land, Buildings and Utilities 3^rd edition. For this and other guides produced by RICS go to: http://www.rics.org/ TSA has totally redesigned its educational website for budding surveyors. To see this go to: www.becomeasurveyor.com

And finally

As stated above, the SLG wishes to get its message out there. So this is where you join in. If there are any issues that are having an impact on your organisation and that you believe the SLG could help with, please let us know. For the time being you can contact us at office@tsa-uk.org.uk Once the website is up and running, the full contact details will be on there.

Feel free to distribute this newsletter to anyone that might be relevant to the work of the group and we hope to hear from some of you, if not all, in due course.

Current participants:

TSA – Graham Mills, Rory Stanbridge and Rachel Tyrrell

RICS – James Kavanagh and Chris Preston.

ICES – Ian Bush and Alan Barrow.

The post Survey Liaison Group (SLG) Newsletter appeared first on Geospatial Survey Association.

Reference source for rail survey professionals earns RICS endorsement

The Survey Association (TSA) has produced a free, guidance document for professionals carrying out survey work on Britain’s rail network.

The new Railway Surveys Guidance Note is endorsed by the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) and can be downloaded free of charge from www.tsa-uk.org.uk

The material includes key information on the necessary planning and certification required to carry out survey work safely and to the required detailed specifications and standards set by Network Rail, who own and manage the majority of the country’s rail infrastructure.

The document also highlights some of the latest railway survey techniques and makes recommendations for the safest methods to achieve complete and accurate results within a limited time frame.

A useful bibliography lists relevant National Rail Group Standards sources for further detailed technical and best practice examples.

The Guidance Note was compiled by members of TSA’s Technical Committee in association with Chris Preston, Senior Engineer with Network Rail’s Technical Services, Track and Civils Team.

Chris Preston said, “With the safety of all involved at the forefront and consequently, very limited access time, it is crucially important that when public money is spent on railway surveying it is undertaken in the most appropriate manner and in the longer term may be used to augment Network Rail’s corporate asset information. The TSA Guidance note along with the NR Group standards should go a long way to addressing this.”

A five year plan, backed by a £38 billion government investment to transform the UK rail network was announced by the Department of Transport earlier this year.

The most significant modernisation of the railway system since the Victoria era includes 850 miles of electrification, line speed enhancements, new station hubs and transformational railway routes such as HS2 and Crossrail.

TSA member companies continue to play a significant role in all aspects of the feasibility, design, construct and as built of these and many other planned railway projects and improvements.

The new Guidance Note updates and expands on TSA’s previous Client Guide to Working on the Railways.

TSA produce a number of leaflets intended to provide members and their clients with information on various aspects of surveying and the procedures and regulations which may govern how a particular aspect of the survey is carried out.

All the available TSA Client Guides and the more detailed Guidance Notes are free to download from:

www.tsa-uk.org.uk/for-clients/guidance-notes/

Ends

For further information, interviews or images contact Ruth Badley PR on 01423 884063 or 07929 420 360 or email ruth.badley@btconnect.com

Notes to Editors

The Survey Association, known generally as TSA, is the trade body for commercial survey companies in the UK. The association was formed in 1979 to give a focus for private sector businesses in land and hydrographic survey.

The association has over 140 companies in membership as full, associate, supplier, affiliate or academic members directly involved in the survey business. The full and associate member companies together employ over 2500 people.

The role of TSA is to promote best practice amongst its members, provide a forum for members for discussion, debate and continuing professional development and to the wider audience such as engineers, provide guidance on new methods and techniques and a list of suitably qualified and experienced companies.

TSA is also heavily involved in lobbying Government and other agencies such as the Environment Agency regarding policies likely to affect or involve the survey industry.

TSA meets regularly with the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) and the Chartered Institution of Civil Engineering Surveyors (ICES) on a range of issues and has established the Survey Liaison Group (SLG). This body convenes at regular intervals to examine matters of mutual interest and to ensure that there is little or no duplication of effort by the three bodies.

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The official remit of the Group is as follows:

“The Survey Liaison Group, more commonly known as the SLG, is an independent board consisting of three organisations, RICS, Chartered ICES and TSA. It was established to try to find consensus on common issues of concern and to ensure that duplication of effort between the three bodies is reduced for the benefit of the UK survey industry as a whole.

The SLG meets twice each year to discuss matters of mutual interest or concern for the three partners. Meetings are usually held at the RICS in Westminster. The board is chaired on a rotational basis, each organisation holding the post of chair for a two year period. All secretariat services are provided by TSA.

The SLG bodies operate primarily in the geomatics/geo-spatial/mapping and civil engineering areas of practice with some involvement in digital imagery and marine surveying.” 

The Group began as the Industry Liaison Group, many years ago and was a fairly relaxed arrangement.  TSA officially took over the report writing and provided an admin focus for the Group from 2008.  Present at the meeting yesterday, hosted generously by RICS, were James Kavanagh (RICS), Ken Hall (ICES), Stuart Edwards (RICS), Rory Stanbridge (TSA), Graham Mills (TSA) and Rachel Tyrrell (TSA).

The Agenda items stay mainly the same, covering Exhibitions, Education, Policy and Joint Events.  A major success has been the agreement to have the joint badging of Client Guides and Guidance Notes produced by TSA and RICS.  Not only does this help prevent duplication of effort, it also ensures that the right topics are being covered in the right way.  Ideas, future plans and also any concerns are all aired in a very positive and constructive environment.  It is good to talk – but with the SLG it doesn’t stop there, good communication is just the foundation to getting things done.  Roll on November and the next meeting!

The post Together we are stronger appeared first on Geospatial Survey Association.

The official remit of the Group is as follows:

“The Survey Liaison Group, more commonly known as the SLG, is an independent board consisting of three organisations, RICS, Chartered ICES and TSA. It was established to try to find consensus on common issues of concern and to ensure that duplication of effort between the three bodies is reduced for the benefit of the UK survey industry as a whole.

The SLG meets twice each year to discuss matters of mutual interest or concern for the three partners. Meetings are usually held at the RICS in Westminster. The board is chaired on a rotational basis, each organisation holding the post of chair for a two year period. All secretariat services are provided by TSA.

The SLG bodies operate primarily in the geomatics/geo-spatial/mapping and civil engineering areas of practice with some involvement in digital imagery and marine surveying.” 

The Group began as the Industry Liaison Group, many years ago and was a fairly relaxed arrangement.  TSA officially took over the report writing and provided an admin focus for the Group from 2008.  Present at the meeting yesterday, hosted generously by RICS, were James Kavanagh (RICS), Ken Hall (ICES), Stuart Edwards (RICS), Rory Stanbridge (TSA), Graham Mills (TSA) and Rachel Tyrrell (TSA).

The Agenda items stay mainly the same, covering Exhibitions, Education, Policy and Joint Events.  A major success has been the agreement to have the joint badging of Client Guides and Guidance Notes produced by TSA and RICS.  Not only does this help prevent duplication of effort, it also ensures that the right topics are being covered in the right way.  Ideas, future plans and also any concerns are all aired in a very positive and constructive environment.  It is good to talk – but with the SLG it doesn’t stop there, good communication is just the foundation to getting things done.  Roll on November and the next meeting!

The post Together we are stronger appeared first on Geospatial Survey Association.