This year’s FIG Working Week took place in Accra, Ghana, from May 19 to 24, featuring an extensive program—technical sessions, workshops, a trade exhibition, and numerous side events. FIG is the International Federation of Surveyors. Markus Schaffert represented not only i3mainz but also FIG Commission 3 (Management of Spatial Information), where he stood in for the Commission Chair, Sagi Dalyot from Israel, who unfortunately was unable to attend this year. FIG has 10 technical commissions that cover the central focus areas of geodesy and serve as the driving forces behind the activities of FIG, the International Federation of Surveyors.
A side event that traditionally accompanies the Working Week on the first and last days is the annual FIG General Assembly. During the first part of the assembly, on May 19, the chairs of the 10 commissions—including Markus Schaffert for Commission 3—presented their progress and milestones from the past working year. During the Working Week, Commission 3 organized seven technical sessions on topics such as open data, smart cities, BIM, and digital twins. Several of these sessions were co-hosted with other commissions (2, 7, and 8).
This year’s technical paper by i3mainz at the FIG Working Week received a special honor. The article “Demographic Transition in Aging Neighborhoods: A GIS-Based Analysis from Germany’s Countryside” by Markus Schaffert and Torge Steensen was awarded the Survey Review Prize, which is presented every two years. Survey Review is a scientific journal published by Taylor & Francis that looks back on a tradition spanning nearly a century. The article demonstrates how meaningful geovisualizations can be derived from municipal raw data to support rural communities in managing demographic change in single-family residential areas.
Duncan Moss presents the award to Markus Schaffert on behalf of Survey Review. Photo: Nikos Zacharias, CC BY SA 4.0
Two articles were honored with the award this year. The other award also went to Central Europe. i3mainz congratulates its colleagues at Graz University of Technology— Peter Bauer, Caroline Schönberger, and Werner Lienhart—who also impressed the jury with an article on VR-supported planning of GNSS monitoring applications.
Around the midpoint of the workweek, on May 21, 2024, the annual meetings of the 10 FIG commissions took place simultaneously. The annual meeting of Commission 3 brought together people from several continents. Active members of this commission, future members, and those interested in the commission’s activities participated. Markus Schaffert moderated the event and represented Sagi Dalyot, who chairs the commission for the 2023–2026 term. During an engaging hour, the work of the past year was presented, future events were announced, and next steps were discussed. The work of Commission 3 is divided into five working groups, which, among other things, promote the transfer of knowledge into practice and collaboration with the next generation of professionals, the Young Surveyors Network.
Markus Schaffert moderated Commission 3’s annual meeting and stood in for Sagi Dalyot. Photo: Leonardo Franchi, CC BY SA 4.0
In addition to technical topics, participants discussed questions such as how to get involved in the commission’s work. The barriers to entry are low and essentially require only the time to contribute to a common goal. Students of geoinformatics and geodesy, for example, who are interested in getting involved are welcome and will find the “Geospatial Next” working group to be a springboard for collaboration with this and other FIG commissions. Geospatial Next is led by another i3mainz staff member, Cemre Şahinkaya.
