2011: 23^th Surveying and Geomatics Educators Society Conference

University of Puerto Rico, Mayagüez, PR

July 19 to 22, 2011

Professor Linda Velez-Rodriguez, Conference Chair

Professor Chuck Ghilani, SaGES president

Theme: Advances in Geospatial Science and Engineering

The conference was held in July 19-22 with the theme “Advances in Geospatial Science and Engineering.” Dr. Chuck Ghilani was the founding president of the society and assisted in many ways in the organization of the conference. The conference was also supported by FIG Commission 2, mostly thanks to the involvement of Dr. Steve Frank (New Mexico State University) who was the chair of Commission 2 from 2011 to 2014. A total of 27 presentations took place with most presenters being from US institutions, two presenters being from the Polytechnic University of Madrid, Spain. In addition, there were presenters from ESRI, Army Geospatial Center, and two presenters from surveying instrument representatives. In comparison with previous conferences, which predominantly had papers on surveying education, the Puerto Rico conference had several technical presentations such as determination of orthometric heights using high precision leveling lines, virtual reference station systems, 3D modeling for surveying applications, validation of geopotential models in the Caribbean area, and more. In the last day there were two workshops, the first on “community involvement in measurement sea level heights” and the second on “summer surveying practice at UPRM: 2011 Summer experience.”  The mission of SaGES was also included in the technical program and distributed to the delegates, as well as the newly formed website of the society. The SaGES board prepared a report on the progress of SaGES. The report informed the delegates about the formation and structure of the society, and in general organizing the society and its committees. The following four committees were created: (1) Membership committee, (2) teller committee, (3) award committee, and (4) conference support committee. The board and delegates also discussed the possibility of affiliating with other existing organizations such as ACSM, ASPRS, ASCE, ASEE, and FIG; although, no affiliation with other societies moved forward. Leadership was passed to the new president Dr. Steven Johnson.

References

Bolkas, D., Olsen, M. J., & Ghilani, C. D. (2022). SaGES and the National Surveying Educator's Conferences: History of Surveying Education and Future Challenges. Surveying and Land Information Science, 81(2), 97-126.