FIG Bulletin

No. 68, March 1999

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Contents

Editorial comment
FIG Office opened
Bureau meeting
FIG-UN relations
Task forces
Commissions
News
Short notices
New publications

FIG Office now opened

The FIG permanent office was officially opened in conjunction with the Bureau meeting in Copenhagen on 3–4 February. The opening was the final step resulting from the decision FIG made at its PC meeting in Singapore in 1997 to establish its permanent office in Copenhagen. The Office is in the upper floor of the Surveyors House which is situated three kilometres west from the Copenhagen Central Station. The office is managed by the new Director, Markku Villikka, and his Personal Assistant, Joergen Springborg.

The office is responsible for all administrative issues, registers, publications, bulletins, etc; and it also looks after the FIG home page (current address: www.ddl.org/FIGtree). All information about forthcoming events, news and corrections to the FIG web site should be sent to the FIG Office.

Contacts with FIG should from now on be made via the Copenhagen office: address: FIG Office, Lindevangs Alle 4, DK-2000 Frederiksberg, Denmark; e-mail: FIG@ddl.org; tel ++ 45 38 86 10 81 and 
fax ++ 45 38 86 02 52.

FIG signs protocol with the CIB

The International Council for Research and Innovation in Building and Construction (CIB) and FIG signed a protocol in London on 7 January. CIB covers the technical, economic, environmental and organisational aspects of the built environment during all stages of its life cycle and the protocol will facilitate co-operation and a sharing of knowledge and expertise between it and FIG.

In addition to regular contacts, exchanges of published information and the appointment of observers where appropriate to each other’s commissions and working groups, it was agreed to undertake a joint project illustrating the contribution which skills represented within the two organisations can make to projects commissioned by UN agencies and by funding agencies such as the World Bank. FIG president Peter Dale undertook to prepare a framework proposal and this will be developed by representatives of FIG and CIB at a meeting in to be held in London in April.

This is the third protocol which FIG has agreed with international organisations working in the field of land and property. The first, with the International Real Estate Federation (FIABCI) was signed in 1997; the second, with the International Cost Engineering Council, will be signed in South Africa during the 1999 FIG working week.

Also in this issue...

• Peter Dale appointed OBE. John Leonard describes FIG President Peter Dale's contribution to the surveying profession in his editorial after Her Majesty Queen Elisabeth had appointed him an Officer of the British Empire.
• FIG and CIB establish co-operation. FIG signed a memorandum of understanding with the CIB in London. This will result in further co-operation - for example, on environmental issues.
• Commission 2 seminar in Wuhan. Commission 2 arranged a seminar in Wuhan last October on lifelong learning and the management of change in a surveyor's professional life.
• Vice-President Lindsay visits New Zealand. Vice President Grahame Lindsay visited the 110^th annual conference of the New Zealand Institute of Surveyors with the theme "The professional surveyor – 2000 and beyond".

FIG President’s work gains royal recognition

by John Leonard

Although some of our clients may take our work for granted, we in FIG know that it supports the very fabric of their social and business lives. Without surveyors there can be no safe title to land; no property market; and no useful information with which to plan, develop and manage communities or nations.

But developments in the attitudes of society and in available technology demand a reshaping of these vital services if surveyors are to continue satisfying their market. The current bureau’s theme of ‘Developing the profession in a developing world’ was drafted by our president Peter Dale, to help surveyors to respond effectively to market needs.

Throughout his career as a surveyor, Peter Dale has contributed significantly to our professional vision . In the 1960s and 1970s he saw as clearly as anyone the pressure which would be placed on land as a fundamental asset and the impacts which developing technologies would have on the way in which it was managed. Whether as teacher, author or consultant to international agencies, for the last 30 years he has been a major influence on national land management policies in many countries.

Peter Dale’s reputation is justified because of his vast practical knowledge and experience and the enthusiasm and sensitivity with which he shares this knowledge and expertise. But perhaps his greatest skill is communication - whether with students, administrators or politicians. As those of us who attended the opening of the Brighton congress know, he commands audiences through simple but visionary messages.

As examples of the direct result of his involvement, untold thousands of people worldwide now enjoy rights as property owners and all the benefits which these bring. Young professionals from many countries have learned from his teaching and hold him in the greatest respect and affection. And all of us who shelter under the FIG umbrella have benefited from his clear-sighted leadership during the last few years.

It was therefore with no surprise, but with an enormous amount of pleasure, that we woke on the morning of New Year’s Day to discover that Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth had appointed Peter Dale an Officer of the British Empire (OBE) for services to international surveying. The pride and sense of rightness which this official recognition brought to his colleagues in the bureau will be shared by surveyors everywhere.

Bureau meeting in Copenhagen

Discussion on FIG future governance in Sun City

The FIG bureau meeting, combined with the opening of the FIG office, was the first full bureau meeting to be held since the FIG Congress in Brighton last July. Much of the discussion centered around preparations for the next General Assembly in Sun City, South Africa, on 30 May – 4 June 1999.

The General Assembly will be the first to be held since the new statutes were adopted at Brighton. It will also be the last one for the UK bureau, because the changeover meeting between the UK and the incoming US Bureaux will take place in November 1999.

One of the most interesting issue in Sun City will perhaps be the discussion paper on FIG’s future governance. Prepared by Vice-President Tom Kennie’s task force, it will be considered both by ACCO and the General Assembly. One of its proposals is that bureau members should be elected individually, independent of the country hosting the congress during the bureau term of office. If members want a new administration structure to come into force in 2007, it has to be adopted by the General Assembly in 2001.

Other items for the General Assembly will be reports from other task forces (mutual recognition, standards, under-represented groups in surveying, and environmental issues). For all these there will be a breakout session on the last day of the working week.

Academic membership

The bureau has agreed to start promoting academic membership. The concept and benefits of this new category are being developed and will be introduced in Sun City by Stig Enemark. Its main interest for universities and institutes who join FIG as academic members will be access to the Surveying education database and the ability to use it for promoting their curricula.

FIG wants to develop academic membership into an open forum for academic contacts and information delivery and hopes that first members may join even before the meeting in Sun City. The annual subscription for academic members is (in 1999) Sw.frs. 150.00.

Bureau members visit Africa

Members of the UK bureau have already visited most of FIG’s member associations and will continue the programme by travelling to Kenya, Zambia and Zimbabwe on their way to or from the working week in Sun City.

In Kenya incoming FIG president Bob Foster will also visit UNCHS and UNEP in Nairobi together with FIG UN representative Ian Williamson and FIG Director Markku Villikka.

Land tenure and cadastral infrastructures for sustainable development will be the subject of a major workshop and conference to be held in Australia in October

A two-day conference will take place at the Melbourne Convention Centre in Australia from 24-27 October.

The event is being sponsored by:

• the UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs;
• Land Victoria, Victorian Government, Australia;
• the Surveyor-General’s Department of the New South Wales Government; and
• the Department of Geomatics, at the University of Melbourne.

The aim of the conference is to explore man-land relationships for the next millennia in the context of Agenda 21 and the emerging global village. It will determine a broad vision and a set of guidelines for suitable cadastral structures and systems to support land management, in particular land administration, to ensure sustainable development and environmental management. It will focus on the legal, technical and institutional infrastructure required to support such a vision.

The conference will follow on from the global workshop on land tenure and cadastral infrastructures to support sustainable development to be held in Bathurst NSW, Australia from 17-23 October. It will recognise the trend for formal land tenure systems to move from a focus on ownership to one of land rights, responsibilities and restrictions and will be attended by an invited group of 25 participants representing about 20 countries globally who are international authorities in the area.

The workshop participants have been chosen as persons who are in a position to contribute fully to the development of the objectives of the workshop. Many of them will prepare key background papers on their own areas of expertise. These position papers will form the basis of discussion at the workshop. The outcome of the workshop will be a joint UN/FIG ‘Bathurst declaration on cadastral infrastructures for sustainable development’.

The position papers will be published prior to and presented formally at the conference, as will the Bathurst Declaration. Any discussion and comment on the position papers and the declaration at the Melbourne conference will be included in the joint proceedings. Presentation of the position papers will run from Monday through most of Tuesday. There will be a plenary session on Tuesday afternoon to discuss the outcome of the workshop, the Bathurst Declaration and the position papers. This will be followed by a short closing session. All discussion will be summarised, documented and included as part of the proceedings of the Workshop and Conference titled ‘Proceedings of the global workshop and conference on land tenure and cadastral infrastructures to support sustainable development’.

Program:

Sunday 24 October 1999 Reception
Monday 25 October 1999 Conference
Tuesday 26 October 1999 Conference
Wednesday 27 October 1999 Optional overview of the operations of Land Victoria

Registration:

AUD$380 before 30 June 1999
AUD$450 after 30 June 1999
AUD$200 full-time students

Registration includes morning and afternoon teas, lunches, a reception on Sunday evening, a social gathering on Monday evening, a set of position papers and a copy of the Bathurst Declaration. For registration forms see the conference website at http://www.sli.uimelb.edu.au/UNConf99

For more information please contact: Ms Lillian Cheung in the Department of Geomatics at the University of Melbourne, Parkville, Victoria 3052 Australia. Tel: +61-3-9344-4431, fax +61-3-9347-4128 or e-mail l.cheung@eng.unimelb.edu.au.

The three FIG task forces on under-represented groups in surveying, standards and governance all held meetings at last year’s Brighton congress.

The task force on under-represented groups in surveying held three meetings during the FIG congress in Brighton; two open meetings and one meeting of the core group. The delegates presented important and interesting reports relating to under-represented groups in their own countries. The results from the questionnaire sent out to FIG member associations and universities were also very helpful and gave pointers to future activities.

The core group meeting on Thursday 23 July 1998 approved the terms of reference published in FIG Bulletin 66. In addition, reflecting the results of the questionnaire, it invited the FIG general assembly to:

• encourage the member associations of FIG and universities to provide support to women, young surveyors and linguistic minorities to enable them to present papers at national and international congresses and to establish forums to address the concerns of under-represented groups;
• support the evaluation of FIG congress registrations to determine gender representation on commissions and in total registrations; and
• support the use of gender-neutral language in FIG and in congress documentation.

The task force decided that its main aim is to report on the situation of under-represented groups in the surveying profession and the activities which are being undertaken to support them. The task force, as an open network, will regularly publish reports about its current activities and those of the member associations and universities. Those which responded to the questionnaire will be asked to provide detailed reports.

During the working weekend in South Africa, the chairs of commissions 1 and 2 and the task force plan to organise a workshop with three presentations by the chairs. The task force is encouraging participation by students, young surveyors, women and previously disadvantaged members of the South African association.

Anyone who is interested in more information should contact Gabriele Dasse at Kleinfeld 22a, D-21149 Hamburg, Germany. Fax: +49 40 2375 5960, tel: +49 40 2375 5529 or e-mail: poststelle@GV.hamburg.de. The task force also has a home page on the Internet at: http://www.dvw.de/ak/agfiv/home_page_fig.html.

Structural change for FIG?

The bureau has approved terms of reference for a new task force which will review and make recommendations for the future governance and management of FIG.

This task force has its genesis in Helge Onsrud’s letter, published in a previous issue of the Bulletin, which suggested that FI needs to make major changes to its managerial structure if it is to function as a truly non-governmental organisation (NGO) and meet the challenges of the 21^st century. It will be chaired by FIG vice-president Tom Kennie and its members will be Chris Andreasen (USA and former IHO bureau director), Chris Hoogsteden (New Zealand), Michel Kasser (France), Holger Magel (Germany and FIG president-designate 2004-2008), Helge Onsrud (Norway), Stephen Yip (Hong Kong) and Sam Zhou (Zimbabwe).

The task force will consider how to create a governance structure and framework for decision making which ensures an effective balance between the interests of FIG’s members and commissions, regional groupings of surveyors, and others having an involvement in the work of the Federation. It will address the need to ensure a transparent and open process of selecting those responsible for governing and managing FIG; and it will also address the nature of the relationship between FIG’s governing body and its operational management.

An outline discussion paper has already been circulated to task force members. At the FIG working week in South Africa a break-out session, led by task force members, will be followed by presentation of a draft report to the General Assembly.

Services, standards and globalisation

Service industries represent a large proportion of world trade (in the European Union, for example, two thirds of GDP is accounted for by services, as is 60% of employment). They are, however, far less subject to standardisation than products - how often have all of us been caught out by different check-in times at different hotels, cash machines in a foreign country which use symbols we don’t understand, or hidden commissions and charges?

With the GATS now in place, the World Trade Organisation (WTO) is concerned to achieve a standard base for the same services in different countries, so that firms can compete fairly across national borders and consumers can know what to expect. The text of the GATS makes specific reference to using relevant international standards. WTO and ISO therefore organised four seminars in the standardisation of services, taking place on four different continents. Iain Greenway, chair of the FIG task force on standards, attended the seminar in Paris on behalf of FIG.

Of the 150 people in attendance, the majority were from standards organisations, government and consumer bodies. A few represented industry and only Iain Greenway was representing professional services providers. Some of the presentations described policy and legal frameworks; others reviewed current activity. The essence of the message was that standards are essential if trade in services is to work globally, but that standards must not create unnecessary barriers to trade, and that governments have a right to use standards to achieve their policy objectives. This last element led to a spirited debate between the European commission representative and a French speaker about subsidiarity (whether one European country can get in the way of a Europe-wide standard). In a commercial sense, standards were seen as helping trade, recognising that the competitive advantage between service companies is centred around human interaction and innovation, rather than the disingenuous use of words.

The examples quoted were interesting: the UK has implemented a standards (BS7911) for supply of market research, which all large companies must comply with by 2001; CEN has a technical committee looking at hotels and travel agencies but an ISO initiative on hotel standards has failed because hotel companies were not supportive; the WTO is working with the accountancy profession to achieve international consistency. In all cases, as one speaker put it, they are looking to standardise chickens (the process) and eggs (the output). There are also some initial attempts to design standards for generic activities such as complaint handling.

So what does all this mean for surveyors? There is little doubt, given the way that the three seminars held so far have gone, that ISO will start work on the standardisation of services. I believe that this will be beneficial to FIG members, with one important proviso: that the process takes full account of what already exists and work already underway (FIG’s code of ethics; national associations’ regulations and bye-laws; work on mutual recognition of qualifications; legal processes for registering surveyors in many countries, and so on). This means that FIG, through the task force on standards, must actively contribute to the process of formulating and developing standards. As long as we ensure that our voice is heard, standards will help all of us to compete fairly and win work through our own particular abilities and specialisms.

Lifelong learning and the management of change

Commission 2 seminar looks at the future of university curricula, teaching methods and quality assurance

FIG Commission 2’s seminar last October was organised by Professor Liu Yanfang of the Wuhan Technical University of Surveying and Mapping. It included two working days as well as dinner and an evening party hosted by the university.

Welcoming speeches at the opening ceremony were given by the Rector of the University, Professor Li Deren; Professor Liu Yanfang; Mr Ning Jinsheng, Chair of the Educational Committee of the Chinese Society of Surveying and Mapping; and Professor Liu Xiaobo, Director of Educational Affairs at the National Bureau of Surveying and Mapping.

The opening address was given by Professor Kirsi Artimo, chair of Commission 2. Other foreign representatives in the seminar were Professor Stig Enemark from Denmark (immediate past chair, Commission 2) and John Parker from Australia (chair, Commission 1). A total of more than 50 participants in the seminar included participants from other Chinese universities as well as from Wuhan.

The main topics of the seminar, covered by presentations and in lively discussions, were:

• lifelong continuous learning;
• management of change in a surveyor’s professional life;
• quality of education; and
• computer assisted learning.

At the seminar, 11 oral presentations were given, selected out of the 38 which are printed in the proceedings. Some points worthy of mention that were emphasised in the presentations include:

• Project oriented learning as a modern approach in university education: the Aalborg-model (described in the presentation given by Stig Enemark) could easily be followed by other modern universities.
• Managing change by using a quality approach presents a holistic view to the profession as well as to education: we should not only put value on technology but also consider the broader points of management (this was pointed out especially in the presentation given by John Parker from Commission 1).
• Geoinformatics curricula seem to be newcomers in many universities – although the time is more opportune now than it was, for example, ten years ago to introduce GIS given the available software, powerful workstations and the Internet through which education can be organised as a virtual university.

A summary of the seminar will form one of the presentations at the FIG working week in South Africa in May 1999. University curricula, one of the main topics of the seminar, will be further developed by Commission 2’s Working Group 3. Professor Liu Yanfang has a challenging job as co-chair of this WG.

On behalf of Commission 2, the seminar also sent a message to students. On the basis of what was said about the change - both worldwide and as it affects professional life - they were reminded that:

• you are responsible for your own career;
• you are responsible for the future of your country; and
• you are responsible for the future of the whole world.

Teachers should encourage students to make individual choices as well as to plan their future in general. No-one will be invited to work - everyone should be able to market him or herself. This could well be the most important message from Commission 2 to-day.

Those taking part in the seminar were also able to visit Wuhan University laboratories and see their advanced level of teaching. The laboratories for geoinformatics, cartography and remote sensing were particularly interesting.

After the seminar, foreign participants made an interesting trip to that area of the Yangtse river which will soon be flooded. They saw the huge dam construction and visited the Three Gorges.

FIG Commission 2 thanks the organisers, University Rector Li Deren and Professor Liu Yanfang, as well as all the others who contributed to the success of the seminar. It was an excellent start to Commission 2’s new four-year work programme.

More information about the seminar is available on the Commission 2 home page – www.i4.auc.dk/fig2/

Vice President Lindsay visits New Zealand

"The Professional Surveyor - 2000 and Beyond" was the theme of the 110th annual conference of the New Zealand Institute of Surveyors (NZIS) held in Palmerston North, "The Knowledge City", from the 16-20 October 1998. About 200 surveyors attended the meetings which were led by the President of NZIS, David Stewart.

FIG Vice-President Grahame Lindsay visited New Zealand for the occasion and met the NZIS Council on 15 October, briefing members on recent FIG initiatives and activities and seeking their views on the relevance of FIG to surveyors in their country. Interestingly, in a recent questionnaire to NZIS members, 60% of responses rated international issues as important or very important.

The recent FIG Commission 7 publication "Cadastre 2014" has attracted much interest. It seems possible that the Institute of Surveyors Australia and NZIS may combine to reprint the publication and send a copy to each one of their members to help them look creatively at cadastral development.

Quality assurance and the accreditation of surveyors in several discipline areas is an issue of importance, from the background of requiring surveyors increasingly to accept responsibility for the quality of their work, relying less on support traditionally provided by government.

Grahame Lindsay spoke at the opening ceremony of the conference and brought greetings from the President of FIG. Following the annual meeting, the conference began two days of professional development activities including site visits, presented papers, commission meetings and social events.

FIG last visited New Zealand in 1988 for the 55th PC meeting in Wellington. It was a good to have the opportunity of this visit, particularly as a group of surveyors from New Zealand had attended the FIG Congress in Brighton.

The 111th annual conference of NZIS will be held in the beautiful Bay of Islands in conjunction with the annual meeting of FIG Commission 7 in October 1999.

FIG Technical Dictionary Volumes 12 and 15 are published

Two further volumes in the FIG Technical Dictionary series are now available. They are part of a project being undertaken by FIG, in which German surveying and mapping terms and definitions are being translated into English and French.

Volume 12 covers more than 1,300 terms and definitions used in mine surveying and mapping in Germany, with equivalent terms in French and English. Most of the terms used are specific to German mine surveying and some are only understandable with knowledge of the historic background. As a result, expert guidance was given by Professor Dr Pollmann and Dipl.-Ing Maas from the Institute of Mine Surveying in Clausthal in Germany, together with Dr Veeranki, a native English speaking mine engineer. Lots of explanatory notes have been added to help the reader. French equivalents of the German terms were given by Roger Schaffner, Geometre de association de Topographie, Strasbourg and Victor Kieffer, Geometre des Houilliers du Bassin de Lorraine.

Volume 15 is entitled "Urban Planning, Regional Policy". Its compilation and revision was carried out by by DVW’s WG 8 "Municipal and regional planning and its realisation".

Volumes 12 and 15 as well as previously printed volumes 4, 5, 6, 10, 13 and 14 can be ordered from Bundesamt für Kartographie und Geodäsie, Aussenstelle Berlin, Stauffenbergstr. 13, D-10785 Berlin, Germany, e-mail: wti@leipzig.ifag.dewti@leipzig.ifag.de or fax + 49 3 41 56 34 415. The price for Volumes 12 and 15 is 16,50 DM and 22.00 DM respectively, plus postage.

FIG welcomes its newest member

The election of the Union of Geodesy Societies of the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia to full membership of FIG at the July Brighton Congress was a milestone in the recognition of the surveying profession in Macedonia. Unfortunately, representatives of the Union were not able to be present in Brighton and so it was a real pleasure and a source of some excitement when news of the election was brought to the notice of the president of the Union, Karlo Pedroni.

Postal problems had delayed the arrival of the written word, and so news of the election was given in person to Karlo Pedroni by Paul Munro-Faure, chair of Commission 7, at a dinner in Skopje in early October.

It was arranged that a formal presentation be given to a general meeting of the Union later in October, when Paul Munro-Faure arranged to return to Skopje to set out FIG’s objectives and what it is achieving and describe how member associations make a vital contribution to its activities. Macedonia, like many countries in transition, is particularly interested in issues relating to the cadastre and land management, and so the Commission 7 chair was asked to take the opportunity to talk about these areas in particular.

On 21 October, a special general meeting of the Union gathered some 50 members from every part of Macedonia to discuss how it will become involved in the work of FIG, and to propose a celebratory toast to the surveyors in Macedonia and to their future involvement in FIG. There was great interest in the past achievements of the Federation and in its plans for the future, and there was a general feeling that the Union’s membership of FIG presents a great opportunity for sharing knowledge and experience.

With the advent of email, the ideal of sharing knowledge can move from an aspiration to a practical reality, and the commission delegates that the Union will be appointing will have this clearly in their sights.

May date for World of Surveying

Major product launches of advanced data gathering sensors and systems plus an extensive display of art and history related to surveying are among the features planned for this year’s World of Surveying event. The two day exhibition is planned for 5 and 6 May and will be held at the National Motorcycle Museum in the UK’s West Midlands.

World of Surveying brings together both industry suppliers, such as instrument and software companies, and the professional consultancies and firms in private practice which undertake and advise on projects. Many of the latter will be showing value-added products and services which they have developed within larger systems such as Microsoft, Autodesk or Bentley systems.

Leading instrument and software developers such as Leica Geosystems, Spectra precision, Carl Zeiss, Sokkia ,ERDAS, WPI Husky, Survey Supplies and others have already reserved stands following last year’s successful event.

Backed by the UK’s leading surveying institution, the RICS, together with The Survey Association, the industry’s trade association, World of Surveying is not targeted only at surveyors and those in the geomatics and geospatial sectors. It is also aimed at the critical client groups such as architects, engineers, project managers, contractors and others from both the private and public sectors who are involved in the development, design and construction processes.

For more information contact Stephen Booth. Tel: 44 1438 352617, fax: 44 1438 351989 or email: steve@pvpubs.demon.co.uk.

Jamaican land surveyors celebrate 70 year anniversary

The Land Surveyors Association of Jamaica (LSAJ) last year celebrated its 70^th anniversary. The occasion was marked by a special feature in the leading Jamaican daily newspaper, ‘The Gleaner’. The supplement looked in detail at the contribution the Association has made to surveying practice in Jamaica and to the maintenance of integrity of the local cadastral system. Messages from leading Jamaican government officials and academics were published, together with a personal comment from Association president Alwyn R Morrison.

The association in its present form was established in 1928. It has 74 members and 11 associate members and as the body that represents professional surveyors in Jamaica, it has close links with international surveying organisations including FIG and the Commonwealth Association of Surveying and Land Economy (CASLE). Small delegations from the Jamaican Association have attended FIG congresses since the 1970s and several delegates were in attendance in Brighton last summer.

One of the most important contributions the Association has made to surveying practice in Jamaica is in the field of education. It is strongly committed to continuing education, professional advancement and the creation of opportunities for the expansion of the surveying profession. This is reflected in the role the Association has played in the establishment of the Land Surveying Faculty at the University of Technology (Utech). It is now working to set up a degree course in land surveying and hopes that one will be in place within the next two years.

Progress on Polish cadastre

FIG president Peter Dale attended a three-day cadastral congress in Warsaw last November to discuss the future of the cadastre in Poland. The meeting was hosted by the Polish Association of Surveyors.

Three days of deliberations exposed a conflict between the wishes of the Ministry of Finance to introduce a new simplified fiscal cadastre in support of land and property taxes, and the more traditional views of those (particularly surveyors) who are in the process of developing a multi-purpose cadastre where high standards are considered essential despite high costs.

The outcome of the discussion was the announcement by the Polish Prime Minister that a coordinating committee was to be set up to produce inter-ministerial dialogue. Peter Dale does not believe this would have happened were it not for the presence of the international community and FIG in particular, at the congress.

"Overall the meeting was one that helped to strengthen the professional association in Poland as well as developing its relations with FIG," says Peter Dale.

FIG and ICEC make plans for working week

Representatives of the ICEC member associations attended the ICEC Region III (Africa) meeting held at the ASAQS(Association of South African Quantity Surveyors) offices in Midrand on Saturday 14 November. Also in attendance was Lance Nel, organiser of the FIG’99 working week. There were discussions on FIG/ ICEC co-operation and ICEC involvement in the ad-hoc commission on construction economics and management during the working week which resulted in agreement on the following:

• A protocol between FIG and ICEC will be signed at the FIG’99 Opening Ceremony;
• There will be an inaugural meeting of AAQS (African Association of Quantity Surveyors) and also a meeting of ICEC Region III (Africa);
• The programme for the ad-hoc commission will consist of three half day sessions entitled:

  a ‘Developments in quantity surveying and cost engineering practice’
  b ‘The demand for cost control and accountability on construction and engineering projects in Africa’
  c ‘The obstacles to inward investment on development projects in Africa’;

• First contacts with the ICEC member associations should be through:
  ASAQS - Professor Gaye le Rous - quaglr@upc.ac.za
  CEASA(Cost Engineering Association of Southern Africa) - Marie Voogt - ceasa1@global.co.za
  PMISA(Project Management Institute of South Africa) - Bruce Rodrigues - brucerp@pixie.co.za ; and
  FIG’99 will be publicised in ‘ProjectPro’, the magazine of ASAQS, CEASA and PMISA

Members of both organisations are now looking forward to a mutually beneficial association between FIG and ICEC.

In Memoriam

Mintauts Eglitis

Director of the Centre of Cadastre of the State Land Survey in Latvia Mintauts Eglitis died on 14 February 1999 at the age of 65. He graduated from the Faculty of Surveying of the Latvian Agricultural University in 1957.

Mintauts Eglitis was an enthusiastic developer of the mapping and cadastre in Latvia, devoting his life to cadastre and training surveying staff He was the generator of many brilliant ideas and was able to find the funding to realize them. He was a leader in Latvia in many cooperation projects with Swedish, Danish, German, US, Canadian, Australian and Spanish surveyors.

Mintauts was an active member and a keen supporter of the work of FIG Commission 7 throughout the 1990s and his professional contribution and dry sense of humour will be sorely missed by all delegates. FIG, the Commission and the cadastre were always close to Mintauts' heart. Those colleagues who heard his address when Latvia first re-entered FIG will remember it as one of the strongest and most moving of statements - a statement from the heart if ever there was one. Several of the Commission's delegates and correspondents had the opportunity to visit Mintauts and his team at the Land Cadastre Centre in Riga in recent years and were all impressed by his commitment and contribution to this vital element of the nation's development.

FIG is only grateful that he found time, as director of the Land Cadastre Centre, to be such a regular attender, contributer and friend of FIG and Commission 7.

Sune Andersson

Professor Sune Andersson, the former President of Swedesurvey AB and Director General of Central Board for Real Estate (CFD) in Sweden, died on 13^th February 1999. He was born in 1938. He was key-player in 1970s and 1980s when CFD was rapidly developing. His international contacts were used after that for the Swedesurvey whose President he was in the early 1990s. During the last years he was working as a Professor at the Lund Institute of Technology in the Lund University. Sune Andersson was chairing the FIG commission 3 1982 - 1984 and stayed Swedish national delegate until his death.

Prof. Peter Dale stated that many friends of Sune Andersson will be saddened by his passing. Sune was a man who delivered what he set out to do. His achievement in creating the CFD was remarkable and has been an inspiration all over the world. As a consultant he passed on his experience in many countries and there are many people who were privileged to know and to learn from him. But more especially he was a friend of FIG and a key player in reshaping Commission 3 from its responsibilities for survey literature into a dynamic and successful commission dealing with land information systems. His contribution to FIG has had a lasting impact and he will be much missed.

Sun City Working Week has many attractions

In addition to the administrative meetings during the FIG working week, there is large technical programme in Sun City. It includes 23 technical sessions, four workshops and three technical tours –including the possibility to visit Soweto. The social programme is also attractive, including game viewing before breakfast.

The venue for the working week is excellent, as Sun City is the leading resort area in South Africa. Details about the working week can be found on through the FIG web site:
www.ddl.org/FIGtree.

Please note that the early bird registration date has been put back to 15 April.

Sustainable development: new chair

Following Markku Villikka’s appointment as FIG director of administration, Helge Onsrud has taken over as chair of the task force on sustainable development. The task force was established last year to develop FIG’s policy for implementing Agenda 21 (adopted by the UN’s Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro) and the Global Plan of Action, which was produced as a result of the Habitat ll conference in Istanbul.

First draft of the statement will be introduced in Sun City.

Helge Onsrud can be contacted by e-mail: helge.onsrud@it.statkart.no

Newsletter for task force on under-represented groups

The FIG task force on under-represented groups in surveying has produced its second newsletter, 1/1999. It includes Ewa Qvist's article "Women's access, control and tenure of land, property and settlement" and an article by Dr Renate Kosuch on how to encourage girls and young women to choose a technical career. Alexander Benedetti presents the FIABCI young members club and the Personality of the issue is Alison Cochlovius Gouws.

You can find this newsletter and other information about the task force on web site http://www.dvw.de/ak/agfiv.htm or contact task force chair Gabriele Dasse by Email gabriele.dasse@gv.hamburg.de

Books wanted – can you help?

The Surveyors Institute of Sri Lanka is looking for donations of books from FIG member associations, university departments and libraries. It is trying to build up its own library and would be grateful to receive any surplus stock that may no longer be required. If any member association is able to help, contact Markku Villikka, FIG director of administration, with details of points of collection and he will put the Institute in touch with you. Fax: 45 3886 0252.

Street names needed

FIG members are being called on to put forward the names of important surveyors and cartographers, particularly women, as part of a street-naming programme being carried out in Berlin.

The Mayor of Berlin is to name a number of streets in the city after national or international personalities from the world of surveying and cartography during Congress 2000. The only criteria are that the chosen personalities must have died more than five years ago and they must be linked to a special event, development or invention in surveying or cartography. However, so far, no women’s names have been put forward and the Mayor’s office is keen to receive suggestions. If you would like to nominate someone, contact Gabriele Dasse, chair of the task force on under-represented groups in surveying. Fax: 49 40 2375 5690.

FIG in South America

FIG was represented by commission 9 chair, Michael Yovino Young, at the Congress of Pan-American Valuer Associations (UPAV) held last October in Cuzco, Peru. The congress was attended by 180 participants from UPAV member organisations in Argentina, Brazil, Canada, Costa Rica, Cuba, the Dominican Republic, Mexico, Puerto Rico, the USA and Venezuela.

During the congress, Michael Yovino Young held meetings with practising valuers and academics to explain the role and activities of FIG and distribute copies of the FIG information leaflet. These initial contacts will be followed up by the bureau with the aim of establishing closer links between appraisers and surveyors in a region where the two disciplines tend to operate in isolation from each other.

Call for Papers

Commission 3, Spatial Information Management annual meeting and seminar in Budapest, Hungary 21–23 October 1999

The headline of the seminar is Spatial Information Infrastructure.

Seminars is divided in following sessions:

• Inter-organisational, legal aspects
• Data policy, data management
• Standardisation - Technical Rules, Regulations
• Standardisation - Metadata Issues
• Human resource management – Education, training
• Spatial Information Management – A National, Local or Organisational Approach
  
• Technical tour
  – Introduction to the Institute of Geodesy, Cartography and Remote Sensing
  – Hungarian Land Office Information Infrastructure
  – Land Information Services on the Web

If you would participate and/or present a paper please contact commission secretary Tor Valstad mailto:(Tor.Valstad@pbe.oslo.kommune.no or chair Jes Ryttersgaard jr@kms.dk as soon as possible.

• ISPRS Highlights, April, September, December 1998, March 1999.
• ACSM Bulletin. May/June 1998.
• Vermessung & Geoinformation (Austria), 2, 3/1998.
• Topografía y Cartografía, July/August, September/October, November/December 1998.
• Science International (ICSU newsletter), August, December 1998.
• WTO Focus, August-September, October 1998.
• FIABCI Press, August, October 1998.
• Surveying (Hong Kong), August, September, October, November 1998.
• SISV News (Singapore), September/October 1998.
• Geodetski Vestnik (Slovenia), 3/, 4/1998.
• Geodesia (Netherlands), 9/, 10/, 11/, 12/1998, 1/, 2/1999.
• Maankäyttö (Finland), 3/, 4/1998.
• Geomatica (Canada), 3/, 4/1998.
• Chartered Surveyor Monthly, September, October, November/December 1998.
• Civil Engineering Surveyor, September, October, December 1998, February 1999.
• GeoInformatics, September, October/November, December 1998, January/February 1999.
• VPK/MPG (Switzerland), 9/, 10/,11/, 12/1998, 1/, 2/1999.
• Zeitschrift für Vermessungswesen, September, October, November, December 1998.
• ISO Bulletin, September, October, November, December 1998.
• Hydro International, September, October, November/December 1998, January/February 1999.
• Géomètre, August/September, October, November, December 1998, January, February 1999.
• Surveying World, September/October, November/December 1998, January/February 1999.
• GIM, September, October, November, December 1998, January, February 1999.
• Landinspektøren (Denmark), 4/, 5/1998.
• Professional Constructor, December 1998/January 1999, February/ March/1999.
• Kart og Plan (Norway), 4/1998.
• Geodesija, kartografija, zemeustrojstvo (Bulgaria), 2-3/1998.
• CIB Information, 1/1999
• Symposium papers: Law of immovables, dynamic of development in cadastral systems and land management, Sofia November 1998.

For copies of these and other titles received by the bureau, contact the FIG Office in Copenhagen, fax: +45 3886 0252.

The FIG Bulletin

Compiled and edited by the FIG Office, 
fax +45 38 86 02 52 and e-mail: FIG@ddl.org

Printed by Atelier Skt. Annae
ISSN Number 1081-6522

Material from this bulletin may be reproduced freely.

Bulletin deadlines

The next deadline for the FIG Bulletin will be Friday 20 August. Please send your copy to the FIG Office, Lindevangs Allé 4, DK-2000 Frederiksberg, Denmark, fax: +45 38 86 02 52, e-mail FIG@ddl.org.

The FIG Bulletin will be issued this year in September and December.

This page is maintained by the FIG Office. Last revised on 06-02-27.