SURVEYORS AND STANDARDS - THE INTERRELATIONSHIP
Iain GREENWAY, United Kingdom
Key words: standards, partnership, surveying
profession, FIG.
Abstract
In early 1998, the then FIG Bureau set up a Task Force on
Standardisation. This is a far from fashionable subject. It is,
however, one which was becoming increasingly relevant to the surveying
profession and one, indeed, which threatened to overwhelm surveyors if
they did not make any ameliorating input. The Task Force was FIG's
initial response, with a remit to understand the issue of surveyors
and standardisation more clearly, and to advise the Federation how
most effectively to become involved in and influence the complex
processes.
It terms of the importance and benefits of standardisation, recent
research undertaken by the Technical University of Dresden and the
Fraunhofer Institute for Systems and Innovations has found that:
- The benefit to the German economy from standardisation amounts
to more than US$ 15 billion per year;
- Standards contribute more to economic growth than patents and
licences;
- Companies that participate actively in standards work have a
head start on their competitors in adapting to market demands and
new technologies;
- Transaction costs are lower when European and International
Standards are used; and
- Research risks and development costs are reduced for companies
contributing to the standardisation process.
The FIG Task Force on Standardisation has spent much of the first
three years of its existence understanding how the standardisation
process works. This has included active involvement in relevant ISO
Technical Committees, attending meetings, commenting on work in
progress, and reporting on FIG activity. Bodies such as FIG are
recognised as providing a useful input to the standardisation process.
The reasons for their limited impact to date include a limited
understanding of the processes of standardisation bodies and how to
influence them to best effect; a fragmentation of the surveying
communities voice, with limited coordination between FIG, ISPRS and
the other bodies; and not using even the full range of communications
possible through the various internal FIG groups such as Task Forces,
Commissions and Bureau. There has, perhaps, also been a tendency to
give up in the face of perceived lack of understanding of FIG's point
of view by the ISO, without fully appreciating the situation as ISO
(and the individuals involved) see it.
In light of the learning to date, and recognising that FIG's funds
are limited in the face of the vast range of standardisation activity
in hand at any time, the Task Force has created a draft FIG policy for
this area.
At this stage, it is fair to say that FIG's increased focus on
standardisation has created a higher profile for FIG within this
field, and for standardisation within FIG. Much greater coordination
of activity, within and beyond FIG, is however needed if the efforts
to date are to build into meaningful, concrete progress.
The key areas in which FIG needs to continue to work are:
- Interpreting and promoting published standards:
To achieve FIG's stated policy, FIG's Commissions, Task Forces
and Permanent Institutions need to work closely with the relevant
standardisation bodies (including the Technical Committees of ISO)
so that any informative or explanatory material that they create
which supports the use of standards is produced at the appropriate
time, has clear references to the relevant standards, and can be
published and marketed in a coordinated way with the published
standards.
- Influencing the existing work programmes of standardisation
bodies:
FIG needs to coordinate the inputs it makes to the creation and
development of standards by the various standardisation bodies. This
is both at international level (through FIG continuing to work with
ISO and IVSC) and at national level (through FIG's member
associations lobbying their national standardisation bodies).
- Proposing new work areas for international standardisation:
FIG must review the needs of the market in terms of published
standards before drawing up Commission and Council work programmes,
and should liaise with the Secretariats and Technical Committees of
standardisation bodies over particular gaps in activity. Wherever
possible, these gaps should be filled through the development of
material by FIG, in close liaison with the relevant standardisation
body, so that the completed FIG work can successfully be
fast-tracked to become a standard, and so that the timing of the
production of FIG's deliverables fits with the needs of the
standardisation body (and the market).
- Coordination of activities:
All of this requires discipline on behalf of FIG and its
Commissions and Permanent Institutions, with appropriate
coordination of the development of work plans so that FIG's work has
the greatest possible impact in the world of standards. This may
require a slightly greater planning horizon for Commissions and
Permanent Institutions, and greater coordination of effort, which
will be facilitated by the use of strategic planning. This will be
particularly important over the next year, as work plans for 2002-06
are drawn up. It is also important for FIG to co-ordinate its
influencing and informative efforts with other international NGOs to
ensure that the combined efforts are coordinated to best effect.
In essence, FIG needs to see itself, and the activity of all of its
constituent parts, as part of a larger picture which includes key
bodies such as the UN and its agencies, standardisation bodies and the
World Trade Organisation (WTO). This has been a key theme of recent
FIG Bureaux, and progress is now being delivered on a number of these
fronts. As a result, the realisation is growing that surveyors need
standards, and standards bodies need FIG - but the realisation is a
fragile plant which needs continuing nurturing and attention.
CONTACT
Iain Greenway
13 Hazelbury Park
Clonee
Dublin 15
IRELAND
Tel. + 353 1 802 5316
Fax + 353 1 820 4156
E-mail: iain.greenway@btinternet.com
11 February 2001
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FIG Office. Last revised on 06-09-18.
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