FIG Commissions


Work plans – Commission 5

Title

Positioning and Measurement

Prof. Jean-Marie Becker, Chairperson of Commission 5

Terms of reference

  • The science of measurement (instrumentation, methodology and guidelines)
  • The acquisition of accurate, precise and reliable survey data related to the position, size and shape of natural and artificial features of the earth and its environment.

Mission statement

  • Focus on modern technologies and technical developments and, through guidelines and recommendations, assist individual surveyors to choose and utilise those methods, technologies and instruments that are most appropriate to different applications.
  • Follow technical developments through collaboration with other FIG commissions and other international organisations; participation in appropriate meetings; and the study of appropriate publications.
  • Support research and development and stimulate new ideas in the fields of expertise represented within the commission.
  • Collaborate with manufacturers on the improvement of instrumentation and its associated software.
  • Present and promote the work of the commission and its working groups on an on-going basis at FIG working weeks and other relevant technical meetings and in appropriate FIG and other media.

Working Group 5.1

Title

Standards, quality assurance and calibration

Policy issues

  • Influence the development of standards affecting geodetic instruments and methods, in collaboration with the FIG task force on standards and through participation in the relevant technical committees (TCs) of the International Standards Organisation (ISO) and other appropriate bodies.
  • Acceptance controls, quality assurance and certification and their impact on the surveying profession.
  • Checking and calibration of measuring instruments.

Chair

Dr Vaclav Slaboch (Czech Republic).

Specific project(s)

  • Present and promote the use of standards and guidelines to the surveying community.
  • Establish guidelines and recommendations for the checking and determination of field accuracy of total stations, digital levels, laser planes, etc and for their calibration, including lab calibration.

Workshop(s)

  • 35th international geodetic information days, Brno, November 1998.
  • "Geodesy and surveying in the future - the importance of heights", Gävle, March 1999.
  • Dedicated session during FIG working week, 1999.
  • "Standards, quality and calibration" during FIG working week, 2000.
  • Contribution to technical programme forming part of FIG working week, 2001.

Publication(s)

  • Guidelines for digital levels (by the commission).
  • Guidelines for total stations (by the commission).
  • Guidelines for laser planes (by the commission).
  • Procedures for lab calibrations (by the commission).

Timetable

  • Draft publications to FIG working week 1999 (digital levels) and 2000 (total stations and laser planes); publication in immediately following years.
  • Timetable for procedures for lab calibrations to be advised.
  • Working group final report: dedicated session, FIG congress, 2002.

Beneficiaries

FIG member associations, manufacturers and users of survey equipment, governments, standardisation organisations, decision makers, GIS developers and users, surveying businesses, individual surveyors.


Working Group 5.2

Title

Height determination techniques

Policy issues

  • Measuring issues when heighting with terrestrial and satellite techniques.
  • The achievement of given/expected levels of accuracy with different techniques and instruments.
  • Improvement of instrumentation, associated software and measuring techniques.

Chair

Prof. Michel Kasser (France).

Specific project(s)

  • Follow technical developments concerning height determination techniques and instrumentation - for example, GPS, total stations, digital levels and laser planes - and prepare recommendations for making the best use of them to achieve expected accuracy in their different applications.
  • Collaborate with other commissions, other international organisations such as IAG, and manufacturers on matters concerning height determination techniques.

Workshop(s)

  • "Geodesy and surveying in the future - the importance of heights", Gälve, March 1999.
  • Dedicated session during FIG working week, 1999.
  • Contributions to technical programme forming part of FIG working weeks, 2000 and 2001.

Publication(s)

  • Guidelines on height determination techniques using terrestrial methods (by the commission).
  • Guidelines on height determination techniques using satellite techniques (by the commission).

Timetable

  • Draft publications to FIG working week, 2000; publication in 2001.
  • Working group final report: dedicated session, FIG congress, 2002.

Beneficiaries

FIG member associations, manufacturers and users of survey equipment, governments, standardisation organisations, decision makers, GIS developers and users, surveying businesses, individual surveyors.


Working Group 5.3

Title

Kinematic and integrated positioning systems

Policy issues

  • Investigation of performances and achievable accuracy of existing systems.
  • Investigation of utilisation possibilities and different applications.
  • Influencing technical developments.

Chair

Dr Naser El-Sheimy (Canada).

Specific project(s)

  • Report on performances (possibilities, limitations and developments) of different systems.
  • Prepare guidelines for practitioners on making the best use of systems to achieve certain accuracy for specific applications.
  • Follow up and report on surveying methods and instrumentation for the study of deformations, especially slow motion deformations, and dynamic co-ordinates.
  • Collaborate with other commissions, other international organisations (including IAG and ISPRS) and manufacturers on matters concerning kinematic and integrated positioning systems.

Workshop(s)

  • "Mobile mapping technology", Bangkok, April 1999.
  • "New trends in kinematic real time and integrated positioning systems/techniques" during FIG working week, 2001.
  • "Real time mobile mapping systems" session at KIS 2001, Banff, June 2001.

Publication(s)

  • Report on performances of existing systems and developments (by the commission).
  • Guidelines on making the best use of existing systems (by the commission).
  • Report on slow motion deformations and dynamic co-ordinates (by the commission).

Timetable

  • Draft report on performances to FIG working week,1999; draft guidelines on best uses and draft report on slow motion deformations to FIG working week, 2000; publications in immediately following years.
  • Working group final report: dedicated session, FIG congress, 2002.

Beneficiaries

FIG member associations, manufacturers and users of survey equipment, governments, standardisation organisations, decision makers, GIS developers and users, surveying businesses, individual surveyors.


Working Group 5.4

Title

Integration of techniques for digital mapping

Policy issues

  • Modern data collection techniques - for example, digital photogrammetry, remote sensing, GPS and scanners - for digital map production.
  • Modern digital map production techniques together with modern equipment and covering the complete profile of the surveyor, thereby complementing the work of ISPRS and ICA.

Chair

Prof. Nicolas Paparoditis (France).

Specific project(s)

  • Study and follow technical developments and performances of integrated survey systems including digital photogrammetry, geodesy and other techniques for digital mapping production purposes.
  • Follow up the implementation in different areas of these integrated systems - for example, digital aerial photogrammetry applications.
  • Study how to apply these integrated techniques for the establishment of 3-D databases for monitoring the near environment (urban areas, buildings, etc).

Workshop(s)

Contribute to technical programmes forming part of FIG working weeks in 1999, 2000 and 2001.

Publication(s)

  • Report on instrumentation for integrated digital mapping systems and their applications (by the commission).
  • Report on the best use of different integrated digital mapping systems (by the commission).
  • Report on the use of 3-D monitoring of the near environment (by the commission).

Timetable

  • Draft report on instrumentation for integrated digital mapping systems to FIG working week 2000; draft reports on the best use of integrated digital mapping systems and on the use of 3-D monitoring to FIG working week, 2001; publication in immediately following years.
  • Working group final report: dedicated session, FIG congress, 2002.

Beneficiaries

FIG member associations, manufacturers and users of survey equipment, governments,standardisation organisations, decision makers, GIS developers and users, surveying businesses, individual surveyors.


Working Group 5.5

Title

Reference frame in practice

Policy issues

  • Inventory of approaches from different countries.
  • The best use of global, national and local co-ordinates (horizontal and vertical components) for applications in urban and rural areas.
  • Transformation parameters for the best use of modern surveying techniques in their different applications - for example, road construction.
  • Quality aspects concerning requirements from a regional point of view.

Chair

Prof. Paul Cross (UK).

Specific project(s)

  • Prepare and present regular status reports based on an inventory of existing approaches.
  • Prepare guidelines to help surveyors to manage their work at local and regional level and to manage data such as co-ordinates and transformation parameters in a correct and efficient way.
  • Report on the configuration, establishment and densification of local control networks for the best use of modern surveying techniques in urban and/or rural areas, especially to support their application in developing countries.
  • Finalise the report on height datum transformations.
  • Prepare a report on the future of levelling networks.
  • Collaborate with other international organisations (including IAG) and with Working Group 5.3’s work on deformation measurements.

Workshop(s)

  • "Geodesy and surveying in the future - the importance of heights", Gälve, March 1999.
  • Dedicated session during FIG working week, 1999.
  • Contribution to technical programmes forming part of FIG working weeks, 2000 and 2001.

Publication(s)

  • Report on height datum transformations (by the commission).
  • Report on the future of levelling networks (by the commission).
  • Report on the best use of modern techniques in urban and/or rural areas (by the commission).

Timetable

  • Final report on height datum transformations to FIG working week, 1999.
  • Draft publications on levelling networks and on modern techniques to FIG working week, 2000; publication in immediately following year.
  • Working group final report: dedicated session, FIG congress, 2002.

Beneficiaries

FIG member associations, manufacturers and users of survey equipment, governments, standardisation organisations, decision makers, GIS developers and users, surveying businesses, individual surveyors.


Other activities

Maintain and develop the commission home page, linkages to other relevant home pages and new pages or other networks for special projects, to keep commission delegates, other FIG members, users of surveying services and the public involved in and informed about the work of the commission.


Commission officers and chairs of working groups

Chair
Prof. Jean Marie Becker
National Land Survey
801 82 Gävle
Sweden
Email jean-marie.becker@lm.se
Tel + 46 26 633 728
Fax + 46 26 610 676

Vice-Chair
Matt Higgins
Locked Bag 40
Coorparoo Delivery Centre
Brisbane, Queensland 4151
Australia
Email matt.higgins@dnr.qld.gov.au
Tel + 61 7 3896 3754
Fax + 61 7 3891 5168

Secretary
Mikael Lilje
Geodetic Research Division
National Land Survey
801 82 Gävle
Sweden
Email mikael.lilje@lm.se
Tel + 46 26 63 37 42
Fax + 46 26 61 06 76

Working Group 5.1

Chair Dr Vaclav Slaboch
VUGTK
Zdiby 98
25066 Zdiby
Czech Republic
Email vaclav.slaboch@cuzk.cz
Tel + 420 2 685 7907
Fax + 420 2 685 7056

Working Group 5.2

Chair Prof. Michel Kasser
IGN
2 Av. Pasteur
F-94 165 Saint-Mandé Cedex
France
Email michel.kasser@ign.fr
Tel. + 33 1 4398 8331
Fax + 33 1 4398 8450

Working Group 5.3

Chair Dr Naser El-Sheimy
Department of Geomatics Engineering
University of Calgary
2500 University Drive NW
Calgary, Alberta
Canada T2N 1N4
Email elsheimy@ensu.ucalgary.ca
Tel + 1 403 220 7587
Fax + 1 403 284 1980

Working Group 5.4

Chair Prof. Nicolas Paparoditis
Conservatoire National des Arts et Métiers
Laboratoire LOEMI
4 avenue Pasteur
94165 Saint Mandé Cedex
France
Email nicolas.paparoditis@ign.fr
Tel + 33 1 43 98 72 17
Fax + 33 1 43 98 85 81

Working Group 5.5

Chair Prof. Paul Cross
Department of Geomatic Engineering
University College London
Gower Street
London WC1E 6BT
UK
Email paul.cross@ge.ucl.ac.uk
Tel + 44 171 380 7028
Fax + 44 171 380 0453



This page is maintained by the FIG Office. Last revised on 15-03-18.