I am encouraged with the positive feedback from respondents to the articles in the previous issue of PositionIT on Occupation Specific Dispensation (OSD) and GISc professional registration. It leaves me with no doubt that the majority of geomatics persons in understand the importance of professional registration supported by an appropriate qualification... (more)

I read two articles in PositionIT - "OSD complicates professional registration" and "Tensions at GISc Professional Registration workshop", and I like your closing remarks which put the onus on people working in GISc to strive to achieve the highest qualification rather than trying to force PLATO to lower their standards... (more)

The use of 3D laser scanning for recording of whitewater facilitates improvements to current methods of hydraulic modelling. Laser scanning is a sensitive measurement tool. Although the precise measurements are extremely fast and accurate, this measuring method can be sensitive to certain environmental conditions... (more)

Terrestrial high resolution laser scanning is being used for geodetic deformation measurements of civil technical constructions e.g. newly built tunnels. This paper deals with the error values during processing of a measured tunnel section and the final determination of the deformations based on 3D laser scan point clouds... (more)

The Maptek I-Site 8800 laser scanner was deployed to locate conductors on powerlines to test the suitability of the method for sag profiling. The power transmission lines near Carina in Queensland, Australia, are strung between towers over a 300 m span, with 24 unique wires to differentiate... (more)

This article discusses the development of a disaggregation procedure for socio-economic data based on the principles of dasymetric mapping and areal interpolation in order to develop a flexible geo-data frame which allows the data to be assigned to different demarcations seamlessly. The geo-data frame is based on the Spot Building Count points dataset from Eskom... (more)

The geospatial information enterprise is large and growing. Organisations need skilled and talented people in order to be successful. This has led to the emergence of GISc as a new and emerging profession begging for education opportunities that truly reflect the demands of the employment market... (more)

The expansion programme of the Panama Canal required a high accuracy survey to be carried out. Fugro's FLI-MAP airborne lidar system was used to generate an accurate model of the area for design purposes.The Panama Canal is an 81 km long stretch of water consisting of locks, canals and a lake... (more)

In the automatic processing of point clouds, higher level information in the form of point segments is required for classification and object detection. Point cloud segmentation allows for the definition of these segments. An extension of a segmentation approach based on intersecting profiles is proposed... (more)

A case study of a flood prone informal settlement demonstrates a methodology for the collection and integration of community based information into a GIS that can be used for risk assessment, and shows how data collected from communities can demonstrate micro levels of vulnerability and guide risk management strategies... (more)

Utility companies are faced with costly and time consuming inventory assessment surveys. Two case studies involving a major power utility in New Zealand and a communications infrastructure company in the US, illustrate how an all-in-one mobile GIS system can reduce manpower costs and time lost to errors and inefficiency... (more)