10th Digital Earth Summit / Locate26 Conference
The combined 10th Digital Earth Summit / Locate26 Conference is scheduled from the 24th to the 26th of November at the Melbourne Convention & Exhibition Centre.
This year’s speaker program is comprehensive, covering numerous geospatial topics.
The first day of the conference kicks off with a session on the future of the geospatial sector. The panel will include high-level leaders from around Australia: Dr Stuart Minchin (Bureau of Meteorology), Brett Bundock (Esri Australia), Ana Belgun (Terria), Jannat Maqbool (AURIN), and Melissa Harris (Geoscience Australia). This session will also include a special presentation by Prof. Huadong Guo, Honorary President of the International Society for Digital Earth (ISDE), who will speak about Digital Earth transformation.
The day will split into multiple streams. The morning streams are:
* Spatial Data & Innovation, covering hyperspectral Earth observation and the evolution of Australia’s address foundation (G-NAF); * Digital Earth & Sustainable Development, including modelling coastal protection afforded by mangroves and saltmarsh; * ASIERA Research Transforming Geospatial with AI, exploring geospatial reasoning as the next frontier in AI; * Measurement, Positioning and Survey Innovation, discussing integrating spatial reasoning and LLMs; * Spatial Innovation & Digital Transformation, featuring building the Australia Climate Service portal and vibe coding an urban operating system; * From Imagery to Intelligence, focusing on building climate resilience with near-real-time geospatial AI; and * Spatial Analytics & AI, including leveraging AI in the workplace to drive productivity.
The afternoon streams will cover:
* Digital Earth & Smart Environments, including 3D/4D mapping and AI-driven spatio-temporal updating for urban renewal; * Environmental Risk & Resilience, presenting an integrated operational framework for real-time urban flood prediction; * ASIERA Research Semantically Enriched Environment, including modelling horizontal and vertical topological relationships in 3D cadastre using JSON-FG; * Surveying Practice & Professional Standards, discussing an alternative framework for registration and realising the goals of Automatic Deemed Registration; * Geospatial Enablement & Impact, covering expanding geospatial literacy and geospatial collaboration supporting a fair and just Treaty; * Positioning & Spatial Integration, including a multidimensional complexity index for comparable LiDAR point clouds; and * Spatial Platforms & Data Delivery, showcasing a cloud-native solution for imagery base map delivery.
The afternoon will also feature a panel session on industry disruption and start-ups, with five panellists including Shoabi Iqbal (Esper Satellites) and Prof. Allison Kealy (Swinburne University). That’ll be followed by the presentation of awards and a networking drinks event put on by Geospatial Sciences Victoria.
Day 2 program highlights:
The second day of the conference will begin with a business forum featuring leaders from Australian companies and organisations: Alan Smart (ACIL Allen), Bruce Baker (Hexagon Geosystems), Dean Capobianco (Geoscape), Eloise Thaisen (Altavec), Maree Wilson (Geoscience Australia), and Prof Andy Koronios (Australasian Space Innovation Institute).
That’ll be followed by a panel discussion bringing together four of Australia’s Surveyors-General: Bradley Slape (South Australia), Craig Sandy (Victoria), Dione Bilick (Western Australia), and Greg Ledwidge (Australian Capital Territory).
The day will then split into its streams, with the morning streams being as follows:
* Water Systems & Spatial Intelligence, including 3D visualisation and dynamic representation for Digital Earth; * GeoAI & Machine Learning, including improving operational crop mapping in Queensland; * ASIERA Research Improved Building Management, covering usability of virtual reality for visualising 3D strata lots in NSW; * Modern Surveying & Spatial Data, including mapping individual building heights with spaceborne LiDAR and multi-source data; * Building Trusted Spatial Data, discussing modernising the Vicmap Basemap Platform for scale, reliability and innovation; * Building the Future Geospatial Workforce, including adapting geospatial science education in the age of AI; and * Spatial Data for Decision Making, presenting a study of geometric complexity in operational geospatial systems.
The afternoon streams will be:
* Digital Twins & Spatial Modelling, including Digital Twins for Scalable 3D Urban Environmental Simulation; * Earth Observation for Environmental Applications, covering large-area crop mapping using satellite Earth observation and machine learning; * ASIERA Research AI-ready Solutions For Environmental Sustainability, including a geospatial framework for urban climate action; * Land Administration & Surveying Innovation, discussing digital plan lodgement – advancing spatial validation for a modern cadastre; * Managing Spatial Data for Better Outcomes, including parcel-based land use mapping and change detection in Victoria; * Spatial Data for Better Decisions, highlighting Inner West Council’s quest to make spatial data the decision tool of choice; and * Earth Observation & Spatial Modelling, including integrating backpack LiDAR and Landsat for mangrove biomass estimation.
The day will conclude with a final panel session titled ‘Capacity building and setting roadmap for what’s next,’ featuring a large panel of high-level experts: Tony Spicci (GIS Certification Institute), Steven Jacoby (Queensland Department of Natural Resources and Mines), A/Prof Petra Helmholz (Curtin University), Dr Zhen Liu (International Society for Digital Earth), Major Joe Cleary (Australian Defence Force), Alexandra Wong (Woolpert), and Prof Sisi Zlatanova (UNSW).
And the day will be rounded off with the official closing ceremony, presided over by Prof Dr Zaffar Sadiq Mohamed-Ghouse, the event’s Convenor and ISDE Councillor, and Prof. Changlin Wang, Vice President, ISDE.