News in 2020
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New FIG Publication no 75: FIG and Me
- My Twenty Five Years in the International Surveying Arena
June 2020
Written by FIG Honorary President Earl James
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It is with great pride that we publish this new publication
no 75
in the FIG Publication Series.
Earl James, FIG President 1993-1996, has written this
personal story and report which gives a unique
perspective of the FIG workings, achievements, and challenges
during the term 1988 – 1996.
Back then FIG Council and Office
was known as the “Bureau”, and from 1988 Earl served as a Vice
President with the Finnish Bureau for four years, and then as
FIG President of the Australian Bureau, who hosted the XX
International Survey Congress held in Melbourne in 1994.
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In the foreword FIG President Rudolf Staiger states:
| Many of those who know Earl, always recount his eloquent
speeches, his strategic thinking, and plans for FIG, which when combined
help shape the foundations of the organisation that we know today. It is
therefore a great pleasure and honour for me to write this foreword and
for FIG to be part of this publication. I sincerely hope that FIG
members enjoy reading this personal record from a Northern Territory of
Australia outback surveyor who visited over 50 countries whilst leading
the way. |
Preface by Earl James:
Surveying is a pastime enjoyed (or endured) by many, many people who
carry out a host of different occupations; occupations that could range from
the simple task of polling people with a question of political significance
to the complicated and highly skilled task of measuring the shape and size
of the earth.
In some countries the term ‘surveyor’ is used to refer to those who carry
out surveys such as those required to define property boundaries or the
surveys needed to control the construction of bridges, roads, multi-storied
buildings and other structures but in other countries the term is also used
to cover those who simply collect information and use it to come to a
specific conclusion such as the determination of the value of a property, or
how best to design a new suburb, or the production of a particular map.
Surveyors have been around for a long time. Evidence of this can be seen in
such ancient works as the three thousand year old map recently found
stencilled into the rocks of Italy’s mountains. Ancient art depicts
surveyors using crude tapes and other measuring implements while the
rectilinear layout of most excavated lost cities is enough to convince even
the casual observer that surveying is a very ancient art. Indeed, surveying
is often referred to as the world’s first, or oldest profession though this
is hotly contested by the military. Even so, military ranks always have
contained surveyors though they were referred to as engineers. Roman
military surveyors two thousand years ago were famous for their long
straight roads and the symmetry of their military encampments.
The International Federation of Surveyors defines a surveyor as, among
other things, ‘a professional person with the academic qualifications and
technical expertise to practise the science of measurement’. I am a
surveyor. I have worked both as a government employed surveyor and as a
private practicing surveyor for the best part of forty six years in the
Northern Territory of Australia. During that time I took a great interest in
the politics of the profession to the extent that over the years I
progressed from being an
associate member of the Institution of Surveyors Australia (ISA), to
national President of that Institution thence to Vice President of the
International Federation of Surveyors (FIG), then to President of that
federation and finally to President of the International Union for Surveys
and Mapping (IUSM). This is the story of my involvement with the Féderation
Internationale des Géomètres (FIG).
Continue reading:
Louise Friis-Hansen
9 June 2020
