FIG Deformation Symposium Hong Kong (1996)

The 8th FIG International Symposium on Deformation Measurements was held in Hong Kong in June 1996. It was hosted by Hong Kong Polytechnic University. The LOC was chaired by Prof Chen Yongqi.

HKPU

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Visit of Prof Chen Yongqi (1995)

Another big name who has visited Faculty of Surveying and Cimes in particular is Prof Chen Yongqi. Dr Chen is from LSGI Dept Hong Kong Polytechnic University. I have the opportunity working together with Dr Chen at UNB as a team on deformation analysis under the directive of Dr Chrzanowski. At the time of Dr Chen visit he was Chairman of Commission 6 of FIG (the commission on Engineering Survey).

Dr Chen is the author of a famous technical report on deformation analysis "The Generalized Approach on analysis of deformation". It was published as Technical Report 94 of UNB Dept of SE publication way back in 1983.

From right: Prof Chen, Prof Halim, me and Dr Conrad Tang (HKPU)

Photo taken with Dr Chen Yongqi at MIT Boston during a conference on deformation analysis (in 1986)

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Visit of Prof Adam Chrzanowski of UNB (1995)

One special event that I have involved with in 1995 was the visit of Dr Adam Chrzanowski to Faculty of Surveying UTM. Dr Adam is from UNB Canada and he is the world renown academic in geodetic deformation analysis. Dr Adam is my mentor during my days at UNB and I was personally arranged this special visit by him to establish contact between our small research group Cimes (representing Dept of Engineering Survey or UKK) and UNB. Since Dr Adam at that time is the Chairman of FIG working group in analysis of deformation therefore his visit really has a very significant meaning to Cimes research work in the same discipline.

Dr Adam visited my small office

Having a good time at one small beach on his way to UTM

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Teskey & Nedal Al-Hanbali - Precise Machinery Survey 1995

Deformation analysis group at U of C under Tesky has published a paer "Geometric deformation analysis in a precise machinery survey" in Geomatica, 1995. The work was done with Al-Hanbali and Fuss.

Precise machinery survey (1995)

Nedal Al-Hanbali - PhD Calgary 1998 (researchgate)

Nedal is now GIS Manager with Abu Dhabi Urban Planning Council. His latest publications available are in 2012. His PhD thesis "Assessment of a laser scanning system for deformation monitoring applications" is available here - ucalgary.

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IAG 116 - Global Gravity Field & Its Temporal Variations (1995)

IAG 116 symposia themed "Global Gravity Field & Its Temporal Variations". This publication is the proceedings of one the symposia - G3, Global Gravity Field and Its Temporal Variations. The symposia was held during the XXI General Assembly of the International Union of Geodesy and Geophysics was held in Boulder, Colorado in July 1995. The symposium was convened and edited by RH Rapp, Anny A Cazenave (GRGS CNES Toulouse) and R Steven Nerem (Center of Space Research, U of Texas). The series editor was Wolfgang Torge.

Steve Nerem (colorado)

BSc Colorado 1982; MSc Texas, Austin 1985; PhD Texas, Austin 1989

MSc "The Use of Satellite Altimeter Data for Determining the Mean Sea Surface" - Byron Tapley

PhD "Determination of the General Ocean Circulation Using Satellite Altimetry from a Simultaneous Solution for the Earth’s Gravity Field" - Byron Tapley 

IAG 116 (Published in 1996)

Among the papers presented;
"Applications of Global Gravity Field Models in Geodesy and Oceanography" by Nerem, Kloskos & Pavlis
"The Accuracy of Contemporary Geopotential Models and the Accuracy of Predicted Positions of Artificial Earth Satellites" by E. Wnuk, E. Wilczyilska

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IAG 115 - GPS Trends in Precise Terrestrial Application (1995)

IAG Symposia 115 was themed "GPS Trends in Precise Terrestrial, Airborne, and Spaceborne Applications". It is actually the proceedings which include most of the papers presented at the lAG Symposium GPS Trends in Precise Terrestrial, Airborne, and Spaceborne Applications held in July 1995 during the XXI-th IUGG General Assembly in Boulder, Colorado. The symposium was jointly organized by the lAG and the International Union of Surveys and Mapping (IUSM).

The symposium was convened and edited by Gerhard Beutler (U of Berne), Gunter Hein (Hochschule der Bundeswehr, Munich Germany), William G Melbourne (JPL) and Gunter Seeber  of Hannover). The series editor was Wolfgang Torge.

Gunter W Hein

1983-2008 Professor at Institue of Earth Measurement and Navigation UniBw; then he moved to ESA and stayed there until 2014 (link)

IAG 115 (Published in 1996)

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Geodesy Meeting of IAG 1994-1995

The  list of meetings sponsored by the IAG between 1994 to 1995;

3rd Hotine-Marussi Symposium on Mathematical Geodesy (IAG 114) L'Aquila (Italy) May 29-June 2 1994
EUREF Symposium Warsaw (Poland) June 8-11 1994
6th WEGENER Meeting St Petersburg (Russia) June 20-24 1994
International Symposium on Kinematic Systems in Geodesy, Geomatics and Navigation KIS 94 Banff (Canada) August 30-September 2 1994
1st Turkish International Symposium on Deformations Istanbul (Turkey) September 5-9 1994
Joint Meeting of the IGC and IGeC (IAG 113) Graz (Austria) September 12-16 1994
International Symposium on Marine Positioning INSMAP 94 Hannover ((Germany) September 19-23 1994
International School for the Determination and Use of the Geoid Milan (Italy) October 10-15 1994
9th International Workshop on Laser Ranging Instrumentation Canberra (Australia) November 7-11 1994
4th International Symposium on Recent Crustal Movements in Africa Nairobi (Kenya) November 28-December 2 1994
Summer School on GPS for Geodesy Delft (Netherlands) March 26-April 1 1995
EUREF Symposium Helsinki (Finland) May 3-5 1995
IERS Workshop Paris (France) May 10-12 1995
IGS Workshop Potsdam (Germany) May 15-17 1995

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Geodesy Meeting of IAG 1991-1993

A long list of meetings sponsored by the IAG between 1991 to 1993;

1st International Symposium on applications of Geodesy to Engineering, (IAG) Stuttgart (Germany) May 13-17 1991
6th International Symposium on Satellite Positioning, Columbus (USA) March 17-20 1992
1st Continental Workshop on the Geoid in Europe Prague (Czechoslovaquia) May 11-24 1992
Symposium on Refraction of transatmospheric signals in Geodesy, The Hague (Netherlands) May 19-22 1992
International Summer School of Theoretical Geodesy "Satellite altimetry in Geodesy and Oceanography" Trieste (Italy) May 25-June 6 1992
International Workshop on GPS in the Geosciences, honouring Prof. George Veis Chania (Greece) June 8-10 1992
1st International Conference on Geodetic aspects of the Law of the Sea Bali (Indonesia) June 8-11 1992
COSPAR/IAG Meetings during the COSPAR Meeting Washington (USA) August 31-September 5 1992
IAG Regional Symposium on Recent Crustal Movements in Europe Szekesfehervar (Hungary) August 31-September 4 1992
IAU/IAG Symposium on Development of Astrometry and its impact on Astrophysics and Geodynamics, Shanghai (China) September 14-19 1992
3rd Orlov Conference "The study of the Earth as Planet by methods of astrometry, geophysics and geodesy" Odessa (USSR) September 21-26 1992
7th International Symposium on Geodesy and Figure of the Earth (IAG 112) Potsdam (Germany) October 5-10 1992
IAG/PAIGH International Conference Cartography Geodesy Maracaibo (Venezuela) November 24-December 4 1992
IGS Workshop Bern (Switzerland) March 24-27 1993
IERS Workshop Paris (France) May 2-6 1993
EUREF Symposium Budapest (Hungary) May 17-19 1993
12th International scientific Symposium on Earth Tides Beijing (China) August 3-8 1993
IAG General Meeting;Beijing (China) August 8-15 1993
1st International Symposium on Mathematical and Physical Foundations of Geodesy Stuttgart (Germany) September 7-9 1993
International Workshop on Geodetic techniques in Crustal Movement and Deformation studies Lagos (Nigeria) October 18-22 1993
8th International Symposium on Recent Crustal Movements Kobe (Japan) December 6-11 1993

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Bomford Prize - IAG Boulder 1995 (Tom Herring)

The Bomford Prize was inaugurated by IAG in 1975, and it is given at four years intervals, to a young scientist for outstanding theoretical or applied contributions to geodetic studies. At IAG Boulder five very qualified young scientists have been nominated by the National Committees, and the Prize Committee decided to award the Guy Bomford Prize 1995 to Professor Thomas A. Herring.
Dr. Herring was born in 1955 in Cooroy/Queensland, Australia. He was educated at the University of Queensland, with a Bachelor and Master Degree in Surveying, and at the MIT, with the Ph. D. Degree. His scientific carreer includes positions at the University of Queensland and at Harvard University, and he is now Associate Professor of Geophysics at the Department of Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences, Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

From his many professional activities special mentioned is his engagement in IAG research groups on atmospheric refraction, and on the application of space-based interferometry, in the IAU Working Group on Astronomical Standards, and in Committees or panels of the National Academy of Sciences, NASA, and AGU.

Thomas Herring - b.1955

BSurv 1976 UQ; MSurv 1978 UQ; PhD 1983 MIT

Read cv - here; researchgate; MIT

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LevaIlois Medal winner - Prof Baarda (IAG Boulder 1995)

Levallois medal was established by IAG in 1979, to honour the former Secretary General and his outstanding contributions to IAG. The award is made in recognition of distinguished service to the Association, and/or to the science of geodesy in general. During IAG 1995 the Levallois medal was awarded to Professor Willem Baarda. Prof. Baarda worked for several decades at the Technical University at Delft, Netherlands, and the results of his research strongly influenced geodesy.
The contributions of Baarda were;

- he was the first to develop a systematic framework of statistical quality control, including the famous "data snooping".
- he also firstly introduced criterion matrices for testing a network precision, and invented the reliability concept, now at widespread use.
- finally, the invention of the S-transformations, nowadays employed at "free network" adjustments.
Some of Prof. Baarda's publications from the 1960's and 1970's belong to the fundamental literature in geodesy. Most recently (in 1995) a new basic publication from Prof. Baarda was highlighted, related to the coupling and interaction between geometric and physical geodesy.
Between 1979 and 1991, the award was given to Charles Whitten (USA), Rudolf Sigl (Germany), Arne Bjerhammar (Sweden), and Paul Melchior (Belgium).

Baarda - b.1917;d.2005
(1982 photo)

photo 2003
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IAG Best Paper Award - 1993 & 1994

IAG Best Paper Award for Young Scientists introduced with the purpose to draw attention to important contributions in the Bulletin Geodesique or manuscripta geodaetica, and to foster excellence in scientific writing. For the year 1993, the award is given to Dr. Hussein Abd-Elmotaal. Born in Cairo in 1960, he studied at Ain Shans University and at Graz University of Technology, and he is now Assistant Professor at Minia University, Egypt. He receives the award for his paper "Vening Meinesz Moho depths: traditional, exact and approximated" published in Manuscripta Geodaetica vol. 18, no. 4, 1993.

Abd-Elmotaal - b.1960; PhD Graz 1991

(researchgate - here)

For 1994, the award winner is Dr. Jean-Pierre Barriot. Born in 1959, he studied at Montpellier University, and held postdoctoral research positions at the French Space Agency and at Jet Propulsion Laboratory. He is now research engineer at CNES in France. The award is given for his paper "Line of sight operators in planetary geodesy" published in Manuscripta Geodaetica, vol. 19, no. 5, 1994.

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IAG 118 - Advances in Positioning & Reference Frames

IAG Symposia 118 "Advances in Positioning & Reference Frames" published by Springer in 1998. This book was published as proceedings of the IAG Scientific Assembly held in Rio de Janeiro in September 1997. The proceedings was convened and edited by Fritz K Brunner of Technical University of Graz. The lAG Local Organizing Committee (LOC) of the symposium was led by Prof D Blitzkov.

IAG 118 (Published in 1997)

This symposium comprised six sessions:

Maintenance and Densification of Reference Frames (Claude Boucher),
GPS Reference Networks (Fritz K Brunner),
the SIRGAS Project (Luiz P S Fortes),
Current Developments in Precise GPS Positioning (Yehuda Bock),
GPS Kinematic Applications (Chris Rizos),
and a very successful Poster Session.
During the symposium, 25 invited papers were presented and 70 posters were displayed.

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IAG 1995 Boulder - Important Activities & Development

The following activities represent among major developments contributed by IAG between 1991-1995;

1. The International Earth Rotation Service (IERS) continued to work with great success as a joint enterprise of IUGG and IAU since 1988. Providing the basic reference frames by employing advanced space methods.
2. The development of regional reference networks - examples of this type of work are the European Reference Frame now extended to Eastern Europe, and the SIRGAS project in South America, and the International GPS Service for Geodynamics started routine work on January 1, 1994, and proved to be extremely successful.
3. the International Geoid Service, located at Milano, is operational since 1992, and provides effective support to individuals and agencies, involved in geoid determination.
4. one outcome of active GALOS group, chaired by Petr Vanicek, which is the establishment of an IHO (International Hydrographie Organization) / IAG Advisory Board on Hydrographic and Geodetic Aspects of the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea.
5. IAG activities outside Europe & USA started spreading - as examples the Symposium on Geodesy in Latin America in Vienna 1991, and the forthcoming Symposium on South East Asia, to be held here in Boulder, as well as Symposia or Workshops in Maracaibo, Bali, Lagos and Nairobi held between 1992 and 1994.

University of Boulder, Colorado

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IUGG Boulder 1995 - Geodesist passed away

IAG President (Torge) speech during the opening of IAG 1995 General Assembly at Boulder began with mentioning of words to remember geodesists who left us since the last General Assembly. We lost fourteen as follows (i.e., 1991-1995);

Richard Anderle, USA; Arpad Czobor, Hungary; Czeslaw Kamela, Poland;
Georges Laclavère, France, Secretary General of IUGG from 1951 -1963;
Mikhail Sergevich Molodensky, Russia; Gabriel Obenson, Cameroon;
Leonard Pavlovich Pellinen, Russia; Avraam Perelmuter, Israel; Donald A. Richardson, USA;
Karl Rinner, Austria; Ove Simonsen, Denmark;
Charles Whitten, USA (b.1909 d.1994) BA Maths 1930, IAG-President from 1963 to 1967;
Helmut Wolf, Germany (b.1910), and Tadeusz Wyrzykowski, Poland.

Prof Helmut Wolf (ITG Bonn)
famous for Helmert-Wolf blocking method (read - here)
note: Helmert (1843-1917)
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Projek Kajian Kegagalan Struktur Pemecah Ombak (1995)

Tahun 1995 merupakan period aktif penglibatan dalam projek perundingan. Sebagai tambahan kepada tiga projek yang disebut sebelum ini ada satu lagi projek perundingan yang telah disertai dan ianya di luar Johor. Kerja yang dimaksudkan ialah Projek Kajian Kegagalan Struktur Pemecah Ombak di Terminal Eksport Gas Tanjung Sulong Kemaman.

Kerja ini melibatkan ukur pengawasan (atau monitoring survey) dibuat oleh pelajar  ukur tanah yang ketika itu sedang dalam latihan industri. Pada ketika itu (i.e., tahun 1995) latihan industri pelajar adalah dikelola sendiri oleh Fakulti Ukur di bawah Unit Perundingan Ukur dan Latihan (UPUL). Penglibatan saya dalam kerja ini bukanlah sebagai staf UPUL tetapi diminta menyertainya sebagai penganalisa dalam kerja yang melibatkan analisa deformasi.

Pensyarah UPUL yang menjadi penyelia kerja sebenar projek ini ialah En Matharudin Yusoff dan En Radin Jayakasuma. Sepanjang tempoh kerja tersebut semua staf dan pelajar terlibat menyewa rumah di sebuah taman perumahan di kawasan Kemaman.

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Kerja Ukur Gas Pipeline System (1995)

Projek perundingan berikutnya ialah kerja ukur butiran untuk penyediaan plan sebuah tapak industri di Pasir Gudang. Spesifikasi khusus kerja ini ialah untuk pemetaan Gas Pipeline System yang baru dipasang di kawasan tapak industri Hitachi Chemical (Johor) Sdn Bhd. Kerja ukur ini merupakan penglibatan kedua dalam kerja automation survey pada tahun 1995 (selepas projek pertama di Sedili, Kota Tinggi).

Cabaran besar kerja ini ialah ianya dilakukan dalam bulan Ramadhan. Maka terpaksalah menyiap kerja dalam keadaan berlapar.

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Projek Ukur Butiran Tapak Pelancungan (1995)

Projek perundingan kedua yang disertai pada tahun 1995 ialah projek ukur butiran (details survey) untuk satu tapak pelancungan di Mukim Sedili Besar, Kota Tinggi. Disamping memenuhi tuntutan pihak klien projek ini juga mendedahkan staf yang terlibat dengan rutin kerja ukur butiran secara automasi. Pada ketika itu konsep automation survey masih baru dan belum banyak dipraktis kerana ia memerlukan peralatan dan software yang bersesuaian. Dalam projek ini perisian ukur TRPS telah digunakan.

Klien projek perundingan ini seorang ahli perniagaan yang merancang untuk memajukan tapak yang diukur dengan mendirikan chalet untuk pelancung menginap.

Tak ada pula yang bawa kamera maka tidak ada foto yang dirakam.

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Projek Ukur Aras Jitu Jambatan Pulau Pinang (1995)

Period 1994 dan tahun-tahun berikutnya juga diisi dengan beberapa projek perundingan.  Salah satu kerja perundingan yang dibuat ialah Projek Ukur Aras Jitu Jambatan Pulau Pinang. Klien projek ini ialah Syarikat Juruukur Ayob Saud (SAS) yang berpengkalan di Pulau Pinang. SAS pula memperolehi kerja tersebut dari syarikat konsesi yang  bertanggungjawab mengendalikan Jambatan Pulau Pinang. Di peringkat Fakulti Ukur projek perundingan ini diketuai oleh Encik Shaharudin Mohd Said.

Projek Ukur Aras Jitu berjalan agak lama meliputi tempoh sebulan mungkin(?).  Sudah lupa tempoh yang betulnya kerana ia dilaksana lebih dua puluh tahun lalu. Yang pastinya staf terlibat telah bergilir-gilir duduk di sana seminggu (kemudian diganti pula staf lain) dengan menyewa sebuah rumah di Kg Seronok, Bayan Lepas.

Sebagai mana amalan biasa ukur aras jitu hanya boleh dibuat pada awal pagi hinggalah jam 10 atau 11 pagi mengelak cuaca panas. Sekiranya perlu ia disambung pula sebelah petang pukul 4 hingga 6 atau 7. Waktu kerja juga bergantung pada keadaan pasang surut air laut. Waktu air surut susah kerjanya kerana paras bot terlalu rendah dan perlu guna tangga untuk memanjat sampai ke tiang jambatan. Ini suatu yang cuba dielakkan kerana bahaya.

Lawatan peninjauan projek ukur aras jitu Jambatan Pulau Pinang

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Contoh titik aras yang terdapat pada setiap pillar

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