Final Exam Sghu4863

The final exam of Sghu4863 (Industrial Svy) was held today starts at 9 am at BK2. All 43 students turned out and sat the exam. One of them came almost 40 minutes late. She over slept and have to be called through handphone. Luckily her roommate answering the call.

Final exam moment
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Majlis Pautan Ukhwah BKFGHT

Pada pagi ini BKFGHT mengadakan satu majlis khas yang dinamakan Majlis Pautan Ukhwah. Antara agendanya adalah untuk meraikan staf fakulti yang bersara sepanjang 2016 dan juga meraikan staf yang baru bertugas/bertukar tempat kerja ke FGHT. Empat staf yang telah bersara - Prof Khairul Anuar, PM Dr Norhaya Kamarudin, Azman Samuri, dan Dr Harun Shah Mat Zin. Cuma Prof Khairul yang turut sertai majlis tadi.

Ucapan Pengerusi BKFGHT

Dr Khairul menyampai ucapan

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PSM Proposal Presentation

Today all final year students of BGeom program (4Sghu) presented their PSM proposal. The session ran parallel at six different rooms. The session I am involved was at DK2 with six students.

Photo after session finished

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Principles of Theory of Attraction

Chapter 1 of the book “Principles of the Gravitational Method” covers on theory of attraction. The content are very relevant to physical geodesy.

Chapter 1: Principles of theory of attraction.
1. Newton’s law of attraction.
2. The field of attraction and solution of the forward problem.
3. Different types of masses and their densities.
4. Two fundamental features of the attraction field.
5. System of equations of the field of attraction.
6. Laplace’s and Poisson’s equations.
7. The potential and its relation to masses.
8. Fundamental solution of Poisson’s and Laplace’s equations.
9. Theorem of uniqueness and solution of the forward problem.
10. Green’s formula and the relationship between potential and boundary conditions.
11. Analytical upward continuation of the field.
12. Poisson’s integral.
13. Behavior of the attraction field.
14. Legender’s functions and solution of Laplace’s equation.

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Perbincangan Projek MBH PUO

Staf PUO yang sedang dalam program PhD Geomatik datang berkunjung ke ofis hari ini. Beliau datang berbincang dan minta pandangan tentang proposal projek phd yang telah dibentang kepada committee.

Masreta binti Hambali (MBH)

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Gravitational field of the earth

Another interesting and relevant topic is covered in Chapter 2 of the book i.e., Gravitational field of the earth. The full content of Chp 2 is as follows;

Chapter 2: Gravitational field of the earth.

1. Forces acting on an elementary volume of the rotating earth and the gravitational field.
2. Gravitational field of the earth.
3. Potential of the gravitational field of the earth.
4. Potential and the gravitational field due to an ellipsoid of rotation.
5. Clairaut’s Theorem.
6. Potential of the gravitational field in terms of spherical harmonics.
7. Geoid and leveling.
8. Stokes formula.
9. Molodensky’s problem.
10. Attraction field of the spheroid.
11. Spheroid and equilibrium of rotating fluid.
12. Development of the theory of the figure of the earth.

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Principles of the Gravitational Method

To those who are interested in physical geodesy particularly on gravitational-related topics should consider widen our readings by not limited to geodesy-based sources only. There are many chapters on these topics covered in books dedicated to other disciplines. One example is the monograph entitled "Principles of the Gravitational Method". The monograph is published by Elsevier in its Series: Methods in Geochemistry and Geophysics (Volume 41).

Note: this book is not available in PSZ but copy of all chapters are in my library.

Methods in Geochemistry & Geophysics - Volume 41 (2007)

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IAG 143 - 150 Years (Potsdam 2013)

IAG celebrated its 150 years anniversary by having a special symposium in Potsdam in September 2013. The event was hosted by GFZ Potsdam. The proceedings consists of all papers presented during the symposium was published by Springer.

The preface was written as follow;

In 1862, the Prussian General Johann Jacob Baeyer initiated the Central European Arc Measurement (“MitteleuropäischeGradmessung”) project. By the end of that year, 15 countries had affirmed their participation, and in 1864, the first General Conference was held in Berlin. This was a great success and the start of an organised international collaboration in geodesy. The IAG counts this international scientific initiative, and the organisation it spawned, as its origin. The IAG celebrated its 150th anniversary with a Scientific Assembly in Potsdam, Germany, 2–6 September 2013.

IAG 150 Years

Among the papers presented were on the history of IAG as following;

1. From a regional project to an international organization: The "Baeyer-Helmert-era" of the International Association of Geodesy 1862-1916 [Wolfgang Torge]
2. IAG history: the years of World Wars and aftermath (1917-1959) [Claude Boucher & Pascal Willis]

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Test 2 - Sgh4863

Test no 2 Sghu4863 was held today during lunch hour. Attendance were full and it was an hour test.

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Sesi Penilaian Soalan Peperiksaan Akhir

Pagi ini telah diadakan sesi untuk meneliti soalan peperiksaan akhir bagi semester pertama. Sesi diadakan bermula 9.30 pagi dan berakhir selepas dua jam. Lima atau enam staf Geomtik turut serta dalam penilaian tersebut.

Sesi Penilaian Soalan Peperiksaan Akhir

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Kuliah Penutup Sghu4863

Pada hari ini telah disampaikan kuliah paling akhir subjek Sghu4863. Sebagai kenangan di akhir kelas sesi berfoto bersama semua pelajar yang hadir.

Sghu4863 2016

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Ind Svy Case Studies

There were plenty of case studies described the use of industrial surveys worldwide. The best place to look for them is through online resources. One good example is Leica particularly its metrology division.

Go here - metrologyleica.

ATV Project, Grenoble, France

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Airborne Gravity Field Determination (Forsberg & Olesen, 2012)

In the presentation given by Dr Majid he mentioned one important reference i.e,. an explanatory chapter written by Forsberg and Olesen (2012). The chapter is available in a book published by Springer - Science of Geodesy - 1

Chapter 3

The book

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Talk by Dato' Dr Majid Kadir

A special talk by Dato' Dr Majid Kadir was held this afternoon. He presented a talk on airborne gravimetry survey in Peninsular Malaysia as well as for Sabah and Sarawak. These airborne gravimetry surveys actually was a project under contract for Jupem in which Dr Majid was mainly involved as consultant together with Rene Forsberg of Denmark.

The opening slide

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Norehan's MSc Viva

Today is a historic day for my postgraduate student, Norehan. She is finally having her viva after completing her MSc research which took slightly more than three years. Actually she wasted her first year doing research something on GIS which she could not complete.
The viva was held at MJIIT UTM KL campus. Viva started at 10.30 am and it lasted after more than two hours.

The viva session

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Mock Viva Session

A postgraduate of me is going to have her viva next week. She is too nervous and to help her a mock viva session was arranged. By doing that she can practice delivering her work and showing results to audiences. A group of postgraduate students doing the same discipline of research as her were invited to attend. They not only listen to the presentation but also gave her suggestions to improve. The session lasted about one hour and a half.

Mock viva session

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Ind Svy - Test 1

After a number of postponements Test 1 of Sghu4863 was held today. It was done during lunch break in order to secure available classroom. Attendance are full 43/43.

Photo 1

Photo 2

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Adam Dziewonski (1936-2016)

The main author of PREM is Prof Adam Dziewonski of Harvard University. He is originally from Poland and graduated with a PhD from Warsaw University and the Academy of Mines and Metallurgy in 1965. Soon after that he moved to US first at the Southwest Center for Advanced Studies in Dallas, Texas, then at the University of Texas at Dallas, and finally at Harvard University.
Dziewonski died on March 1, 2016 at the age of 80, after been diagnosed with cancer. As professor emeritus, he was still actively involved in research at the time of his passing.

Late Prof Dziewonski

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Earth Lateral Density & PREM

The Earth density and its effect on geoid has long been a topic of wide interest and studied by many researchers. In practice the common density of 2.67 g per cubic cm was used widely in the geoid computation. Works to produce a more realistic model are actively been pursued lately. The first attempt of such model was known as Preliminary Reference Earth Model (PREM). It was jointly put forward by Dziewonski and Anderson way back in 1981.

The seminal publication of PREM  can be downloaded here - researchgate.

PREM - Journal of Physics of the Earth & Planetary Interior, 1981

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Johor Preliminary KTH Geoid

A research work of pioneering implementation of the KTH method at Fght was on-going for almost three years. The work has culminated into a preliminary gravimetric geoid model for Johor region. At present only terrestrial gravity data were made used. The airborne gravity data was not yet utilized due to the problem and uncertainty in downward continuation.

Slides discussing the project

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Mesyuarat Penyediaan Proposal FRGS

Pagi ini diadakan perjumpaan warga G&G untuk penyediaan gran FRGS. Beberapa cadangan research telah diutarakan. Antara cadangannya ialah untuk tajuk LSA yang telah pun selesai sekian lama. Tajuknya belum pernah dikemuka dan kalau berjaya boleh membantu kewangan pelajar yang sedia ada.

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Sesi Pembentangan 1

Jadual pembentangan yang diedar menyenaraikan seramai sebelas pelajar terlibat pada sesi pertama. Tetapi hanya sembilan yang hadir untuk pembentangan yang bermula pada 9 pagi (bukannya 8.30 pagi). Nurul Faratihah dan Nur Surayatulatikah tidak hadir. Suraya kini berada di ITB Bandung manakala Nurul tiada info yang diberikan mengenai dia.

Jadual pembentangan

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Progress Presentation

Pada pagi ini diadakan siri pembentangan kemajuan pelajar postgraduate Geomatik. Ia berlangsung dalam dua sesi dengan 8-9 pelajar setiap sesi. Menurut jadual asal sesi bermula pukul 8.30 pagi. Sampai di bilik pembentangan sekitar jam 8.20 dan bilik sudah dibuka namun cuma ada seorang pelajar yang menunggu. Beliau pula memaklumkan bahawa pembentangan pertama ialah pada 9 pagi bukannya 8.30 seperti mana dalam jadual.

Sign tertampal di pintu masuk

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Majlis Konvokesyen UTM

Majlis diadakan pada 23, 24 dan 25 Oktober 2016.

 

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Geoid School Post-Mortem Meeting

A meeting on Geoid School was held today starts at 2.15 pm. The meeting was called for post-mortem discussion on geoid school. The main agenda is to table the financial standing which includes income from participants fee and income from sponsorship. The expenses incurred during the whole program were also revealed.

Photos of some of the meeting attendees

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Majlis Anugerah Semarak Gemilang Fght

FGHT mengadakan majlis Anugerah Semarak Gemilang petang ini di Dewan Bankuet. Majlis ini adalah untuk pengiktirafan kepada para staf terpilih yang cemerlang pencapaiannya pada tahun 2015. Berbagai anugerah telah disampaikan melibatkan semua staf akademik dan juga staf sokongan. VVIP yang dijemput ialah Prof Ir Azraai Kassim dari UTM Space.

Meja no 10 ketika bacaan doa majlis

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Geodetic Metrology Dissertation 2012

A thesis on geodetic metrology entitled "Non Contact Surface Metrology in a Hazardous Environment" led to PhD degree was written by Andrew Brownhill of UCL London. The thesis was submitted to Department of Civil, Environmental and Geomatic Engineering UCL in May 2012. The research was spervised by Dr Stuart Robson.

A presentation by Dr Brownhill "Evaluating non-contact metrology equipment for remote measurement of metallic srface" can be downloaded - here.

Another presentation by Robson et al "Artefacts for optical surface measurement" is available here.

The thesis title page

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Books by Kai Borre

Professor Kai Borre of Aalborg University Denmark has published quite a number of geodetic books already. He is a re-known geodesist and has contributed a lot particularly on GPS, mathematics and adjustment for geodetic application. Shown below are two books by Kai Borre;

• Algorithms for GPS (Wellesley-Cambridge Press, 2012; 473 pages)
• Plane Networks and Their Applications (Birkhäuser, 2001 edition; 170 pages)

Algorithms for GPS
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Plane Networks and Their Applications
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Perasmian FYE Geomatik (Geonited)

Saya diundang hadir ke Majlis perasmian Geonited mewakili KJ yang mempunyai komitmen lain pada ketika yang sama. Perasmian dijadual pukul 9.30 pagi namun berlaku sedikit kelewatan kerana pelajar baru saja tiba dan mereka perlu sedikit masa untuk menyusun atur ruang dewan. Majlis bermula selepas semuanya selesai dan berjalan lancar. Turut hadir ialah Dr Khairlnizam selaku Penasihat Pemeta dan Dr Imzan selaku Penasihat GIS Society. Majlis perasmian berakhir dengan sedikit jamuan kecil.

Ucapan perasmian

Group photo

Sesi jamuan

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Program FYE Geomatik

Satu program First Year Experience (FYE) bagi pelajar Geomatik diadakan selama dua hari bermula hari ini. Program tersebut dianjur oleh Pemeta dan diadakan di Savannah Hill Resorts Ulu Tiram. Pelajar tahun satu Geomatik adalah seramai lima puluh orang. Dua daripada mereka adalah pelajar antarabangsa dari Oman dan Indonesia. Kesemua pelajar datang dengan tiga buah bas UTM dan dikenakan bayaran pengangkutan sebanyak Rm2100. Bayaran tersebut diselesaikan melalui sumbangan Syarikat Jurukur Dr Majid.

Banner program - Geonited

Peserta Geonited tahun pertama Geomatik

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Alumni met at GeoFest

Met two alumnis during Geofest 2016 - one was none other than the Chief Surveyor of Johor (Tn Hj Ramli Nor) and the other was a former student who are now working at UTM KL . There were both came for the GeoFest official opening

Photo with Tn Hj Ramli Nor (Class of 1983)

Photo with Rusdi (Class of 2013)

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Geofest 2016

A special event "Geoinformatics & Geomatics Festival 2016 (GeoFest)" was held at Dewan Sultan Iskandar UTM on Oct 10-11. The event was jointly organized by two student bodies Pemeta and  GIS Student Society. The opening ceremony was officiated by IRDA Chief Executive Officer. Chief Survyeor from Johor Jupem was also attended.

The stage is set for opening ceremony

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Sjoberg leaving for home

Prof Sjoberg was back to UTM yesterday after spending vacation at Tioman. He spend for another night at Scholar's Inn. Today he is ready to leave for home. We arranged for a short meeting at Scholar's Inn to settle all the payments due. That includes the honorarium for handling the Geoid School and air fares incurred from Stockholm to Changi and back again to Stockholm. Sjoberg leaving UTM at 1 o'clock for Changi by UTM's car and from Changi he will fly to Stockholm at midnight.

Sending-off from Scholar's Inn

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GGT 2016 Closing Ceremony

Soon after the afternoon presentation slot the closing ceremony of GGT 2016 was takes place. It was officiated by the Organizing Committee Chairman Prof Alias Abdul Rahman of FGHT UTM. The certificate of appreciation was presented to all committee members during the ceremony. Finally, a group photo of all delegates from UTM was taken to commemorate the event.

Group photo

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Presenting Paper at GGT 2016

I have submitted a paper entitled "The unified levelling network of Sarawak and its adjustment". The paper was accepted and the presentation slot was scheduled on Wednesday Oct 5th. The session starts at 2.30pm and there were four presentations and mine was the second last.

Paper presentation at GGT 2016

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Geomatic & Geospatial Technology (GGT 2016)

International Conference on Geomatic & Geospatial Technology 2016 (GGT 2016) is held at Hotel Istana for two days. It begins today with tutorial session in the morning and paper presentations in the afternoon. GGT 2016 was organized FGHT UTM and co-organized by RISM, ISPRS and FIG.

The Proceedings of GGT 2016

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International Symposium on Geodynamics and Earth Tides 2016

Another big event in geodesy - The 18th International Symposium on Geodynamics and Earth Tides - was held recently in Trieste Italy. The main organizers are Dept of Mathematics and Geosciences, University of Trieste and OGS (Istituto Nazionale di Oceanografia e di Geofisica Sperimentale), CRS - Centro Ricerche Sismologiche, Trieste. The symposium is also part of the activities of International Center of Earth Tides (ICET) and IAG.

More information can be obtained from the symposium website: G-ET.

The G-ET website

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Introduction to Vertical Datum - Kearsley 2016

The discussions on heights and vertical datum are still of interest to many researcher and become important topic in many geodetic symposium. In FIG Working Week at Christchurch recently (May 2016) there was a presentation lecture on this same topic given by Prof Kearsley of UNSW. He delivered a very comprehensive lecture entitled "Introduction to vertical reference frames and vertical datum". The lecture was covered by 120 pages of slides and touched on many issues and on-going projects done globally.

The slides can be downloaded here - source.

FIG Working Week Christchurch 2016

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International Symposium on Engineering Geodesy - Croatia 2016

A special event on Engineering Geodesy "International Symposium on Engineering Geodesy" was held in Zagreb Croatia on May 2016. The symposium was an event under Commission 6 FIG organized mainly by Faculty of Geodesy University of Zagreb.

More information available here - SIG2016.

SIG 2016 Website

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Majlis Persaraan Prof Khairul

Majlis ringkas sempena persaraan Prof Khairul di adakan petang ini. Beliau hadir kerana hari ini merupakan hari terakhir bertugas secara rasmi di FGHT. Prof Khairul mla berkhidmat di UTM pada 1980. Selepas tamat BSurv pada tahun tersebut beliau berkhidmat sekejap di Jupem KL.

Sempena majlis persaraan ini Prof Khairul menyampaikan sarahan ringkas mengenai perjalanan karier beliau sepanjang khidmatnya di FU, FKSG, UTM Space dan FGHT.

Foto bersama ahli Jabatan

Bersama G&G

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PSM Lecture

The second lecture of PSM was held today. This is the third week of lecture (no lecture last week due to public holiday) and students are supposed to submit PSM synopsis by today. Many of them managed to have it done.

The class

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Geoid School Closing Ceremony

Today is the last day of Geoid School 2016. There is no more lecture given by Prof Sjoberg in the morning session. The morning slot was occupied by Ramin and he continued with the lab on the use of KTH software. The lab was emphasised on fitting the gravimetric geoid to GPS on benchmarks.
In the evening a closing session of Geoid School was scheduled. It starts with participants giving feedback on Geoid School by answering questionnaires. The feedback showed that participants are satisfied with the Geoid School on overall and some suggestions are put forward for future improvement. Among the suggestions is to provide a longer slot for the lecture on basic Physical Geodesy.

The closing ceremony was ended with the presentation of certificate to all participants.

Certificate presentation

Wan Anom receiving her certificate

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