Sharp-eyed!

Last year was another odd year. Many parts of the world finally opened up again after a series of lockdowns. Some of those lockdowns were more severe than others, but they had all affected the general economy – and therefore our industry – in some way. But any relief felt at the beginning of 2022 was short-lived, because the biggest drama was still to come: the grim war on European soil that started with Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February. This armed conflict is rapidly approaching the start of its second year and no one knows how things will unfold, but I hope very strongly that we will see peace restored again in 2023.

We have been conducting an annual survey to stay in close touch with our readers and –through them – the state of the geospatial business for a number of years now. We were delighted to receive an overwhelming response to our most recent survey, with close to a thousand GIM International readers participating in this edition. Wim van Wegen has summarized the outcomes for you, including in the context of current economic and geopolitical developments such as the Ukraine war, on page 11 of this Business Guide.

Besides presenting the results of our annual survey, our aim with our yearly Business Guide is to give you a glimpse of the future of the industry, and this edition is no exception. Among the many interesting articles, a particular highlight is the article by Rudolf Staiger who shines his light on ‘The

Surveyor 4.0’ (page 22). Staiger steered the International Federation of Land Surveyors (FIG) for the past four years until his term officially ended on 1 January 2023 and he was succeeded by Diane Dumashie. In his article, he ties the skills needed by surveyors to the technical developments that have shaped the business over the past decades and even centuries. Staiger divides the evolution into four stages, running from Surveyor 1.0 (in the years before 1590) until today’s Surveyor 4.0, with each technological phase (optical, electrooptical and multi-sensor) making different demands on surveyors. We can conclude that the Surveyor 4.0 needs to be a ‘jack of all trades’. It is no longer enough to merely master the instrument; in order to carry out a successful surveying project, the future surveyor also needs to master planning, budgets, uncertainty, data treatment, data analysis, presentation, visualization, control and validation. In an attempt to offer some solace, Staiger adds that a few skills have become obsolete, since the surveyor no longer needs to be a skilful mechanic, experienced in manual calculations, weatherproofed or sharp-eyed. I only tend to disagree with the last one; I believe it will still be very helpful if the surveyor of the future is sharp-eyed – figuratively speaking, of course!

As we look ahead to the rest of 2023, I would like to thank you all for not only contributing to our survey, but also for continuing to share your feedback and engage with us (and each other) as part of the geospatial community of GIM International and beyond!

Durk Haarsma director strategy & business development durk.haarsma@geomares.nl

Knowledge Is Power

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