Photo 1 caption: Chief Executive of Singapore Land Authority, Mr Colin Low (right) and Chief Executive Officer of Singapore Business Federation, Mr Lam Yi Young (left) signed a new Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) on 4 October, to harness the potential of geospatial applications across industries. The MOU signing was witnessed by Dr Amy Khor (centre), Senior Minister of State, Ministry of Sustainability and the Environment, and Ministry of Transport. Photo credit: Singapore Land Authority

Photo 2 caption: Dr Amy Khor, Senior Minister of State, Ministry of Sustainability and the Environment, and Ministry of Transport, delivering the opening speech at the 4th Singapore Geospatial Festival on 4 October 2022. Photo credit: Singapore Land Authority

Photo 3 caption: Dr Nadine Alameh (extreme left), Chief Executive Officer, Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) moderated a fireside chat with women leaders in the geospatial profession who shared their experiences and insights working in the field of geospatial technology and innovation.  The panellists are (from left) Ms Mani Thiru, Head, Space & Satellite at Amazon Web Services Asia Pacific; Ms Teo Hui Ying, Senior Principal Surveyor, Singapore Land Authority; Ms Pearlyn Pang, Assistant Hydrographer, Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore; Ms Mary Lim, Senior Account Services Manager, Maxar Technologies. Photo credit: Singapore Land Authority

Singapore – The 4th Singapore Geospatial Festival 2022 (GeoFest) has returned this year in a physical format with a series of talks, panel discussions, workshops and co-located activities aimed at promoting the use of geospatial and mapping innovation.

Taking place from 3 to 7 October 2022, GeoFest is organised by GeoWorks, Singapore’s geospatial industry centre managed and operated by the Singapore Land Authority (SLA).

Dr Amy Khor, Senior Minister of State, Ministry of Sustainability and the Environment, and Ministry of Transport, opened the festival with the theme, “A Sustainable Future with Geospatial”, on 4 October 2022. Mr Colin Low, Chief Executive of SLA, provided the opening remarks at the event.

Recognising that geospatial technologies are an important enabler in Singapore’s Smart Nation journey and sustainability efforts, SLA plays an active role in promoting the use of such technologies. As the National Geospatial Agency, SLA has worked with several partners in leveraging geospatial technologies across diverse sectors, from logistics to real estate to social services. In the latest collaboration, SLA will partner SBF to jointly promote awareness in geospatial technologies and their potential areas of application that are relevant to businesses and related industries under a MOU signed at the festival opening.

Signed by Chief Executive of SLA, Mr Colin Low and Chief Executive Officer of SBF, Mr Lam Yi Young on 4 October, the MOU entails the implementation of suitable programmes to help businesses better appreciate how geospatial technologies can improve their current and future operations. Businesses will benefit from SLA’s expertise in geospatial innovations as SLA works with SBF to jointly identify and develop potential geospatial co-innovation projects to find solutions that can address current and future challenges faced by businesses. Please refer to Annex B for the quotes from the signatories and the photo of the signing ceremony.

Of interest in this year’s festival programme is a fireside chat moderated by Dr Nadine Alameh, Chief Executive Officer, Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC), a global non-profit international standards and innovation organisation with a desire to make location information FAIR – Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, and Reusable. Women leaders in the geospatial profession such as Ms Teo Hui Ying, Senior Principal Surveyor of SLA shared their experiences and insights working in the field of geospatial technology and innovation.

GeoWorks’ members are also part of the line-up for GeoFest with talks and showcases to update on use cases and applications across various sectors. Topics include the use of geospatial data and technologies in the metaverse and Digital Twin Artificial Intelligence, social innovations and in real estate planning.

To continue to inculcate geospatial interest and awareness among young professionals and students, activities targeting them such as the annual Regional Geospatial Youth Forum and the Young Geospatial Scientist workshop are also part of the GeoFest.

International geospatial knowledge sharing

SLA is also co-hosting the Open Geospatial Consortium 124th Member Meeting at GeoFest this year, bringing together international geospatial experts to discuss efforts to drive geospatial innovations globally. GeoFest attendees can register to attend OGC’s meetings including, but not limited to, the OGC Special Sessions and Asia Forum. At the opening of the festival, Dr Khor announced the collaboration between SLA, the Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore (MPA), and OGC, on a pilot project that will develop prototypes and enhance open standards for integrating various types of land and marine data. The integration of land and marine data will support Singapore’s efforts in planning for coastal protection against the threat of rising sea levels due to climate change. The learning points from this pilot project will be useful for countries which are also working on enhancing their coastal protection.