FIG Congresses, Working Weeks and PC Meetings

President Fausto Savoldi at the opening ceremony.

Roma Sinfonietta.

President CheeHai Teo making his opening address.

FIG Foundation Dinner.

Conference dinner.

The FIG Working Week Knowing to manage the territory, protect the environment, evaluate the cultural heritage and the XXXV General Assembly was held in Rome, Italy from 6 to 10 May 2012. Consiglio Nazionale Geometri e Geometri Laureati, CNGeGL, was the local host of this year's Working Week. The main partner of the Working Week was FAO including a full day workshop jointly organised by FIG and FAO and a visit to FAO headquarters. A full day program was also organised together with the Global Land Tool Network, GLTN, in co-operation with UN-HABITAT and GLTN professional partners and introducing grass root organisations. CNGeGL organised a well received invited session on Professional Women in Surveying. To the Working Week were attached some special events: the 1st FIG Young Surveyors Conference; IAG/FIG Commission 5/ICG Workshop and History Workshop.
The Working Week turned out to be the biggest FIG Working Week ever if counted by number of participants. More than 1,500 participants from 96 countries attended. The technical programme comprised of more than 100 technical sessions, workshops and special forums. Total number of presented papers was almost 500. In total 750 abstracts were submitted to the conference. The Working Week was held at the first class venue Rome Cavalieri hotel offering both excellent facilities and outstanding view over the eternal city.
The social events starting from the opening concert to the FIG Foundation Dinner and concert and the conference dinner at Villa Miani surpassed any former event. Read more...

• Report from FIG 2012
• Report from the General Assembly
• Picture Galleries
• Minutes - FIG General Assembly 2012, Rome, Italy, 6 and 10 May 2012
• List of participants
• Proceedings
• Conference web site

Participants at the Regional Conference

Tango in Uruguay...

The 8th FIG Regional Conference titled "Surveying towards Sustainable Development" was held in Montevideo, Uruguay 26-29 November 2012 with more than 250 participants from all over Latin America and all other continents, altogether 33 countries. The successful Regional Conference in Uruguay proved that Latin America is a very interesting area both for the Surveying society and for hosting a conference.

The local host of the Regional Conference was Asociación de Agrimensores del Uruguay (AAU) who organised the conference in cooperation with FIG. The conference was co-sponsored by UN-HABITAT, OAS, and the World Bank.

The main focus both in the plenary sessions and the technical sessions were on the Latin American region and during the conference there were many professional  discussion within the different areas of surveying between participants from the region and from all over the world.
Read more...

Links:

• Report
• Proceedings
• Web site

FIG Fanfare at the Opening Ceremony.

Moroccan ministers and President CheeHai Teo, FIG and President Aziz Hilali, ONIGT after the opening.

The biggest exhibition in the history of FIG Working Weeks at the Palais des Congrès.

Moroccan music entertained participants at the welcome reception.

The FIG Working Week "Bridging the Gap between Cultures"  and the XXXIV General Assembly was held in Marrakech, Morocco from 18 to 22 May 2011. The Working Week included also the 6th National Congress of the Ordre National des Ingénieurs Géomètres Topographes (ONIGT) that was the local host of the Working Week.
FIG 2011 turned out to be the biggest FIG Working Week ever both in the size of the exhibition and the number of participants. More than 1,500 participants from 90 countries attended. The technical programme comprised of more than 90 technical sessions, workshops and special forums. Total number of presented papers was almost 450. The Working Week was held at the fully packed Palais des Congrès in Marrakech. Read more...

• Report from the General Assembly
• Picture Galleries
  • Picture Gallery 1 - General Assembly I
  • Picture Gallery 2 - General Assembly II
  • Picture Gallery 3 - Opening Ceremony
  • Picture Gallery 4 - Plenary Sessions
  • Picture Gallery 5 - Technical sessions, China Forum, other Forums and special workshops
  • Picture Gallery 6 - Exhibition
  • Picture Gallery 7 - Administrative Meetings - Presidents' Meeting, Council, Commissions, partners, members and administration
  • Picture Gallery 8 - Social Events - Welcome Reception, ONIGT Dinner and Commission Dinners
  • Picture Gallery 9 - Social Events - FIG Foundation Dinner and Gala Dinner
  • Picture Gallery 10 - FIG Closing Ceremony, Closing of 6th ONIGT Congress and Farewell Reception
  • Picture Gallery 11 - Registration, venue and Marrakech
• Minutes - FIG General Assembly 2011, Marrakech, Morocco, 18 and 22 May 2011
• List of participants
• Proceedings
• Working Week web site and in French/Arabic

The XXIV FIG Congress Facing the Challenges – Building the Capacity held in Sydney Australia 11-16 April 2010 turned out to be the biggest FIG congress ever. With more than 2,200 participants from 100 countries it gathered the biggest attendance to an FIG event. The total number of presented papers exceeded 800. Read the full report and see the picture galleries. The congress proceedings including handouts of PowerPoint presentations are also available. Read also the report from the General Assembly and see the minutes.

Aboriginal dance at the opening ceremony.

• Proceedings
• Congress report and picture galleries
• General Assembly report
• Minutes of FIG General Assembly
• Congress web site

Speakers at the Opening Ceremony

Cultural programme at the Opening Ceremony.

Mr. Pham Khoi Nguyen, Minister of Environment, Vietnam

7th FIG Regional Conference - Spatial Data Serving People - Land Governance and the Environment - Building the Capacity was be held in Hanoi, Vietnam, 19-22 October 2009. The conference was attended by almost 400 people from 52 countries. Mr. Pham Khoi Nguyen, Minister of Environment, Vietnam opened the conference. FIG President Stig Enemark addressed in his opening address the key topics on land administration and environmental management. The conference included a two-day Regional Consultation Meeting on the “FAO Voluntary Guidelines for Responsible Governance of Tenure of Land and Other Natural Resources” that FIG organised jointly with FAO Land Tenure and Management Unit (NRLA). This meeting was attended by more than 70 experts from Asia. The conference further included a special workshop on Asia Pacific Reference Frame organised jointly with PCGIAP and IAG.
More than 150 presentations were made in 50 sessions and workshops. All papers are included in the online proceedings.
The second FIG regional conference in South East Asia was organised jointly by FIG and the Viet Nam Association of Geodesy, Cartography and Remote Sensing, VGCR. It gathered 250 participants from Asia, South-East Asia region and overseas and 150 from Vietnam to discuss land and surveying issues. Read more ...

• Report of the FIG Regional Conference
• Conference Proceedings
• List of Participants
• Report of FIG Commission 5 activities
• Picture Gallery 1 - Opening Ceremony - Monday 19 October 2009
• Picture Gallery 2 - Plenary Sessions and Technical Programme and FAO Consultations
• Picture Gallery 3 - Exhibition and Meetings
• Picture Gallery 4 - Social Events - Welcome Reception and Vietnamese Evening
• Picture Gallery 5 - Closing Ceremony and Conference Dinner
• Picture Gallery 6 - Hanoi and Technical Tour to Ha Long Bay
• Report on the 7th FIG Regional Conference in Hanoi at the Vietnam TV Headline News (50 MB)

The FIG Working Week 2009 took place in Eilat, Israel from 3rd to 8th of May 2009. The theme of this year’s conference was “Surveyors’ Key Role in Accelerated Development” which is a hot topic worldwide but especially in Israel that is one of the most densely populated countries in the world. The conference gathered more than 500 delegates – with exhibitors and accompanying persons about 650 participants from 65 countries to Eilat, the southernmost edge of Israel at the Red Sea. Among participants 60 students and more than 50 accompanying persons. The technical programme included almost 250 presentations in about 60 technical sessions and workshops. The conference was hosted jointly by the Association of Licensed Surveyors in Israel, ALSI and FIG in co-operation with the Survey of Israel. Read more...

• Keynote address - Israel in Space Programme at the Opening Ceremony - Prof. Isaac Ben Israel, the Chairman of the Israel Space Agency
• Closing Address at the Closing Ceremony - Prof. Stig Enemark, FIG President
• The Role of FIG in contribution to professional development and the global agenda - Prof. Stig Enemark, President of FIG presentation at the General Assembly 4 May 2009
  • Handouts as a .pdf-file
  • Powerpoint presentation as a .ppt-file(6.5 MB) for general use on the role of FIG
• Proceedings: www.fig.net/pub/fig2009
• Conference web site: www.fig.net/fig2009
• List of participants

• Report of the Working Week 2009
• Picture Gallery 1 - Opening Ceremony - Tuesday 5 May 2009
• Picture Gallery 2 - General Assembly I - Monday 4 May 2009
• Picture Gallery 3 - General Assembly II - Friday 8 May 2009
• Picture Gallery 4 - Plenary Sessions
• Picture Gallery 5 - Technical Programme, ACCO and Commission meetings
• Picture Gallery 6 - Exhibition
• Picture Gallery 7 - Administrative Meetings
• Picture Gallery 8 - Social Events - Welcome Reception
• Picture Gallery 9 - Social Events - Gala Dinner
• Picture Gallery 10 - Social Events - FIG Foundation Dinner
• Picture Gallery 11 - Closing Ceremony
• Picture Gallery 12 - Post Conference Tours - Eilat, Petra, Masada, Jerusalem and Tel Aviv
• FIG 2009 - Proceedings
• Reports in media: GIM International - Report from FIG 2009 - July 2009

• Technical Programme and Proceedings with all papers and handouts of presentations are now available at: www.fig.net/pub/fig2008.
• Opening ceremony addresses:
  • Anna Tibaijuka - paper
  • Svante Astermo - paper
  • Stig Enemark - paper
• Plenary Session 1 Presentations:
  • Andreas Carlgren - paper and slides
  • Ashraf Ghani - slides
  • Stig Enemark - slides
• Plenary Session 2 Presentations:
  • Michael Mutter - slides
  • Renu S. Karnad - slides
  • Malcolm Childress - slides
  • Dan Ericsson - paper
• Plenary Session 3 Presentations:
  • David Zilkoski - slides
  • Frank Udnaes - slides
  • Stig Jönsson - paper and slides
• Summary of the Working Week by FIG President Stig Enemark
• List of participants

The 6th FIG Regional Conference held in Costa Rica was the first  in Latin America and a great success

The 6th FIG Regional Conference was organized by the International Federation of Surveyors (FIG) and the Colegio Federado de Ingenieros y de Arquitectos de Costa Rica (CFIA)/ Colegio de Ingenieros Topógrafos de Costa Rica (CIT) which is the FIG member association in Costa Rica. As has been the case with the previous FIG regional conferences the conference in San José was  organized in co-operation with other international and regional organizations like the United Nations and its agencies as well as with international and regional spatial information societies.

The expected attendance to the conference was mainly Latin American but the conference attracted delegates from Australia, the Americas, Asia, Africa, and Europe. 65% of the delegates came from the Central America and the Caribbean. To help regional and local participation the conference was held in English and Spanish.

This was the first time that the FIG Regional Conference was held in Latin America. Costa Rica offers best possible venue for such an important event. The theme of this regional event was selected so that it focused on the hot topics in the region which are capacity building, land administration and environmental issues, especially the use and future of coastal regions. Based on the outcome of the conference “Coastal Areas and Land Administration – Building the Capacity” FIG will also prepare an FIG publication “Methodologies for Pro-Poor Coastal Zone Management”

The Technical Programme held a very high professional standard and the overall impression of the Regional Conference was very positive both from the organizers point of view and from the delegates

• Conference programme and proceedings
• Conference web site
• President Enemarks Opening Address, 12 November 2007
  • Hand outs from the Opening Address
• President Enemarks Closing Address and Conference Conclusions as handouts of the PowerPoint presentation, 10 March 2008
• Conference report
• Participant list

Ms. Winnie Shiu, Congress Director FIG 2007 opens the Opening Ceremony.
Mr. Raymond Chan, President of the Hong Kong Institute of Surveyors HKIS, the host organisation of the Working Week, making his opening address.

The FIG Working Week 2007 and XXX General Assembly was organised in Hong Kong SAR, China 13-17 May 2007. The conference was attended by more than 500 delegates from 64 countries. The Working Week was organised by the Hong Kong Institute of Surveyors HKIS together with FIG.

The technical and scientific programme of the conference consisted 60 technical sessions and almost 300 papers. The proceedings are available here

At the plenary session after the opening ceremony the keynote addresses were given by Dr. Leung Ying, GBS, JP, Convenor of the Non-official Members of the Executive Council of the Hong Kong SAR. The second keynote speaker was President Enemark, whose presentation was about "The Role of FIG in Responding the Millennium Goals and the Global Agenda". 

The other two plenary sessions focussed on Governing Mega Cities - policies and technical aspects with Prof. Holger Magel, Mr. Albert Leung and Mr. Tony Tse as the keynote speakers. The final plenary session was about Responding to the Global agenda with Keith Bell from the World Bank, Prof. Theo Kötter from Uni Bonn and Dr. Xiao Ping as the keynote speakers.

Read full report of the Working Week.

The XXII FIG Congress in Munich was a total success. The FIG Congress was attended by 1,300 delegates from about 100 countries. Together with the Intergeo Conference and other simultaneous events the congress was attended by 3,000 participants. The Intergeo exhibition attracted about 19,500 visitors to the ICM in Munich. At the opening ceremony the welcome address was given by Dr. Edmund Stoiber, Bavarian Minister President, the presidential address by Prof. Holger Magel, FIG President and the keynote address by Dr. Klaus Töpfer, long-time General Director of the United Nations Environment Programme. The opening ceremony attracted a full hall of 1,400 participants to ICM. The social highlights the welcome reception at the Holiday Inn gathered 700 people and the Surveyors Meeting 1,800 people to Löwenbräukeller and the Farewell Dinner about 600 people to the Hofbräuhaus - all these events were sold out.

The Congress programme and papers (almost 600 papers) are available on the FIG web site at: www.fig.net/pub/fig2006. The proceedings will be finalised within some days including handouts of the presentations.

Almost 650 participants from 50 countries attended the 5th FIG Regional Conference in Accra last week. Report from the conference will be published on this site within some days. At the moment you can get the following information:

• Conference programme and proceedings: www.fig.net/pub/accra
• Conference web site: www.fig.net/accra
• President Magel's Opening Address, 8 March 2006
• President Magel's Closing Address and Conference Conclusions as handouts of the powerpoint presentation, 10 March 2006
• Conference report
• Picture gallery 1
• Picture gallery 2
• Participant list

Proceedings now available.

Keynote speakers of the opening ceremony

FIG Working Week 2005 and the 8th International Conference of GSDI was held in Cairo from 16 to 21 April 2005. The Organizing Committee consisted of the Egyptian Committee for Surveying and Mapping (ECSM), and the Egyptian Survey Authority (ESA), who together with FIG and GSDI were in charge of the arrangements of this successful and biggest ever FIG Working Week. The conference was attended by more than 900 participants from more than 80 countries.

In the conference programme there were more than 400 papers and poster presentations in more than 50 technical sessions and 7 pre-conference workshops. In addition to opening and closing ceremonies there were three high profile plenary sessions. Updated proceedings are available at: www.fig.net/pub/cairo , the updates include handouts out those ppt-files that were submitted in time.

More information about the conference:

• Conference Report
• Picture Galleries
  • Picture Gallery 1 - Opening Ceremony
  • Picture Gallery 2 - Administrative Meetings I  (General Assembly I)
  • Picture Gallery 3 - Administrative Meetings II  (General Assembly II, President's meeting, Council and ACCO meetings)
  • Picture Gallery 4 - Technical Conference and Exhibition
  • Picture Gallery 5 - Meetings with Member Associations, Sister Organisations and Geospatial Information Societies
  • Picture Gallery 6 - Closing Ceremony
  • Picture Gallery 7 - Social Events (Egyptian Evening and Gala Dinner)
• Opening Address of Prof. Holger Magel, President of FIG
• Summary of the Conference at the Closing Ceremony by Prof. Holger Magel, President of FIG
• Conference Proceedings
• List of participants

FIG Working Week 2004 was held in Athens, Greece May 22-27, 2004. The theme of the working week was “The Olympic Spirit in Surveying”. The conference attracted more than 400 delegates from 67 countries. Together with the 1st National Conference of HARSE which attracted more than 250 delegates the Working Week was among the biggest FIG Working Weeks in the history. Report from the conference together with a picture gallery is now available.

More information about the conference is available at: www.fig2004.gr and at www.fig.net/athens. Proceedings are available at www.fig.net/pub/athens.

The technical conference was held during three days, each day starting with a plenary session with invited papers and followed by 29 technical sessions and for symposia with several sessions so that the conference had 3-4 parallel sessions during the technical conference.

The topics of the sessions were selected in the way that they covered interests of all ten FIG commissions promoting multi-professional approach. They also vary from policy issues to technical papers on the latest technology and to interesting case studies all over the world. More than 200 papers were presented in the technical sessions and workshops.

The Working Week, the technical exhibition, technical tours and great social events were a big success thanks to the Local Organising Committee chaired by Mr. George Papavassiliou who was assisted by two Vice Chairs: Gerasimos Apostolatos and Polychronis Akriditis and Secretary General Chryssy Potsiou.

• Report of the Working Week
• Picture Gallery

• Proceedings

• Opening Address of President Holger Magel
  • Powerpoint slides as handouts
• Closing speech of President Holger Magel, Powerpoint slides as handouts
• Technical Programme
• Meeting Programme
• 1st Greek Conference of Rural and Surveying Engineers, 24-26 May 2004, organised by ATM

Exhibition - Ancient Greek Technology - Measuring Instruments. During the FIG Working Week there was an exhibition organised in collaboration with the Association for Ancient Greek Technology Studies. The exhibition displayed some indicative technical achievements of the Ancient Greece, together with models of several measuring devices used in topography and astronomy.

The FIG Working Week 2003 was held at the Ecole National de Sciences Géographiques (ENSG) in Marne la Vallée just outside Paris. The Working Week was also the celebration of the 125th Anniversary of FIG. FIG returned to Paris where it was founded in 1878.

The Working Week was attended by more than 600 delegates and 200 accompanying persons. In 27 technical sessions, 3 plenary sessions and the 125th Anniversary Session more than 120 papers were presented. Together with 60 poster presentations the total number of professional papers exceeded 180. The Gala Dinner to celebrate the 125th Anniversary was held at the Castle of Versailles. The Working Week included an extensive exhibition, technical visits and social programme. The FIG Working Week was hosted by Ordre des Géomètres-Experts OGE and Association Francaise de Topographie AFT. The organising Committee is chaired by Bernard Bour.

The Opening ceremony of the FIG Congress in Washington gathered a full house.

The report from the conference with pictures.

The papers from the FIG Technical Programme are now available on this web site. You are also able to view the extended abstracts. Proceedings (DC-Rom and extended abstract) can be ordered from the FIG Office, price US$ 50 including postage.

His Excellency, President Daniel arap Moi arrives to the opening ceremony and greets Jes Ryttersgaard, Chair of FIG Commission 3. Dr. Don Okpala from UN-HABITAT in the middle and Prof. Holger Magel, Vice President of FIG (behind Mr. Ryttersgaard).

The International Conference on Spatial Information for Sustainable Development was organized by the Institution of Surveyors of Kenya (ISK), the International Federation of Surveyors (FIG) and the United Nations Human Settlements Programme UN-HABITAT. The conference attracted more almost 500 participants from almost 40 countries. Almost 100 papers were presented and the proceedings exceeded 800 pages. The Conference was opened by His Excellency, President Daniel arap Moi and the keynote presentation was given by Mr. Daniel Biau, Deputy Executive Director of UN-HABITAT on behalf of Dr. Anna Tibaijuka, Executive Director of UN-HABITAT.

FIG Commission 3 on Spatial Information Management was in charge for organizing this conference and it also held its annual meeting during the event. FIG Commissions 1 (Professional Standards and Practice), 2 (Professional Education), 5 (Positioning and Measurement), 7 (Cadastre and Land Management), 8 (Spatial Planning and Development) and 10 (Construction Economics and Management) participated as well.

The Conference was sponsored by UNEP, Geomaps, Intergraph and IQSK. It is further supported by the University of Nairobi, the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa, ICA and ISPRS and several corporate sponsors.

During the Conference a Special International Symposium on Cost Management of Low-Cost Housing was arranged. It attracted almost 100 participants. The organisers of this event were ICEC Region 3 (Africa) and the Africa Association of Quantity Surveyors AAQS together with IQSK.

The proceedings of this conference are available on this web site.