Educational Development Award
Chayn Sun
An expert in geospatial sciences, Associate Professor Qian (Chayn) Sun, has pioneered a new curriculum in cloud-based open-source GIS, equipping students to develop digital twin applications for heat mitigation and responsive flood management. She has delivered workshops in GeoAI and spatial digital twins for sustainable development, addressing heat vulnerability and social and environmental inequality assessments for culturally and linguistically diverse populations. Chayn’s interdisciplinary research, integrating cloud computing, Earth observation data, and AI with social-ecological theories, tackles climate change challenges and contributes significantly to society. The judges commented on her outstanding contributions, exceptional research activities, and excellence in student mentorship.
Future Leader of the Year Award
Ben Vordermaier
As the current Section Leader of Jacobs ANZ Data Capture division, Ben Vordermaier oversees a team of 60 professionals specialising in Survey and Photogrammetry. His tenure has been marked by the successful establishment of an integrated service offering aligned with Engineering, Geospatial, and Digital Solutions. Ben’s outstanding leadership and professional ambition have driven high-performance results. Judges praised Ben as a very deserving nominee, crediting him with significantly enhancing his employer’s reputation and benefiting the industry as a whole.
Postgraduate Student Award
Foad Brakhasi
Foad Brakhasi has made exceptional contributions to geospatial technology, particularly in remote sensing soil moisture variation with profile depth. His innovative approach, using multi-frequency passive microwave observations, emission models, and machine learning algorithms, has revolutionised soil moisture profile estimation. This breakthrough provides deeper and more accurate moisture data, essential for agriculture and environmental management. His pioneering work has garnered global recognition, significantly advancing the potential of the CryoRAD Earth Explorer 12 mission concept under consideration by ESA. Judges commended Foad for his outstanding contributions to geospatial technology and his transformative impact on soil moisture profile estimation.
Professional of the Year Award
Bruce Baker
Bruce Baker has been a dynamic force in the surveying and spatial industry for over 25 years. Beginning his career in the offshore oil and gas sector, Bruce excelled in subsea positioning, software R&D, and senior management. Since joining Land Surveys as General Manager and Director in 2011, he has been instrumental in driving innovation and strategic direction. Under his leadership, Land Surveys has grown to employ 400 spatial professionals across Australasia. Judges praised Bruce as a stalwart of the surveying industry in the ANZ region, lauding his role in transforming Land Surveys into an industry powerhouse and recognising his many significant achievements.
Undergraduate Student Award
Rebecca Thomas
As a student positioning analyst, Rebecca Thomas has spent the past year working on the SouthPAN project for FrontierSI, in collaboration with Geoscience Australia and Land Information New Zealand. In her role, she has engaged with industry leaders to gather crucial insights on their use of GNSS correction services, actively promoting and encouraging the uptake of SouthPAN services. As a pilot of both drones and full-sized aircraft, Rebecca has leveraged her unique education at the intersection of aviation and geospatial industries to enhance positioning capabilities across various sectors. Judges praised Rebecca’s project work for its applicability to diverse domains, and commended her strong commitment to advocating for women in the geospatial sector and promoting Australian spatial science internationally.
Community Impact Award
The Department of Transport & Planning and ESRI for their School Crossing Risk Assessment Framework
The School Crossing Risk Assessment Framework (SCRAF) geospatial solution brings Road Safety Victoria’s traffic engineering methodology to life, assessing road safety risks at school crossings and identifying tailored infrastructure solutions for each site. As the first comprehensive road safety risk assessment tool of its kind in Australia—and possibly globally—SCRAF is set to become an enduring enterprise asset for the Department of Transport and Planning. This authoritative database will catalogue school crossing sites across Victoria, guiding road safety improvements and investment.
The judging panel said that this project is an excellent application of technology with the potential to enhance public safety. They highlighted its innovative use of mobile field technology, workflow, and data management.
Environment and Sustainability Award
Nova Systems and the Department of Energy, Environment and Climate Action for their Native Vegetation Regulation Map
Victoria, having lost around 54% of its native vegetation, necessitated a policy for no net biodiversity loss. Over the past two years, DEECA has developed an online Native Vegetation Regulation (NVR) Mapping tool in collaboration with Nova Systems, which generates essential reports for removing or offsetting native vegetation, supporting Victorian native vegetation management. NVR Map simplifies offset obligation estimation, incorporates automated quality checks, and provides robust user support. It uses a service-based architecture and efficient geoprocessing tasks to bring geospatial technology to its users in a simplified interface. Launched in October 2023, it has received positive feedback for enhancing environmental management practices.
The judges all agreed that this project exemplifies how geospatial underpins and supports sustainable landscapes and communities.
Innovation Award – Medium to Large Business
FrontierSI, RMIT University, the Victorian Department of Transport and Planning, and SmartSat CRC for Dynamic Vicmap
The Dynamic Vicmap proof-of-concept addresses the challenges and opportunities presented by the vast volume and variety of space-based and other data streams in maintaining foundational spatial data. This project pioneered a shift from static, layer-based data management to dynamic, integrated databases supported by semantic, knowledge-graph-based data management, with a focus on Vicmap Hydro. It automated the semantic enrichment process, enhancing integration, interoperability, and dynamic updates of authoritative and non-authoritative Vicmap hydro, property, and flood data.
Judges commended this groundbreaking work for its crucial role in modernising foundational datasets. They highlighted the project’s innovative processes and techniques, emphasising the importance of keeping data up-to-date in today’s world.
Innovation Award – Small Business
Esper Satellite Imagery for ‘Over The Rainbow’ – Australia’s First Commercial EO Sat
Esper builds hyperspectral sensors and launches them into orbit, providing unprecedented data on Earth’s geology for industries such as agriculture, mining, and oil and gas. As the first Australian company to launch an Earth Observation satellite entirely built in Australia, Esper collaborated with local manufacturers to achieve this milestone.
Esper’s innovative design leverages off-the-shelf components with custom-built optomechanics and a specialised software stack to decode incoming spectral radiation. This approach enables the production of a low-cost, high-resolution hyperspectral payload that can be mass-manufactured at 20 times less the cost of industry standards.
Judges commended Esper’s “Over the Rainbow” project for its groundbreaking work, noting that the high-quality data provided by this Australian-built satellite has the potential to revolutionise the satellite and Earth observation industries.
International Partnership Award
Spatial Vision for their Pacific Islands Geospatial Skills Development Program
In 2023, Spatial Vision launched its inaugural ‘Pacific Islands Geospatial Skills Development Program.’ This initiative offers individuals from the Pacific Islands region the opportunity to enhance their geospatial skills in areas such as climate, environment, community, and sustainability through an intensive 12-week mentoring program. The 2023 program featured a young professional from Fiji, who collaborated with Spatial Vision to deliver a project focused on advancing geospatial infrastructure in Fiji to better deploy essential public services.
Judges praised this collaboration for its leadership and commitment to upskilling and uplifting a nation’s capabilities, setting a new benchmark for the industry.
Technical Excellence Award
The Department of Energy, Environment and Climate Action, 1Spatial Australia, Spatial Partners, Jirotech, CSIRO, Spatial Vision, Geocat BV, Datacom, and AWS for DEECA’s Enterprise Spatial Data Platform Transformation
The Victorian Government Department of Energy, Environment and Climate Action (DEECA) has successfully transitioned its Enterprise Spatial Platforms and Services from an on-premise data centre to the AWS Cloud, establishing new spatial capabilities. This transformation involved a comprehensive redesign and rebuild of core services for both internal and external users. The program has delivered cost-effective, reliable, scalable, and recoverable platforms, ensuring easy access to critical spatial data to support informed decisions about Victoria’s natural and built environment. At the heart of this transformation is the Enterprise Spatial Data Platform, comprising the Vector, Raster, and Metadata Platforms. Judges praised this project for its technical excellence and impressive execution.
Workforce Development and Inclusion Award
Australian Spatial Analytics for Acciona: Employment Transition Program or geospatial and digital engineering
Australian Spatial Analytics (ASA) and Acciona have formed a transformative partnership, creating increased opportunities for ASA’s young neurodivergent data analysts to contribute to iconic and ambitious infrastructure projects across Australia. ASA’s analysts engage in multiple geospatial and digital engineering projects, providing Acciona with skilled, work-ready team members to meet their resourcing needs. This partnership significantly addresses the employment challenges faced by neurodivergent individuals. Analysts benefit from holistic development, upskilling, and further opportunities for collaboration, knowledge exchange, and teamwork. This approach builds confidence and equips ASA staff to transition into direct full-time employment with Acciona. Judges praised this exceptional program, highlighting the passionate people and purposeful companies behind it. The positive uplift and inclusion of many potentially isolated Australians is truly inspirational.
The following special awards were also presented:
Excellence in Geographic Place Naming Award: Bass Coast Shire Council and Bunurong Land Council Aboriginal Corporation for their excellence in the naming process of Berninneit Community Centre, and Mildura Rural City Council and Mildura Historical Society for their excellence in the process of naming several roads after pioneering Mildura women
Sustained Excellence in Cadastral Surveying Award: Neville L. Brayley
Vicmap Custodian Award: Alpine Resorts Victoria
Congratulations to all our award winners!
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