Hydrographic Certification Levels - Geospatial Council of Australia

Noel Davidson is a Principal Surveyor with the Queensland Department of Transport and Main Roads (TMR) and a Registered Surveyor with an Engineering Endorsement from the Surveyors Board of Queensland. He is also an accredited Engineering Surveying Professional with GCA. Noel specialises in construction surveying for bridges, retaining structures, and roadworks. His experience includes training surveyors, land development, cadastral surveying, and road design. He authored MRTS56 Construction Surveying, a technical specification for all TMR construction contracts in Queensland and is currently managing updates to TMR’s Surveying Standards. Noel also chairs GCA’s Engineering Surveying Certification Working Group.

Alexander (Alex) Leith is an open geospatial technologist specialising in software development, cloud infrastructure and program governance with an emphasis on earth observation data.

As Executive Director at Auspatious, Alex focuses on making data more accessible and works to support informed decision-making and promote sustainable development. He is a graduate member of the Australian Institute of Company Directors and has significant Board and governance experience.

Alex also volunteers as a Non-Executive Board Director at OSGeo Oceania and Earth Observation Australia, where he also serves as Treasurer.

In his free time, Alex enjoys exploring the wilderness with his children and sampling a great craft beer.

Darren Mottolini is a recognised leader within the spatial community for leading spatial strategies, implementation plans and advising on best practice for the delivery and use of spatial data in many industries. Darren has worked as a lead consultant for both Australian and International Governments, the private sector and academia. He is the Program Director for Spatial WA, a whole of government initiative to implement an Advanced Spatial Digital Twin for the State of Western Australia, servicing infrastructure, engineering, planning, land development and emergency management sectors. Darren regularly engages with complementary sectors to surveying and spatial and is a regular speaker at industry events.

Alistair Byrom is a Senior Consulting Surveyor at Land Solution in Brisbane. For over 20 years he has served on committees for ISAQ, SSI, SSSI and SIBA|GITA, where he has supported the ongoing growth and development of the surveying profession and the spatial industry. Alistair has proven to be a vital source of knowledge for those seeking registration with the Surveyors Board of Queensland. His affinity with land law, as it relates to surveying, has led him into one of his core skills, being forensic consulting. Alistair has prepared numerous Expert Reports for the Supreme Court, Land Court, and the Planning & Environment Court.

Stewart Dunne is the former Hydrographer of Australia and has over three decades of experience in the maritime sector. Commissioned into the Royal Australian Navy in 1990, he gained extensive experience in command, operations, training, and capability development and specialised as a hydrographic surveyor. Stewart’s career earned him leadership roles at the Australian Hydrographic Office in Wollongong, where he served as the Hydrographer of Australia, and as the Chair of the Australasian Hydrographic Surveyors Certification Panel. He holds Hydrographic Cat A and Cat B qualifications and is a recognised Royal Australian Navy Charge Surveyor. He has been awarded a Graduate Diploma of Hydrographic Surveying from Plymouth University, a Masters of International Relation and a Graduate Certificate in Defence and Security Studies from Deakin University, and a Masters of Arts in Strategy and Security from the University of New South Wales.

Mary-Ellen is an experienced geospatial professional in organisational and stakeholder capacity building. She has specialised in managing areas of technology convergence, process automation and digital transformation. She is an Executive Director for Yokogawa’s Project, Engineering, Service, Training and Cyber Security business in Australia. Mary-Ellen has spent her career developing frameworks to support businesses with digital transformation of their processes and capacity building of their teams. The evolution of this in the executive environment helps businesses to development good governance practices and policies, to help management and employees navigate change and adapt to new processes. This is particularly relevant in the sphere of digital governance, security, and broader corporate governance.

Kris is GCA’s independent Company Secretary. She is a governance consultant with in-depth experience working with Boards, from being a CEO, Director, Chair and Company Secretary. She holds a degree in Commerce majoring in finance and accounting, and a Graduate Diploma in Applied Corporate Governance, is a Fellow of the Australian Institute of Company Directors and a Fellow CPA. Kris has worked with many organisations, particularly in the not-for-profit sector, advising on governance matters. She has been engaged by several organisations as their company secretary.

Kate is a longstanding member of the Australian geospatial community, having built her expertise in the areas of customer success and customer experience, product development, support, client enablement and management. She is the Group Chief Client Officer for Esri Australia and Esri South Asia, and leads teams across the APAC region, actively promoting the value of GIS and championing the efforts of some of the region’s most innovative spatial practitioners to decision-makers within the private and public sectors.

Jacinta Burns has extensive experience working in Spatial and Innovation roles within utilities, state and local government. Jacinta is currently Digital Innovation Lead at CitiPower and Powercor having previously been a Product Owner at PelicanCorp, managing multiple products globally with the aim of improving the safety of the community. Jacinta has been an active member of SIBA for many years, including taking on the role of State Chair, was a part of the Spatial and Surveying One Voice Committee and the SSS-DLN Diversity Survey Committee.

The Hon. Kate Lundy, GAICD, is a former Senator for the Australian Capital Territory. She served for more than 19 years, before resigning from the Senate in 2015. Since then, Ms Lundy has worked in the public, private and not-for-profit sectors as a company director, including Chair of the Australian Cyber Security Cooperative Research Centre, and the National Youth Science Forum (NYSF).

Ms Lundy holds an Honorary Doctorate from the Australian National University, for her contribution to information and communications policy and she was also appointed an Honorary Associate Professor at the ANU Research School of Physics in 2022.

Level Two – Technician Level

There are two alternative avenues available to the applicant for Level 2 certification, which can be regarded as the Technician Level.

1. Category B Course
Successful completion of a FIG/IHO/ICA approved Category B Course.
And
A minimum aggregate period of 2 years appropriate experience in practical hydrographic surveying. Under normal circumstances this experience is expected to be gained post qualification.

2. Surveying or Allied Qualification
Successful completion of an approved Diploma or Certificate in a discipline of Surveying, or its equivalent (e.g. Engineering Surveying Certificate), or an approved qualification equivalent to a Diploma or Certificate in a discipline allied to Surveying.
And
A minimum aggregate period of 5 years of appropriate surveying experience; 2.5 years of which should be practical hydrographic surveying and which demonstrates an expertise that is not less than that stipulated in (1) above.

3. Suitable Bachelor Degree and Experience
Successful completion of an approved Bachelor Degree in Surveying or an allied discipline.
And
A minimum aggregate period of 2.5 years of appropriate experience in practical hydrographic surveying. Under normal circumstances this experience is expected to be gained post qualification.

Level 1 – Professional Level

There are three alternative avenues available to the applicant for Level 1 certification, which can be regarded as the Professional

Level. 1. Category A Course
Successful completion of a FIG/IHO/ICA approved Category A Course.
And
A minimum aggregate period of 2 years appropriate experience in practical hydrographic surveying, and a substantial amount of the sea-time component should be in-charge time. Under normal circumstances this experience is expected to be gained post qualification.

2. Suitable Bachelor Degree And Category B Course
Successful completion of an approved Bachelor Degree in Surveying or an allied discipline that has suitable hydrographic modules. These modules can be taken as postgraduate courses. The contents of these modules shall be based upon the contents of the FIG/IHO/ICA Standards of Competence for Hydrographic Surveyors (Category B Course is the minimum requirement).
And
A minimum aggregate period of 2 years appropriate experience in practical hydrographic surveying, and a substantial amount of the sea-time component should be in-charge time. Under normal circumstances this experience is expected to be gained post qualification.

3. Suitable Bachelor Degree And Experience
Successful completion of an approved Bachelor Degree in Surveying or an allied discipline.
And
A minimum aggregate period of 5 years of appropriate surveying experience; 2.5 years of which should be practical hydrographic surveying and a substantial amount of the sea-time component should be in-charge time. This experience must demonstrate an expertise that is not less than that stipulated in the first two categories.

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Roshni Sharma is a Project Manager and Analyst at FrontierSI. She is passionate about creative positive intergenerational change within the industry and is founder of the SSSI National Mentoring Program. Roshni is also a strong advocate for diversity, equity and inclusion and re-imagining leadership in geospatial. She is travelling to Antarctica in 2023 for Homeward Bound, a leadership program for women in STEM. In 2021, Roshni was selected as Geospatial World’s Top 50 Rising Stars.

Paul Digney is the Survey Technical Director for Jacobs Australia and is a licensed surveyor in Tasmania and Victoria with over 25 years’ experience in the surveying/spatial profession. Paul has shared his employment equally between public and private sector roles with a strong focus on geodetic/cadastral surveying and more recently 3D laser scanning, digital engineering and strategic consulting.

Hydrographic certification

Certification levels

PO Box 307 Deakin West ACT 2600

02 6282 2282

info@geospatialcouncil.org.au

02 6282 2282

info@geospatialcouncil.org.au

PO Box 307 Deakin West ACT 2600

02 6282 2282

info@geospatialcouncil.org.au

PO Box 307 Deakin West ACT 2600

Level Two – Technician Level

Level 1 – Professional Level