SOGI, the Swiss Organisation for Geoinformation (SOGI) starts a series of online webinars packed with inspiring talks
There are many important issues where geoinformation plays a major role and where reliable geodata is urgently needed. SOGI will be starting conversations about these issues and sharing its members’ knowledge through a series of online webinars which will build on the experience and expertise of well selected speakers.
First Webinar
SOGI’s first webinar series is entitled “Digital Underground” and the first webinar in this series will deal with the issue ‘Underground Space’. Reliable information on what exists underground is crucial for making well-informed planning, engineering infrastructure and other decisions that lead to a better use and allocation of underground space for both current and future needs. It will also enable the efficient planning, design, and construction of new developments above-ground.
The focus on underground spaces has been inspired by Digital Underground Connect, an initiative which builds on the outcomes and the network created by the Digital Underground research project, a collaboration between the Singapore-ETH Centre and the Singapore Land Authority.
The first webinar in the series will be on 17th of November where Matthias Vollmer will focus on a Smart City project in Zurich, namely ‘Underground and Urban Landscape’. Matthias’ research work in partnership with the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETHZ) and the Geomatics Department of the City of Zurich shows the underground space of the city of Zurich from a new perspective. For the sustainable development of a city, the underground with its resources and potentials must be viewed in a holistic, integrated way, which includes both the surface and the underground spaces.
Information about the underground in Zurich is currently unsatisfactory as the available data is heterogeneous, is distributed among different owners, is separated from the above-ground data, and is only really comprehensible by the respective experts. Using three-dimensional modeling-based methods the urban landscape will be presented and examined by Mattais as a holistic space. The main aims of the work which has been undertaken are to:
- Ensure further development of the geospatial underground space data on both visual and conceptual levels;
- Improve cooperation between those organisations which are involved in the underground; and
- Contribute to the development of future characterizations of underground structures and processes.
A section of the main train station in Zurich which has been captured with terrestrial laser scanning (see image above) will be used to highlight the issues raised in the research which has been undertaken by Matthias in cooperation with the partners mentioned above (Matthias Vollmer, SCANVISION, 2019)
If you are interested in joining our first event on Tuesday, 17th of November 2020 starting at 4pm CET please follow us on Twitter https://twitter.com/sogiosigch where further information about the webinar will be made available in the near future. The webinar will be presented in English.
Future Webinars in the Series
Future webinars in our Digital Underground series will involve other speakers such as Antonia Cornaro from Amberg Engineering AG covering this exciting topic. Antonia is an expert in the field of underground spaces, is Co-Chair of the ITA Committee of Underground Space ITACUS , and lectures at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology. Together with Han Admiraal she wrote the book “Underground Spaces Unveiled: Planning and Creating the Cities of the Future”. If you want to know more about her fields of interest, please follow the link https://thinkdeep.net/ .
