FIG Standards Network 
	   
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	Report of the Results of the FIG Questionnaire on 
Standards
Winfried Hawerk (Germany) 
Hans Knoop (Germany)
Introduction
The FIG Task Force on Standards has decided to send out a 
questionnaire to all member associations of FIG. The aim of this questionnaire 
is to collect as much information as possible world-wide about standards and 
activities in different countries in this field. A side effect if this 
questionnaire shall be to collect addresses of interested people inside the FIG 
family. So there should be a chance to establish an information network in FIG. 
This should be helpful to exchange information about current activities. 
The questionnaire was developed by Iain Greenway 
(Chairperson, UK), Winfried Hawerk and Hans Knoop (Germany) and sent out to all 
the 85 member associations by the FIG Office in Denmark. It was requested to 
send back the questionnaires before 31 March 99. 
 
In addition to that Winfried Hawerk sent out the 
questionnaire to all delegates to FIG Commission 7. 
Until 13 May 1999 we received 40 replies from the 23 
countries shown in picture 1. The addresses of all persons who answered this 
questionnaire can be found in appendix 1. 
More than one answer was sent back by Argentina (4), 
Australia (7), Finland (2), Japan (2), The Netherlands (2), New Zealand (2), 
Norway (2), South Africa (2), Sweden (2) and Switzerland (2). In total nearly 
30 % of the member associations sent least one answer. This rate is excellent. 
The Task Force is very grateful for these contributions. 
In this report we were able to pick out only some major 
aspects and trends. The quantity of information sent back to the Task force is 
so big that it will not be useful to comment details. 
Official Standardisation Activities
 
The majority of the countries replying the questionnaire are 
members of ISO. Besides being member of ISO most countries are member of a 
regional standardisation body. Regional standardisation bodies which are listed 
in the questionnaire are CEN in Europe with 19 participant-members and 14 
affiliates and the Pacific Area Standards Congress in Asia, Australia and New 
Zealand. Australia and New Zealand cooperate very closely to harmonise their 
national standards. Except one country answering this questionnaire all 
countries have a national standardisation body. The list of the national 
standardisation bodies involved in this evaluation are listed in table 1. 
  
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       Country  | 
    
       National standardisation body  | 
   
  
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       Argentina  | 
    
       Instituto Argentino de Racionalizacion de Materiales 
	  (IRAM)  | 
   
  
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       Australia  | 
    
       Standards Australia (SAA)  | 
   
  
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       Austria  | 
    
       Austrian Standards Institute (ON)  | 
   
  
    | 
       Canada  | 
    
       Canadian Hydrographic Service (SCC)  | 
   
  
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       Denmark  | 
    
       Dansk Standard (DS)  | 
   
  
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       Finland  | 
    
       Suomen Standardisoimisliittory (SFS)  | 
   
  
    | 
       Germany  | 
    
       Deutsches Institut für Normung e. V. (DIN)  | 
   
  
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       Hungary  | 
    
       Hungarian Body for Standardisation (MSZT)  | 
   
  
    | 
       Japan  | 
    
       Japanese Industrial Standards Committee (JISC)  | 
   
  
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       Korea  | 
    
       Korea National Institute of Technology and Quality  | 
   
  
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       Malaysia  | 
    
       Department of Standards (DSM)  | 
   
  
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       Netherlands  | 
    
       Nederlands Normalisatie-Instituut (NNI)  | 
   
  
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       New Zealand  | 
    
       Standards New Zealand (SNZ)  | 
   
  
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       Norway  | 
    
       Norges Standardiseringsforbund (NSF)  | 
   
  
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       Poland  | 
    
       Polish Committee for Standardizations (PKN)  | 
   
  
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       Portugal  | 
    
       Portuguese Institute for Quality (IPQ)  | 
   
  
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       Singapore  | 
    
       Singapore Productivity and Standards Board (PSB)  | 
   
  
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       Slovenia  | 
    
       Standards and Metrology Institute (SMIS)  | 
   
  
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       South Africa  | 
    
       South African Board of Standards (SABS)  | 
   
  
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       Sweden  | 
    
       Standardiseringen i Sverige (SIS)  | 
   
  
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       Switzerland  | 
    
       Schweizerische Normen-Vereinigung (SNV)  | 
   
  
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       Zambia  | 
    
       Zambia Bureau of Standards  | 
   
 
 National standardisation bodies
Activities in ISO
 
The replies show that the major activities in ISO may be 
found in TC 211. TC 59, 172 and 204 play as well an important role in the work 
in which surveyors are involved but the main tasks on Geographic Information and 
standardisation issues are discussed and developed in TC 211. 
These results are shown in picture 3. Main topics are the 
description of metadata, GI co-ordination conceptional scheme languages as well 
as spatial referencing by co-ordinates. Most answers came from experts 
representing their country in ISO TCs and working groups. Not as many answers as 
expected mentioned activities in the fields of geodetic instruments. 
 
Most ISO standards which are recently in practical use are 
ISO 9000 for quality management as it is shown in picture 4. These ISO standards 
are momentous in most countries. Some countries use the ISO standards for names 
of countries and codes, dates and time. Most countries find a great importance 
of standards for the exchange and the description of Geographical data and 
modelling languages (like EXPRESS). Standards in the field of Environment 
management are in use only in a few countries. Probably a lot more ISO standards 
are in use by surveyors all over the world may be in the fields of land 
management, geodetic instruments and information technology and more but were 
not reported in the answers. 
Regional Standardisation Bodies
Regional standardisation bodies as it is understood by the 
Task Force are authorised organisations in which standards are defined between 
several countries. The answers show only two regional standard bodies in the 
world Comité Européen de Normalisation (CEN) in Europe and the Pacific Area 
Standards Committee. Most European countries are member in CEN and the answers 
show that the main topics which are interesting for surveyors are the same as in 
ISO. These topics are Geographic information (CEN/TC 287) and road construction 
(CEN/TC 278). CEN has finished most standardisation work in this field and the 
members concentrate their work more on ISO activities. 
The standards respectively the pre-standards from CEN in the 
field of GI are used by surveyors in a number of European countries. . The 
activities of the Pacific Area Standards Committee are more in the field of GI 
co-ordination but are not described very clearly in the answers to this 
questionnaire. 
The usefulness of regional standards is not as big as 
expected because the further development of ISO standards in these fields 
progress very quickly. 
National standardisation activities
 
The description of national standardisation activities vary 
from almost nothing to a long list of activities like in Germany especially in 
the field GI, geodesy, mapping, instruments, quality management etc. Some 
national standards are based on ISO standards or regional standards but it seems 
that sometimes these developments are not as consequently co-ordinated as it 
could be. The results of the evaluation is shown in picture 5. 
  
De facto standards
De facto standards in form of national laws, codes and 
regulations are found in almost all countries to organise the work of surveying 
and registration of cadastral data. F. e. In Germany the basic cadastral and 
topographical data bases ATKIS, ALK, ALB etc. are good examples of de 
facto-standards. Industry data exchange formats became de facto standards 
because they are widely used like DXF, TIFF and some others. The Microsoft 
products can be defined as a de facto standard because they are used from a big 
number of users. This can be said as well from the data transfer protocols like 
TCP/IP which is used all over the world in the Internet. 
Further standardisation activities
Further activities are not very clearly defined. Most answers 
ticked yes but did not give a clear comment which activities in their country 
are in planning or discussion. Some keywords here are geodetic standards, 
implementation of ISO TC 211 results and OGC. ISO/TC 211 and OGC now have an 
agreement for co-operation 
Results required from FIG Task Force on Standards
 
The results of the evaluation to these three questions are 
shown in picture 3. The majority of answers to this questionnaire asks for an 
information network which should be able to collect more information about what 
is going on in ISO. Another problem for most people is to get understandable 
publications about standardisation work in ISO. Standards should be more driven 
by end-users than from a more theoretical point of view far away from practical 
work. 
A significant number of answers require a more important role 
to be played by FIG in standardisation work. They hope that FIG will get more 
influence in ISO/TC 211. 
Surveyors shall be more aware of standards, in order to use 
the world wide efficiency of official standards, to avoid double work to save 
time and money. 
Most of the people answering this questionnaire want to get 
information about the results of the Task Force’s work and want to be on the 
mailing list for any news about future activities. 
Appendix 
1: List of persons who sent answers to the questionnaire
  
    
      
        Senor Angel Zingoni 
        Departamento Cadastro Provincial 
        Director 
        Paimun y Ruta 22 
        8300 Neuquén 
        Argentina 
        Tel. +54-299-4423613 
        email dpcatas@neuquen.gov.ar 
         
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        Senora Mabel Alvarez de Lopez 
        Cadastre and Land Information Director 
        Alejandro Maiz 169 
        9103 Rawson Chubut 
        Argentina 
        Tel. +54-2965-481141-481450  
        Fax +54-2965-481141-481450 
        email mablop@satlink.com 
         
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        Mr. Leonardo Ivars 
        Departamento Cadastro Municipal 
        Mitre 524 
        Esquel Chubut 
        Argentina 
        Tel. +54-2945-41921-451064  
 	   Fax +54-2945-51923 
        email lbivars@teletel.com.ar 
         
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        Mr. Eduardo o Connor 
        Ramón y Cajal 201 
        9100 Trelew Chubut 
        Argentina 
        Tel. +54-2965-432528  
 	   Fax +54-2965-432528 
        email mablop@satlink.com 
         
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        Mr. Bob Teerink 
        Surveyors Board of Queensland 
        Secretary 
        PO Box 810 
        4004 Spring Hill Queensland 
        Australia 
        Tel. +61-7-3839-7744  
 	   Fax +61-7-3839-8341 
        email survbrdq@ozemail.com.au 
         
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        Mr. DJ Hawker 
        Department of National Resources 
        Survey Infrastructure Services 
        Locked Bag 40 
        Q 4151 Coorparoo Mail Centre Queensland 
        Australia 
        Tel. +61-7-3896-3036  
        Fax +61-7-3891-5168 
        email 
		jim.hawker@dnr.qld.gov.au 
         
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        Mr. John Martin 
        Land Victoria 
        Manager Policy Development + Standards 
        6/436 Lonsdale St. 
        Melbourne Victoria 
        Australia 
        Tel. +61-3-9603-9167  
 	   Fax +61-3-9603-9049 
        email 
		john.martin@nre.vic.gov.au 
        
         
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        Mr. Paul Harcombe 
        Land Information Centre 
        Department of Information Technology and Management 
        Panorama Avenue P.O. Box 143 
        2795 Bathurst New South Wales 
        Australia 
        Tel. +61-2-63335-209 
        Fax +61-2-63335-217 
        email harcombp@lic.gov.au 
         
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        Mr. David Sinclair 
        Queensland Surveying Society Ltd. (QSS) 
        Secretary 
        PO Box 810 
        4004 Spring Hill Queensland 
        Australia 
        Tel. +61-7-3839-7744  
 	   Fax +61-7-3839-8341 
        email admin@qss.org.au 
         
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        Mr. Graham Brassil 
        Department of Defence 
        Directorate of Strategic Military Geographic Information (DSMGI) 
        M-SB-36 Russel Offices 
        2600 Canberra ACT 
        Australia 
        Tel. +61-2-6265-0508  
        Fax +61-2-6265-0517 
        email mgisao@ozemail.com.au 
         
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        Mr. Craig Macauley 
        Department for Environment, Heritage and Aboriginal Affairs 
        Resource Information 
        GPO Box 550 
        5033 Marleston South Australia 
        Australia 
        Tel. +61-8-8226-4849  
 	   Fax +61-8-8293-4898 
        email 
		cmacauley@dehaa.sa.gov.au 
         
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        Dipl.-Ing. Ernst Höflinger 
        Maria-Theresien-Straße 21-23 
        6021 Innsbruck 
        Austria 
        Tel. +43-512-581316  
        Fax +43-512-577994 
        email geo.hoef@aon.at 
         
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        Senatsrat Dipl.-Ing. Erwin Hynst 
        MA 41-Stadtvermessung 
        Muthgasse 62-64 
        1190 Wien 
        Austria 
        Tel. +43-1-4000-89111  
 	   Fax +43-1-4000-7941 
        email hyn@m41.magwien.gv.at 
         
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        Mr. Rob Hare 
        Canadian Hydrographic Service 
        Institute of Ocean Sciences 
        P.O. Box 6000 
        V8L 4B2 Sidney B.C. 
        Canada 
        Tel. +1-250-363-6595  
 	   Fax +1-250-363-6323 
        email harer@pac.dfo-mpo.gc.ca 
         
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        Mr. Jes Ryttersgaard 
        National Survey and Cadastre KMS 
        Informatics Department 
        Rentemestervej 8 
        2400 Kobenhavn NV 
        Denmark 
        Tel. +45-35-87-5050 
        email jr@kms.dk 
         
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        Mr. M. Kaing 
        Fr. R. Kreutzwaldi 5 
        EE2Y00 Tartu 
        Estonia 
        Tel. +372-2-422539  
 	   Fax +372-2-421053 
         
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        Dr. Aulis Tenkanen 
        Helsinki University of Technology 
        Docent of Land Management 
        Saunalahdentie 11A 8 
        00330 Helsinki 
        Finland 
        Tel. +358-9-486452  
 	   Fax +358-9-75940401 
        email aulis.tenkanen@hut.fi 
         
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        DR.eng. John van den Berg 
        Tainionkoskentie 85 
        55120 Imatra 12 
        Finland 
        Tel. +358-543-21020  
 	   Fax +358-543-19888 
         
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        Mr. Reino Ruotsalainen 
        National Land Survey of Finland 
        Development Centre 
        P.O. Box 84 
        00521 Helsinki 
        Finland 
        Tel. +358-20-541-5440  
 	   Fax +358-20-541-5454 
        email 
		reino.ruotsalainen@nls.fi 
         
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        Prof. Dr.-Ing. Hans Knoop 
        Head of German Standardsation Body (DIN) concerns Surveying, Mapping and 
		GIS 
        Innenministerium Niedersachsen 
        Lavesallee 6 
        30169 Hannover 
        Germany 
        Tel. +49-511-120-4862  
 	   Fax +49-511-120-4855 
        email 
		hans.knoop@mi.niedersachsen.de 
         
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        Dr. Zoltan Forgacs 
        Institute of Geodesy Cartography and Remote Sensing 
        Quality Manager 
        Bosnyak Ter 5 
        1149 Budapest 
        Hungary 
        Tel. +36-1-252-7518  
 	   Fax +36-1-252-7918 
        email zforgacs@hotmail.com 
         
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        Mr. Takao Seto 
        Sokkia Co. Ltd. 
        260-63 Yanagicho, Hase 
        243-0036 Atsugi, Kanagawa 
        Japan 
        Tel. +81-462-48-0034  
 	   Fax +81-462-47-1931 
        email seto@sokkia.co.jp 
         
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        Mr. Yoshimichi Harada 
        Japan Federation of Surveyors 
        President of JFS 
        1-3-4 koishikawa bunkyo-ku 
        112-0002 Tokyo 
        Japan 
        Tel. 03-3815-5751  
 	   Fax 03-5805-7507 
         
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        Professor Jungho Kim 
        Korea Cadastral Survey Corporation 
        Cadastral Technology Education & Research Institute 
        624 Unchak-Dong Yongin City 
        Kyonggi-Do 
        Korea 
        Tel. +82-335-335-0851  
 	   Fax +82-335-335-0853 
        email juhkim@kcsc.co.kr 
         
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        M. Felix Peckels 
        OLG Ordre Luxembourgeois des Géomètres 
        14 rue Robert Stümper 
        2557 Luxembourg 
        Luxemburg 
        Tel. +352-484408  
 	   Fax +352-400266 
        email fpeckels@pt.lu 
         
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        Mr. Auke Hoekstra 
        Kadaster 
        Concernstaf 
        Postbus 9046 
        7300 GH Apeldoorn 
        Netherlands 
        Tel. +31-55-5285217  
 	   Fax +31-55-3556850 
        email 
		a.v.hoekstra@ap.kadaster.nl.net 
         
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        Professor John Hannah 
        University of Otago 
        Department of Surveying 
        P.O. Box 56 
        Dunedin 
        New Zealand 
        Tel. +64-3-479-9010 
        Fax +64-3-479-7586 
        email johnh@albers.otago.ac.nz 
         
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        Mr. Sverre Steen 
        Statens kartverk 
        Serviceboks 15 
        3504 Hönefoss 
        Norway 
        Tel. +47-321-18100  
 	   Fax +47-321-18101 
        email sverre.steen@statkart.no 
         
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        Mr. Morten Borrebaek 
        Norwegian Mapping Authority 
        Box 2057 Postterminalen 
        3103 Toensberg 
        Norway 
        Tel. +47-333-71208  
        Fax +47-333-71275 
        email 
		morten.borrebaek@statkart.no 
         
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        Prof. Dr. Wojciech Pachelski 
        Instytut Geodezji i Kartografii 
        ul. Jasna 2/4 
        00-950 Warsaw 
        Poland 
        Tel. +48-22-827-0328 
        Fax +48-22-827-0328 
        email wp@cbk.waw.pl 
         
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        Mr. Joao Agria Torres 
        Instituto Portugues de Cartografia e Cadastro (NMA) 
        Vice President 
        R. Artilharia VM, 107 
        1070 Lisboa 
        Portugal 
        Tel. +351-1-381-9600  
 	   Fax +351-1-381-9699 
        email jatorres@ipcc.pt 
         
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        Mr. Pong Chai Goh 
        Singapore Institute of Surveyors & Valuers 
        20 Maxwell Road #10-09B Maxwell House 
        1016 Singapore 
        Singapore 
        Tel. +65-2223030 
        Fax +65-2252453 
        email cpcgoh@ntu.edu.sg 
         
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        Mr. Tone Kupic 
        Ministry of the Environment and Physical Planning 
        Surveying and Mapping Authority 
        Zemljemerska ulica 12 
        1000 Ljubljana 
        Slovenia 
        Tel. +386-61-1784850  
 	   Fax +386-61-1794909 
        email tone.kupic@gov.si 
         
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        Professor Gaye le Roux 
        Association of South African Quantity Surveyors 
        P.O. Box 112518 
        6006 Centrahil 
        South Africa 
        Tel. +27-41-583-2144  
 	   Fax +27-41-583-2276 
        email quaglr@upe.ac.za 
         
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        Mr. D. G. Clarke 
        Chief Directorate Surveys & Mapping 
        Chief Director 
        Private Bag X10 
        7705 Mowbray 
        South Africa 
        Tel. +27-21-689-9362  
 	   Fax +27-21-689-1351 
        email dclarke@wcape.gov.za 
         
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        Mrs. Kristina Essen 
        Swedish General Standards Institute 
        Project leader 
        11289 Stockholm 
        Sweden 
        Tel. +46-8-136250  
 	   Fax +46-8-6186128 
        email kristina.essen@stg.se 
         
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        Mr. H. R. Gnägi 
        IGP ETHZ 
        ETH Hönggerberg HIL D54.4 
        8093 Zürich 
        Switzerland 
        Tel. +41-1-633-3060  
 	   Fax +41-1-633-1101 
        email gnaegi@geod.ethz.ch 
         
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        Mr. Emmanuel Tembo 
        Department of Surveying 
        School of Engineering 
        P.O. Box 32379 
        Lusaka 
        Zambia 
        Tel. +260-1-291777  
        email etembo@eng.unza.zm 
         
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