News

Visit to the School of Remote Sensing and Information Engineering Wuhan University

On June 6th, 2018, Led by Prof. Shi, head of the Department of Land Surveying and Geo-Informatics (LSGI), a delegation of PolyU visited the School of Remote Sensing and Information Engineering at the Wuhan University. The visit aims to strengthen the collaboration between the two universities/departments on teaching and research. On behalf of PolyU, Prof. Shi signed two memorandums with Wuhan University to facilitate student exchange for undergraduate and master programs. Meanwhile, a memorandum for a Joint Spatial Information Research Laboratory (SIRL) is signed by the two sides to foster research collaborations on Geographic Information Science (GISc) and Remote Sensing. Prof. Jianya Gong, Dean of the School of Remote Sensing and Information Engineering, directed the signing ceremony. During the ceremony, the officials from the two universities discussed the student exchange programs. The two departments also planned  to offer courses in summer 2019 to better accommodate students’ interests in trendy topics and emerging technologies (e.g., big data analytics). At the end of the signing ceremony, Prof. Jianya Gong and Prof. Shi exchanged souvenirs on behalf of the two universities. The visit strengthen the long-term collaborations between the two sides that would benefit teaching and research of both universities in the future.

Advanced Nondestructive Testing – Civil Engineering Workshop in Berlin, Germany

On 27 June - 3 July 2018, a group of 19 nondestructive testing (NDT) engineers from Sweden, Switzerland, India, Algeria, Netherlands, Finland, Ireland, Korea, Japan and Hong Kong attended a workshop in Berlin, Germany. The workshop was organized by Dr Ernst Niederleithinger, Head of Department 8.2 Nondestructive Damage Assessment and Environmental Measurement Methods of the Federal Institute of Materials Research and Testing (BAM), Berlin, and co-organized by Ir Dr Wallace W.L. Lai of LSGI. It was the sixth run and started with a group of 12 Hongkongers in 2013, covering the basics and also the advanced development of NDT-CE technologies. The content included testing, evaluation and imaging technologies in civil engineering, such as classical NDT, concept of validation, principles and hands-on practice of impact echo, ground penetrating radar, ultrasonics, thermography, laser-induced spectroscopy, geophysical methods, pile testing, surface wave, electrochemistry of corrosion process, moisture measurement, data fusion, etc. There was also a one-day visit to the test site in Horstwalde (a forest 50 km away from Berlin), where a few practical survey instruments were demonstrated and everyone enjoyed a German-type BBQ lunch. The workshop turned out to be very successful and was highly rated by the participants. The next one will be in 2019. For more information, please refer to http://www.ndtetraining.bam.de/en/home/index.htm.

Summer Programme 2018

The one-day PolyU Summer Programme – LSGI session was successfully held on 13 July 2018. Organized by the Secondary School Relations Section of the Office of Undergraduate Studies, the summer programme gave some local secondary students in forms 4 and 5 an introduction to the undergraduate programmes offered by the university. This year, LSGI session received 35 secondary school students from 15 local secondary schools. The programme engaged the participants with hands-on workshop in satellite image processing, including normalized difference vegetation index, satellite image overlay analysis and integrated analysis by case studies. We introduced our undergraduate programmes and provided tours to two laboratories, Laboratory for Smart City and Spatial Big Data Analytics and Underground Utility and Survey Laboratory. It was a range of worthwhile experiences for all the students who participated

Poly LSGI Researchers Garnered the Highest-order Best Paper Award from the Top GNSS Conference

The paper coauthored by LSGI researchers, Mr. Shiwei Yu and Dr. George Zhizhao Liu, garnered the single highest-order Best Paper Award at the 2018 Annual Forum of the International Association of the Chinese Professionals of Global Positioning Systems (CPGPS) held at Xi’an, China during 13-15 July 2018. Mr. Shiwei Yu is a year-one PhD student under Dr. Liu’s supervision at the Department of Land Surveying & Geo-Informatics (LSGI), PolyU. Their paper titled “Investigating the Feasibility of GNSS-based Ionosphere Observation on a Fast-moving Train Platform (GIFT)” proposed the novel concept and experimentally confirmed the feasibility to make ionosphere observations and potentially other atmospheric observations using the fastmoving trains as platform, including the widely sprawling high-speed train networks in Mainland China. Ionosphere, approximately 60-2000 km above the Earth surface, is a crucially important layer of the atmosphere and it has a significant impact on the achievable accuracy and reliabilityof positioning and navigation using Global Positioning System (GPS) and Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS). It also has a profound effect on our radio wave based systems such as communications. The 2018 CPGPS Annual Forum attracted approximately 350 participants from universities and research institutions in Mainland China, Hong Kong, and the overseas. The CPGPS, established in 2001 and headquartered in Canada, is an international association consisting of worldwide Chinese professionals aiming to promote the art and science of navigation, particularly the satellite-based Global Navigation Satellite Systems, including the U.S. Global Positioning System and Chinese Beidou Navigation Satellite System.

Maker Faire Hong Kong 2018

To engage the public with various technologies, a Maker Faire was held on the weekend of 7-8 July 2018 on the PolyU campus. Prof. You-Lin Xu, Dean of the Faculty of Construction and Environment (FCE), was one of the officiating guests at the opening ceremony. Hosted by the School of Design together with the joint support of the Faculty of Applied Science and Textiles, FCE, the Faculty of Engineering, and the Faculty of Health and Social Sciences, the Maker Faire featured a diverse range of activities, including 4 exhibits and a workshop from FCE. On behalf of the Department of Land Surveying and Geo-Informatics (LSGI), Dr Matthew Pang talked about developing Hong Kong as a world-leading smart city with VR demo and Ir Dr Wallace Lai’s team demonstrated the technologies “Robotic Imaging the Mysterious Underground”. It has been a great opportunity to educate the general public for the maker culture in different fields. Like what Wallace says, ‘We learn, so we are willing to contribute to the learning of young learners’.

Nomination for Outstanding LSGI Alumni Award 2018

Over the years, firstly as the Centre for Land and Engineering Surveying and then as the Department of Land Surveying and Geo-Informatics, LSGI has seen over 3,000 graduates passing through its classrooms, site work, labs, survey camps, etc. Many of them developed their career in Geomatics industries in local and overseas. There is not doubt that we nurtured a number of outstanding professionals who play significant role in the industry and contribute to the society at large. In order to recognise to these outstanding graduates, LSGI has initiated the Outstanding LSGI Alumni Award since 2010. The award is given every two years according to the criteria set. Outstanding LSGI Alumni Award 2018 is now open for nomination. Nomination deadline: 31 July 2018 Eligibility of candidate: The candidate nominated must be a bona fide graduate who has successfully completed a regular full-time or part-time programme offered by the LSGI Department, which led to academic awards accredited by the university. Eligibility of proposer: Each nomination shall be proposed by a bona fide graduate of PolyU, a current staff member of PolyU, or any member of the public. There is no limit to the number of nominations to be submitted by each proposer. However, the proposer cannot be the candidate himself/herself. Nomination form: download here More details: http://event.lsgi.polyu.edu.hk/AlumniAward2018/index.html Please give due recognition to your classmates, colleagues and friends by submitting your nomination before the above deadline. Should you have any question, please contact Ms Anna Choi at anna.choi@polyu.edu.hk or tel: 34008158.

LSGI MSc student won best student paper award at the 26th International Conference on Geoinformatics

An MSc student in the Department of Land Surveying and Geo-Informatics (LSGI), Miss Zheyan Shen, has won the top award in a student paper competition at the 26th International Conference on Geo-informatics that was held in Kunming, China, from 28 to 30 June 2018. Her paper was entitled “Measurement of Blooming Effect of DMSP-OLS Nighttime Light Data Based on NPPVIIRS Data.” She is a student of Dr Xiaolin Zhu. A long-standing tradition of the International Association of Chinese Professionals in Geographic Information Sciences, the competition promotes the academic development of young scholars in geographic information science. Congratulations to Miss Shen!

Staff Promotions

Department of Land Surveying and Geo-Informatics (LSGI) is pleased that Ir Dr Wallace Lai and Dr Charles Wong have been promoted from Assistant Professors to Associate Professors in July 2018. Dr Lai is the leader of BSc programme in LSGI, a visiting scientist of the Federal Institute of Material Research and Testing (BAM) in Berlin, Germany, and a technical assessor of the Hong Kong Accreditation Service of the government of Hong Kong. Trained as an engineer and with six years of practical experience in contracting and consulting, he has been teaching, researching and promoting the rationale ‘Image before Diagnosis,’ from medical imaging of human bodies to a city’s man-made structures, in particular underground utilities. He uses a range of electromagnetic geophysical and nondestructive imaging methods, in particular ground penetrating radar and infrared thermography, and develops methodology, algorithms and inverse models. In his last six years at LSGI, he has established the first underground utility survey lab in the world, hosted the 16th International Conference on Ground Penetrating Radar in Hong Kong and was selected by the University Grants Committee as a finalist of its teaching award 2017 (early career). He will continue to embed the rationale of ‘Image before Diagnosis’ in his teaching, research and service to the community. Dr Wong received both his PhD and MPhil in Remote Sensing and GIS in 2009 and 2005 respectively from the Hong Kong Polytechnic University (PolyU). He started his career at PolyU as an Assistant Professor in 2012 and became Associate Professor in 2018. He was a Fulbright scholar at the Earth System Science Interdisciplinary Center of the University of Maryland in College Park from 2006 to 2007. He received the Faculty Award for Outstanding Performance in Teaching (Team Award) in 2014/15 and 2016/17; and the Dean’s Award for Outstanding Achievement in Research Funding in 2016. He has broad research interests related to the use of remote sensing in urban heat island effect, urban environmental quality, landslides, vegetation and ecosystems, spectral mixture analysis, aerosol retrieval and monitoring. He is the project leader of two inter-institutional projects, namely the Jockey Club Smart City Tree Management Project, and Augmenting Physical Learning Spaces with Location-based Services using iBeacon Technology for Engaging Learning Experiences, with a funding of HK$32,280,000 and HK$12,321,533 respectively. Congratulations to Dr Lai and Dr Wong!

FCE Dean’s Awards 2018 and Faculty Awards for Outstanding Performance/ Achievement 2017/18

Department of Land Surveying and Geo-Informatics (LSGI) is pleased that the following academics have been awarded by the Faculty of Construction and Environment (FCE):   Prof. Wu Chen, our Professor, and Prof. Wen-zhong Shi, Head of LSGI and Chair Professor, received the Dean’s Awards for Outstanding Achievement in Research Funding because of their success in securing external competitive research funding (by securing at least 1 RGC GRF/ECS grant and achieving a total score of not less than 3 from the funding schemes recognized for the Award in the past 3 calendar years, or a total score of not less than 4 in the past 5 calendar years). Each of them will receive a cash prize of HK$20,000.   Dr Xiaolin Zhu, our Assistant Professor, received the Faculty Awards for Outstanding Performance/ Achievement in Teaching 2017/18. A cash prize of HK$10,000 and a Teaching Grant of HK$100,000 will also be given to Dr Zhu. Dr Zhu is one of the two awardees of LSGI’s Awards for Excellent Performance/ Achievement in Teaching 2016/17.  All awardees will also be honoured at the Faculty Congregation and Prize Presentation Ceremony in November 2018. Congratulations to Prof. Shi, Prof. Chen and Dr Zhu!

Croucher Summer Course 2018

 A summer course on GPS/ Beidou/ GNSS Satellite Positioning and Navigation and Earth Observation was held from 11 to 17 June 2018 at PolyU. Organized by Dr George Liu of the Department of Land Surveying and Geo-Informatics (LSGI) and financially supported by the Croucher Foundation, the course featured 9 invited lecturers from across the globe. A welcome speech was delivered by Prof. You-Lin Xu, Dean of the Faculty of Construction and Environment (FCE) on the first day. He noted the importance of keeping up with the latest advances in global navigation satellite systems (GNSS), which were one of the most rapidly growing technologies in modern society. Prof. John Shi, Head of LSGI, also introduced his department to the 30 participants, who included engineers, postdocs, MSc and PhD students from mainland China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, and Canada. The week-long course provided a great opportunity for the participants to network and learn from some leading lecturers.