News

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.

Kick-start of the Jockey Club Smart City Tree Management Project

Jockey Club Smart City Tree Management Project, a large-scale pilot project in Hong Kong, was ticked off on 14 June 2018 with the support from academia, non-government organisations (NGOs) and the Government, to apply smart sensing technology (SST) and Geographic Information Systems (GIS) for monitoring tree stability to enhance timely appropriate mitigation measures for sustaining longer tree lives. Tree anchorage is critical to its structural stability. Weak anchorage will be reflected in a tree tilting, which in serious case poses the hazard of falling. Led by Dr Charles Wong, Assistant Professor of LSGI, this Project uses sensors which are tailor-made and installed on the lower trunk of selected urban trees to monitor their tilting angle in a 3-dimensional manner, as a way of assessing the stability of the root and thus the tree. Data will be collected for a quantifiable analysis of the trees’ root plate movement through the use of SST, i.e. the technology of monitoring environmental changes with the use of remote sensors and techniques, via the GIS-based platform. Taking into consideration of various environmental factors, a threshold will be determined to design the monitoring system as a scientific measurement of the root plate movement and stability. When the tilting angle of a tree exceeds the threshold, the project team will be alerted to conduct a visit to verify the data for the purpose of calibrating the system. When considered necessary, it will inform the relevant tree management team to undertake actions in a timely manner. Officiating at the kick-off ceremony of the Project, PolyU’s Executive Vice President, Dr Miranda Lou, said PolyU has been striving to promote the sustainable development of our city and the Project is a typical example of this mission. “Committed to the pursuit for application-oriented research, PolyU researchers will apply smart sensing technology and Geographic Information Systems for monitoring tree stability. Our vision of establishing this system is to facilitate green management in the city for longer tree lives, so as to further improve our air quality for enhancing the living environment for the local community,” she said. Ir Hon Chi-keung, JP, Permanent Secretary for Development (Works) of HKSAR Development Bureau, said, "This project is a good opportunity to showcase Hong Kong's positive attitude towards innovative technologies and technology applications. Through the close co-operation between the tree management departments and the project teams, an effective tree monitoring system will be established to enhance the tree management works in all aspects, enabling the continual development of Hong Kong into a safe and liveable city." Ms Imelda Chan, Head of Charities (Grant Making-Elderly, Rehabilitation, Medical, Environment & Family) of The Hong Kong Jockey Club, said being committed to environmental protection, the Club has donated over HK$32 million to the Project. “In addition to the development of a smart sensor and treemonitoring system, the Jockey Club Smart City Tree Management Project includes public education programmes to encourage students and various stakeholders to learn more about urban forestry and biodiversity, as well as mobilise their participation in environmental protection.” In addition to PolyU LSGI, the Project includes members from The University of Hong Kong (HKU), The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST), and Friends of the Earth (Hong Kong). The project also receives support from relevant government departments. The Project started in February 2018 and SST sensors will in due course be installed on approximately 8,000 urban trees across the territory for monitoring over a 3-year period. It is expected that the Project will provide scientific data to supplement the existing tree preservation mechanism through early notification and response, aiming to contribute towards sustaining the invaluable urban trees in the city.   Chinese version of press release: https://www.polyu.edu.hk/web/tc/media/media_releases/index_id_6551.html Media coverages on 15/6/2018: Ming Pao: 8000 樹裝儀器 遙距監測傾斜 https://goo.gl/CWb6mz Oriental Daily: 智能傳感器監測樹健康 https://goo.gl/UUKgVA Am730: 8000 樹裝傳感器 監測樹木健康延樹齡 https://goo.gl/cPCDfZ Metro Daily: 監測樹木 https://goo.gl/Poir3L Sky Post: 理大為 8000 棵樹裝傳感器安排護養 https://goo.gl/GMRU16 Hong Kong Economic Journal (HKEJ): 馬會捐 3200 萬元裝塌樹傳感器 https://goo.gl/qnPMwj Lion Rock Daily: 400 樹木裝傳感器 智能監測倒塌危機 https://goo.gl/JJ9vo3 Sing Pao Daily News: 賽馬會智慧城市計劃啟動 監測八千樹木適時護養 https://goo.gl/ft1yqA    

Hong Kong Smart City Awards 2018

Department of Land Surveying and Geo-Informatics (LSGI) is pleased that a team of researchers from LSGI was honoured with two Hong Kong Smart City Awards on 11 June 2018. Prof. Wu Chen, Prof. Xiaoli Ding, and Dr Zhizhao Liu were the members of the winning team in the categories of Smart Mobility: “Differential GPS for Outdoor Positioning” and Smart Environment: “DGNSS for Tracking System.” The awards were based on the research outputs from their Innovation and Technology Commission-funded projects. The research for both projects was conducted in collaboration with the Logistics and Supply Chain Management Research Centre and the Lands Department of the Hong Kong Government. Congratulations to Prof. Wu Chen, Prof. Xiaoli Ding, and Dr Zhizhao Liu!  

Malaysian Delegation visits LSGI

A delegation of 4 teachers from Tsun Jin High School in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, visited the Faculty of Construction and Environment (FCE) on 5 October 2018 to learn more about its undergraduate programmes. They included Ms Choy Yuen Leng, Vice Head of the Teacher Education Department, Ms Wong Han Ni, Assistant Head of the Development Department, Ms Pan Pei Chien, Assistant Head of the Academic Department, and Ms Wong Yoke Leng, Assistant Head of the Counseling Department. After a detailed introduction of the Faculty and its various programmes for international students by Prof. Xiaoli Ding, Associate Dean (Partnership), and Dr Wallace Lai of the Department of Land Surveying and Geo-Informatics (LSGI), the delegation toured the Fire Lab of the Department of Building Services Engineering and the Lab for Smart City and Spatial Big Data Analytics of LSGI with Dr George Liu, Dr Wallace Lai, and Dr Matthew Pang. The visit is expected to build a strong partnership between the high school and FCE.