News and Activities
GGOS IberAtlantic (GGOS IA) functions as a regional node of GGOS, focusing on geodetic activities across the Iberian Peninsula and the Atlantic region. GGOS IA fosters collaboration among geodetic institutions while promoting scientific research and technological development tailored to the region’s unique geophysical characteristics.
The Visibility Challenge of Geodesy
GGOS, IAG, 🌍 Geodesy NewsGeodesy is the invisible foundation of our modern world. It enables accurate positioning, navigation, climate monitoring, and disaster management. Yet its critical role often goes unnoticed outside scientific circles.
GIM Inernational Article
A recently published article titled “The Visibility Challenge of Geodesy“ in GIM International (Issue 4, 2025, Page 20-21) explores how geodesy — and its highly accurate International Terrestrial Reference Frame (ITRF), for example — underpins everything from GNSS navigation to digital twins. The article highlights the global infrastructure behind geodesy, including GNSS stations, VLBI radio telescopes, satellite laser ranging, and DORIS beacons, and explains how these systems work together through IAG and GGOS to deliver reliable geospatial products.
The article also focuses on efforts to make geodesy more visible and accessible. Initiatives include educational outreach, visual storytelling through geodesy films, the Geodesy Cartoons project, and the upcoming GGOS Portal, which will simplify access to geodetic data for researchers, surveyors, and geomatics professionals.
This article is a must-read for anyone interested in understanding the scientific backbone of modern geospatial technologies and the global efforts to sustain it.
By Martin Sehnal (Director of IAG’s GGOS Coordinating Office)
Obituary of Bernard Chovitz
IAG, 📰 General NewsBernard Chovitz left us on April 25,2025. He has been a geodesist, an important one, active mostly in the second half of the last century, contributing to the impetuous development of Geodesy in that period. First of all he served our science as official of the NOAA institution.
Bernard Chovitz 1965 [Copyright: NOAA]
But his activity has been by no means restricted to the geometric branch of Geodesy; on the contrary he contributed to the gravity field analysis and data combination, including satellite geodetic data, by modern statistical tools. In this way he joined the group of scientists that have created the modern theory of gravity field prediction, Moritz, Rapp, Tscherning and others.
Just to close the circle of geodetic thinking, he has contributed too to the theory of reference systems, a must in the geodetic environment, with fathers like Baarda, Bjerhammar, Meissl and sons like Blaha, Boucher, Dermanis and others. To get an idea of the deep insight of Chovitz into geodetic science, it is amazing to read his report on “Geodetic Theory” published on Reviews of Geophysics and Space Physics, number of July 1975. There you can realize how wide and clear has been his comprehension of Geodesy. For that reason the geodetic community, through its International Association of Geodesy, need to honor Bernard Chovitz’ figure and acknowledge his contribution to our science.
Fernando Sansò
Bernard Chovitz 2019 [Copyright: AGU]
From Struve to Space: 11th Nordic Geodetic Commission Summer School held in Estonia 2025
Com4, ECS, IAG, 📅 Event UpdateThe Nordic Geodetic Commission (NKG) was established in 1953 by geodesists from Finland, Sweden, Norway, Denmark, and Iceland to promote collaboration and knowledge exchange across the region. Researchers from Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania have contributed since the 1990s, developing GPS-based coordinate systems and advancing geoid and land uplift models essential for accurate height determination. In 2022, these Baltic countries were officially confirmed as NKG full members.
Since 1984, the NKG has organised a Summer School every four years, held in the participating countries by turns. Now for the first time, the event took place on the eastern shore of the Baltic Sea, hosted in cooperation with the Estonian University of Life Sciences, Tallinn University of Technology, and the Estonian Association of Surveyors. The event From Struve to Space: 11th Nordic Geodetic Commission Summer School was held in Tartu, Aug. 25–29, 2025.
The Summer School brought together 61 participants from 13 countries, including all NKG member states, as well as Switzerland, Germany, Romania, Poland, and Taiwan. Key topics included geodesy and marine applications, challenges of GNSS positioning using modern satellite navigation systems, and the application of machine learning strategies in geodesy. One training day was fully dedicated to GNSS signal jamming and spoofing, complemented by practical exercises to ensure positioning reliability and integrity. One-day field trip was organised to attend the Tõravere astronomical observatory. The event offered a unique opportunity for doctoral students and specialists in geodesy to expand their expertise, with a programme designed primarily for PhD candidates in geodesy and related earth sciences. The Summer School atmosphere has always been collegial and supportive, thanks to longstanding cooperation within the NKG. The city of Tartu, with the charm of its historic university town, offered an inspiring environment for advancing scientific careers.
NKG Summer School 2025 group photo
The title From Struve to Space was deliberately chosen for the Summer School, as Tartu has a profound historical connection to the work of Friedrich Georg Wilhelm Struve (1793–1864). Struve, a distinguished astronomer and geodesist, served as professor at the University of Tartu and director of the Tartu Observatory, where he initiated the measurements of the Struve Geodetic Arc, that were conducted in international collaboration from 1816 up to 1855. This meridian arc, extending over 2,800 kilometers from the Black Sea to the Arctic Ocean, provided unprecedented precision in determining the size and shape of the Earth and is today recognized as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Struve’s legacy firmly established Tartu as a center of scientific excellence in geodesy and astronomy, making the city a symbolically significant venue for the NKG Summer School. The Tartu Observatory has since retained its role as a hub of astronomical and space science, contributing to satellite research, remote sensing, and astrophysics, thereby linking Struve’s geodetic heritage with modern space exploration.
Prof. Artu Ellmann, Tallinn University of Technology
Prof. Aive Liibusk, Estonian University of Life Sciences