The first meeting of the Australian Government Earth Observation from Space Working Group (AGEOSWG) was held at Geosciences Australia on May 21, 2013. This working Group is a follow on from the "National Remote Sensing Technical Reference Group" and has an established role defined in Australia's "Satellite Utilisation Policy. "
AGEOSWG is key part of the Policy's - Principle 5: Improve domestic coordination: Enhance the coordination, understanding and strategic direction of Australia’s uses and approach to space. It is meant to link Commonwealth government agencies using EO data to the Australian Government Space Coordination Committee (SCC). The SCC reports to the Coordination Committee on Innovation. This approach still places Geosciences Australia, the Bureau of Meteorology and CSIRO as the main EO users/producers. AEOCCG is meant to provide the linkages between state, local governments, industry and academia to the Commonwealth. AEOCCG can distribute or obtain information.
This meeting covered three main areas:
- Review of Australia's satellite utilisation policy
- Status of the NEOS-IP (National Earth Observation from Space Infrastructure Plan (NEOS-IP)
- Getting on the same page to implement recommendations for NEOS-IP
The last point is a critical one as AGEOSWG has requested that AEOCCG go out to the community to obtain feedback on key issues.
