Switzerland 2010: 4th Annual Educational

Switzerland Trip

Another Successful Experience: As another year is behind us, the 4th annual Switzerland trip is over and the process begins to plan and

organize the 5th trip to Switzerland. As part of the services the Geomatics engineering student society

(GESS) provides to students, each year they organize an education trip to expand and enhance the

learning experience of students in the department. Following on the great progress of previous years,

the trip for 2010 was to Switzerland to visit a variety of geomatics industry and the department at ETH

Zurich. Expanding upon the previous years, this year added in some additional cultural experiences to

broaden the opportunities as much as possible. Detailed in this report are acknowledgements for all of

the planning, help, and financing as well as details about the trip and reflection on planning for the trip.

Geomatics Engineering Student Society;

Schulich School of Engineering

Table of Contents:

Acknowledgments ………………………………………………………………………………………………… 3

2010 Trip Details …………………………………………………………………………………………………… 5

Leica Geosystems ………………………………………………………….. 5

ETH Zurich …………………………………………………………………….. 6

Museums of Bern ………………………………………………………….. 7

Swisstopo ………………………………………………………………………. 8

CERN ……………………………………………………………………………… 9

Sphinx Observatory ……………………………………………………….. 10

A Cultural and Educational Experience …………………………………………………………………. 11

A Bit of Planning …………………………………………………………………………………………………… 11

Closing Remarks …………………………………………………………………………………………………… 12

Acknowledgements: First off, I would like to thank those who were instrumental in making this trip possible. Without the

help and support of many in the faculty, the students, GESS, and the funding provided through Mr.

Seymour Schulich and the Students’ Union, this trip would not be possible.

I would also like to say thank you to the great organizations in Switzerland that provided the learning

opportunities.

Faculty:

Marcia Inch has been extremely helpful in coordinating with the department and helping with specific

requirements such as a faculty chaperone, department consent, and emergency contacts; Steve Liang, as

the attending teacher, provided support and advice to students and was a great addition to the trip; J.W.

Kim who provided insight and help as the previous year’s chaperone; Dr. Habib, the department head,

for his role as department head and overseeing the departmental approval for the trip; and Dr. Lynn

Cowe Falls for her extensive help with the Schulich Student Activities Fund (SSAF) process.

Students:

Without the interest and cooperation of the students, this trip would not happen. This trip is put on

through the work of the volunteer student society for the benefit of the students in the department.

GESS:

Without out the organization and administrative support of the GESS council, organizing this trip and

securing funding would be extremely difficult. GESS council provides these learning opportunities to

students as a service to benefit all undergraduate students in the department. Specifically, the treasure

helps with managing money; the Switzerland coordinator organizes the trip; and multiple members of

council help with contacting industry to pursue further financial funding.

Mr. Seymour Schulich:

Thanks to the generous contribution to our school by Mr. Seymour Schulich, the SSAF is able to ease the

financial burden of students who wish attend academic experiences outside of school. With $22 500

provided towards the costs of the trip, students otherwise unable to attend are able to participate in the

trip. This amount covered approximately 60% of the direct costs to students.

Mr. Shculich’s interest in supporting students in their academic pursuits is greatly appreciated by the

students. His interest in helping others is a trait that every can respect and hopefully reciprocate in their

lives.

Students’ Union:

Through the Students’ Union Travel and Conference funding, our group received an additional $1250 to

help pay for expenses such as hostels and expenses like meals.

Leica Geosystems:

Leica Geosystems not only organized a tour of their facilities for our students, but also provided us with

lunch and hands on demonstrations of their equipment. They obviously put extensive time and

resources into providing our students with an informative tour that was suited to the knowledge level of

our students.

ETH Zurich:

Both the student’s society of the geomatics department and the faculty provided us with a full day of

activity. The professors gave us various presentations about the geomatics program at the university and

some of their areas of research; the faculty provided us with lunch at no cost; and the student society

took our group on a tour of the city and answered questions we had about their programs.

Swisstopo:

The staff at swisstopo was very accommodating at preparing a variety of interesting topics for our

students. They provided us with an extensive tour of their operations and catered the tour to the

interest of our students.

CERN:

CERN provided our students with a presentation about their research and a tour of the facility where

they test sections of the Large Hadron Collider (LHC).

2010 Trip Details: For the 4th annual trip in 2010, we spent 8 full days in Switzerland, arriving late on the 1st of May and

leaving the morning of May 10th.

Sunday, May 2nd:

There were no planned activities for this day to allow students to adjust to the time zone and

transportation system in Switzerland. Student’s appreciated having the time to adjust their sleep cycle

and familiarize themselves with getting around and prepare for getting to Leica Geosystems the next day.

Leica Geosystems, Monday, May 3rd:

Leica Geosystems is a highly respected manufacturing company that provides many high quality products

for the geomatics industry. With a large portfolio of both hardware and software solutions, Leica is one

of the top names in providing geomatics equipment and technology. Our visit was to the main campus

in Heerbrugg, Switzerland, where a variety of factories and research labs manufacture and test a variety

of technologies.

Upon arrival, we were greeted and taken to a presentation room to learn about the company and a little

bit about what they do and their technologies. Students were able to ask questions and learn about the

solutions offered by Leica and some of the R&D process involved in their products. We covered a variety

of technologies from GPS/RTK and Surveying equipment to aerial photography to high end industrial

precision surveying.

Tour at Leica: students listen to our tour guide as he explains the campus.

After, we were taken to a variety of the buildings on the campus, including a factory for assembling total

stations to a specialized floor where they work on airborne cameras. We also toured Swiss Optic, which

used to be part of Lecia, where they produce the glass used for lenses in Lecia equipment. The process

for making high quality lenses is very extensive and includes a high level of quality control and

specialized coatings. We were also shown labs where they have extremely precise calibration equipment

to test high precision equipment to ensure that it conforms to the specifications. This was extremely

interesting to learn about as the accuracies were reaching the micron level.

During all of our visits, our great tour guide provided us with a lot of

information about the processes, quality control, and history for each stop on

our tour. After touring the campus, we were taken to the showroom, where

we were shown a wide range of past surveying equipment to their most

recent solutions for surveying. We had hands on experience with their new

GPS/RTK equipment and software controllers. Each of the students had the

opportunity to try out the equipment and learn about how it works and

some of the advanced features. Being able to produce a cm level position

within eight seconds, with the RTK, was an extremely impressive feat!

Everyone really enjoyed the tour and learned a lot about the technologies

that Leica incorporates into their solutions. Leica was also very generous in

providing us lunch and hats to keep.

Tour at Leica: Students get hands on practice with equipment.

ETH Zurich, Tuesday, May 4th:

Ah, ETH in Zurich! Highly regarded as one of the top schools in the world, their geomatics program is no

less held in high regard. Today would be a bit different than our tour of Leica. The students still learned

about technologies and solutions for geomatics, with some focus on work shared with industry, but also

learned about the way students learned geomatics at ETH and the areas of research in the department.

In addition to the presentations by the department, their geomatics student society was gracious enough

to host us for the remainder of the day.

ETH Zurich: President of the Geomatics Student Society talking with students.

The presentations from the department covered a variety of topics from GIS to surveying and even

cartography. We were provided with some examples of research they conduct with industry in

partnership as well as projects that they are working on. The students were extremely interested in the

presentations and opened up discussion with many of the professors, wanting to learn more about their

work. We also learned a bit about the history of ETH and the department of geomatics. The department

provided us with lunch and some pretty awesome maps developed in their cartography program.

The student society and some of the current students took us on a tour of Zurich and the rest of ETH.

This was extremely interesting as we got a chance to talk with other students and ask them many

questions about their department, culture, and future careers.

Bern, Wednesday, May 5th:

The group stayed in Bern for the day of the 5th and visited some of the many museums in Bern. Students

were able to visit the majority of museums free with the use of their Swiss rail or Euro rail pass. Due to

unique interests, students were able to choose which museums they wanted to visit, some of the most

popular being the museum of natural history, the Einstein museum, and the museum of communication.

Visiting museums provides students with cultural experiences in addition to further learning options.

Berne: The museum of Berne, Natural History, and Einstein museum.

Swisstopo, Thursday, May 6th:

Swisstopo: Welcome message in the lobby.

As the leading provider of geographic information in Switzerland, swisstopo represents the governments

interest in creating and maintaining geographic information about the country. Swisstopo also provides

services to both public and private sector proving a mixture of services as well as looking after cadasteral

surveying and public-private ownership restrictions. Swisstopo was extremely gracious is providing a

tour catered towards our students, their knowledge level, and areas of study in geomatics.

Swisstopo: Students sitting in the presentation room before presentations.

The topics covered by swisstopo ranged from geodesy and satellite laser ranging to GIS and surveying.

Multiple staff provided us with short talks detailing the work the company does as well as individual

educational topics. This was later followed up by tours of different working areas of their offices where

we were able to see processing of stereoscopic images into 3D data and cartography and map making.

CERN, Friday, May 7th:

CERN: Introductory slide to our presentation.

Our tour at the European Organization for Nuclear Research, CERN, let students visit one of the most

advanced physics research campus in the world. Home of the LHC, CERN is a place where many

scientists and engineers put their minds together to work on solving some of the mysteries of the

universe. We had a presentation and tour that looked at different areas of studies as well as taking is

through the technology and process behind the LHC. This was a great opportunity to see how the

science community will often use a mixture of engineers and scientists from different backgrounds to

complete new projects.

CERN: Our tour guide describing some of the early equipment used before the LHC.

Although not a mandatory part of the trip, the majority of students also visited the UN and took a tour of

their campus, which was quite the experience!

Sphinx Observatory, Saturday, May 8th:

Often touted as the highest point in Europe, the Sphinx

Observatory is the highest train station in Europe. Built as a

science research facility, it is now open to the public,

showcasing beautiful landscapes and the second half to the

research on proving Einstein's theory of relativity. Coupled

with a second device at the Einstein museum in Bern, they

have determined that particles moving near the speed of

light decay at a slower rate than they would when not

moving near the speed of light. There is no longer a heavy

use of the outpost as a research station, but it is truly awe

inspiring to see the extreme weather that scientists may have

to endure for their research.

Sphinx Observatory: Going up.

Sphinx Observatory: The second half to proving Einstein.

Sunday, May 9th:

Sunday was left open as a flex day to accommodate any unexpected changes to the itinerary. Since we

were able to adhere to the original itinerary, students took the day to further explore Switzerland.

A Cultural and Educational Experience: The focus of the Switzerland trip is to provide geomatics students with additional experiences that will

compliment their education in geomatics engineering. To this end, we look to include a variety of

industry and scholarly components to our trip, but also blend in cultural aspects. It is important for

engineers to have a basic understanding of how the industry may be different in other countries and

recognizing that cultural differences may change how you approach a job. The trip in 2010 provided with

a variety of educational aspects focusing on geomatics, science, cultural activities, and industry aspects

of geomatics.

A Bit of Planning: Each year, there is a large amount of planning that goes into this trip and ensuring that everything goes

smoothly once in Switzerland. Just a few short points to pass along some information about the

planning stages to point out what works well and what can be improved upon.

Ensure students bring their trip schedule with them so they can easily check the details without

having to ask.

Having the first full day with no planned activities allowed students to settle in and is suggested

for future years.

The Sphinx Observatory is a costly option, due to the cost of the train ticket, but it is extremely

enjoyed by the students.

CERN requires booking your tour at least six months in advance to ensure you get your perferred

date.

Many of the organizations such as swisstopo and Leica expect our group to come each year and

leave space open for our students.

All of the Hosteling International hostels were very pleasant to stay in, but sometimes need to be

booked over four months in advance for such a large group size.

Bern and Geneva are very beautiful and culturally rich cities. If logistics allows, staying a bit

longer in either of these cities would be preferred.

All other useful administrative suggestions may be found in the Switzerland Trip Coordinator

package with GESS.

Closing Remarks: 2010 marked another highly successful trip to Switzerland with a large variety of learning opportunities

for the students. With six planned activities in 2010, the trip had a very full schedule and provided the

students with an even wider range of activities compared to previously. Without the financial assistance

of the SSAF, provided by the donation of Mr. Seymour Schulich, many students would not be able to

afford this great experience. Again, thanks to all of the donors who provided financial assistance as well

as the great organizations and people who helped make this possible.