Shattri Mansor is currently the Director of Geospatial Information Research Centre, Universiti Putra Malaysia. He maintains a diverse research interest including image processing, remote sensing and GIS. His major research effort includes feature extraction from satellite imagery, spatial decision support system, fish forecasting, oil spill detection and monitoring system, UAV-based remote imaging, disaster management and early warning system. As a result, hundreds of his works has been recognized and published extensively in renowned journals and conference proceedings. In tandem with his expertise, Dr. Shattri has also supervised and co-supervised a total of 30 MS students, 40 PhD students and 10 post doctorates. Dr. Shattri holds membership to various organizations and institutions. He has served as a councilor for the Institution of Surveyors Malaysia (ISM), an Editor of the Journal of the Malaysian Surveyor and an executive committee for ISO TC211. He is currently the Editorial Board member of Disaster Advances Journal and International Journal of Geoinformatics. He has received several awards at the international and national level including Gold Medals and Best Article Awards.

Surveillance and natural disaster management have been mentioned to be one of the largest market for unmanned autonomous vehicles, sensors, and systems (UAS) technology, particularly when spaceborne technology, manned airborne and in situ methods are not as efficient for various reasons. The reasons include the spatial and temporal resolutions, accessibility, speed, cost efficiency and operational safety. This has in turn highlighted a growing need for the development of data acquisition and data processing techniques across many domains.

To enable successful applications of these technologies, a platform that enable persistent, high-resolution and large scale observations is needed. The use of long duration, lighter-than-air (LTA) vehicle such as airships and high-altitude balloons can fill this critical niche within atmosphere-based platforms. These LTA platforms combines some of the best features of satellite and ground/airborne measurements for relative large service areas. There has been a strong desire to develop station-keeping LTA vehicles that can operate in altitude up to 40 km with a multiple days, or even months, airborne operability. Such platforms have several obvious scientific and military applications such as observatories with station-keeping capability and an aerial vehicle providing persistent surveillance.

This presentation will cover the tremendous potential applications of new UAS technology in surveillance and natural disaster management, and will discuss existing challenges and opportunities in utilizing this technology.

Brig Jen Sr Dr Mohd Zambri bin Mohamad Rabab is currently the Director of Defence Geospatial Division at Defence Geospatial Division of the Department of Survey and Mapping Malaysia.

The main responsibility of his division is to obtain and provide geospatial information and services to the Malaysian Armed Forces (MAF). He has a lot of experiences through direct involvement in the development of geospatial capability for bespoke MAF systems as well as MAF Network Centric Operation systems. He has also been involved in the development of Defence Geospatial Transformation Plan that is called uGeo for Defence programme.

He obtained his basic degree in Land Surveying from University Technology of Malaysia in 1994. He then furthered his doctorate study in Applied Remote Sensing at University Putra Malaysia and graduated in 2002. In 2002, he was sponsored by the Malaysian Armed Forces to enrol a Master degree in Defence Geographic Information at Cranfield University.

Malaysia has flight tragic incident experiences twice in 2014. The latest incident involved Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 which was a scheduled international passenger flight from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur that crashed on 17 July 2014. It was presumed to have been shot down, killing all 283 passengers and 15 crew on board. The crash location was identified near Torez in Donetsk Oblast, Ukraine, 40 km from the Ukraine/Russian border. This is a territory controlled by pro-Russian separatists.

It was terrible and deeply shocking news to all over the world and within a few hours after the news surfaced, Defence Geospatial Division (BGSP) of the Department of Survey and Mapping Malaysia (JUPEM) and ESRI International teams have managed to provide relevant geospatial information of the incident to the Malaysian Armed Forces (MAF) through WebGIS application. This was the first time international efforts were exploited to prepare and create the website collaboratively in a very short period of time.

The presentation will focus on the concept of WebGIS development that led to the success of rolling out the basic WebGIS services within 24 hours and able to serve the MAF stakeholders within the time frame. In addition, the lesson learned from the development will also be highlighted in order to improve the webGIS operation in the future.

Dr. Azhari bin Mohamed is currently the Director of Survey (Boundary Affairs Division) at the Department of Survey and Mapping Malaysia (JUPEM) in Kuala Lumpur. He has held various posts including as a District Surveyor for some 9 years in Kelantan, Kedah and Perlis and also as the Director of Survey at the Geodetic Survey Section for 9 years.

He graduated with an Honours B.Sc. in Surveying and Mapping Sciences from University of East London in 1984 and an M.Phil in GPS Geodesy from the University of Newcastle upon Tyne in 1995. In 2003, he obtained a PhD in Geomatic Engineering from the Universiti Teknologi Malaysia.

His current research interests include the study of the dynamics of the Earth as observed by space geodetic techniques, GPS time series for crustal deformation, sea level variation, Islamic astronomy and young moon observation. He is an author and co-author of over 50 technical papers and 5 books on a variety of topics, notably in geodesy, Islamic astronomy and a coffee table book.

He was the past Chairman of the National GNSS Working Group, past Secretary of National Geodetic Working Group (GWG), past Joint Head of the Malaysia-Indonesia Common Border Datum Reference Frame (CBDRF) Project, the Secretary of the National Eclipse Trackers (ET) Team, a member of the Panel of Experts in Islamic Astronomy, a Vice Chairman of the Persatuan Falak Syarie Malaysia and the Vice-Chair of Working Group I: Geodetic Reference Frame of the United Nations Initiative on Global Geospatial Information Management (UN-GGIM).

He was an external examiner for two Master students and a co-supervisor of one successful PhD student. He is also a Fellow of the Royal Institute of Surveyors Malaysia (RISM), the Chairman of the Continuous Professional Development (CPD) of the Geomatic and Land Surveying (GLS) Division of RISM and a registered land surveyor. He has appeared on several TV programmes, including RTM1 Inovasi, Panorama and Forum Perdana Hal Ehwal Islam as well as TV9 Nasi Lemak Kopi O. He is married to an English Language teacher and has 4 children.

Malaysia shares its maritime borders with six (6) neighbouring countries, namely Thailand, Indonesia, Singapore, Brunei, Vietnam and the Philippines. Some of the maritime boundaries between Malaysia and its neighbours have been finalised through agreements and treaties, while the remaining border in the Celebes Sea, South China Sea, the Straits of Malacca and Singapore Straits has yet to be finalised as a result of overlapping claims by the countries which also have interests in the region. Overlapping claims in maritime boundary results in delay in the boundary delimitation. Delays in resolving the maritime boundary increases the cost and time while manpower should be mobilised as efficiently as possible to ensure the economy, security and national sovereignty of the nation is maintained.

Challenges in resolving issues related to delimitation of maritime boundaries include differences of opinion regarding the provisions of international law, differences of opinion and interpretation of the agreements and treaties as well as differences in principles baseline regime to define the limits of the maritime boundary, lack of information like maps, charts, data (bathymetry, tidal and geodetic). There are also problems in keeping the experts who are conversant in the technical aspect of boundary delimitation as well as skilled in negotiations.

These challenges need to be tackled as soon as possible because it can affect bilateral relations adversely if not handled properly. Also problems should be resolved peacefully through negotiations based on the provisions of international law (UNCLOS 1982) and identify solutions to the challenges and issues restrictions related to the maritime boundary. In this case, the referral to a third party such as the International Court of Justice or the Arbitral Tribunal is the last choice in reaching the settlement. This presentation will detail the challenges, management and negotiation in resolving issues related to demarcation of maritime boundaries.

Reality modelling was introduced at last year's inaugural event to demonstrate its efficacy for disaster management. During this session, John Taylor will showcase examples of how this rapidly innovating technology can support the wider requirements for GeoInt for the region's National Defence organisations.

Capt. Martin A. Sebastian, Royal Malaysian Navy, joined MIMA in Nov 2011 as Fellow and Centre Head of the Centre for Maritime Security and Diplomacy. Prior to joining MIMA, Capt. Martin completed three years of Secondment with the Department of Peacekeeping Operations (DPKO), United Nations Headquarters, New York. He served in the Office of Military Affairs (OMA) as a Strategic Planner in the Military Planning Service (MPS).

In OMA, he was appointed as Team Leader for Africa Planning Team II covering West African peacekeeping missions. He pioneered the setting up of a maritime planning section in MPS and was appointed as the OMA Team Leader for the Maritime Working Group, which monitored planning requirements for the UNIFIL Multinational Maritime Operations in Lebanon and riverine operations in peacekeeping missions. Capt. Martin is credited for leading a team in the drafting of a UN Policy for Maritime and Riverine Operations in Peacekeeping.

He is country representative in the Council for Security Cooperation in the Asia Pacific (CSCAP) and Indian Ocean Rim Association (IORA) Maritime Security Study Group. He has presented in the ASEAN Regional Forum Inter- Sessional Meeting on Maritime Security (ARF – ISM MS), ASEAN Defence Ministers Plus Expert Working Group (ADMM Plus EWG), ASEAN Maritime Forum (AMF) and the annual Workshop on Managing Potential Conflicts in the South China Sea.

His field of expertise on Maritime Security is in Diplomatic engagements, Conventional Operations, Law Enforcement, Maritime Industry and Maritime Search and Rescue; and Humanitarian Disaster Relief from the Sea.

John Cartwright is Vice President, International Defense and Intelligence Programs at DigitalGlobe, where he is responsible for Product Strategy and Sales Engineering. John joined DigitalGlobe in January 2013. Prior to DigitalGlobe, John was a Principal at the Boston Consulting Group (BCG), and before that, a research scientist in astrophysics at the University of Chicago. John has a Ph.D. in astrophysics from California Institute of Technology and a B.S. in physics from Indiana University.